The Law and Jake Wade (1958)

Intense, gripping, stylish and poignant

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

Blistering performances.

In this Western, Robert Taylor as Jake Wade is the alpha male and wardrobe has dressed him in midnight blue from head to toe except for the silver bullets in his gun belt that function as a kind of accessory. There was a time when Taylor and Richard Widmark rode on the wild side together. Widmark managed to break Taylor out of jail. Now Taylor has ridden miles to do the same for his former friend. After their escape, before they split up, Widmark wears an oily smile. He doesn't seem particularly grateful for what Taylor has done. In fact, the narcissistic Widmark demands to know what Taylor did with the loot from their last robbery. "I buried it somewhere and there it stays." Widmark genially asks Taylor for a gun so he can kill him on the spot. No dice. Throughout, Widmark gives a better performance than the ligneous Robert Taylor, whose default expression is a scowl, but that's not saying much.Taylor rides off by himself and returns to the town where he removes his dark blue pea coat and reveals a dark blue shirt sporting another accessory, the silver badge of a marshal -- or maybe it's a sheriff's badge. I get the two titles mixed up because it never makes any difference which is the correct one anyway. A heterosexual, Taylor has a fiancée in town, the beguiling Patricia Owens, a red head with pupils like big black glistening olives. Over dinner, which is barely touched, as usual in these stories, they have an argument. Taylor wants to get married, pull up stakes, and move farther West, no doubt thinking about that smirk on Widmark's face. Owens sensibly asks why but of course he can't tell her without revealing his miscreant past.Things go from bad to worse. Widmark and half a dozen compañeros show up in town and kidnap Taylor and Owens with the objective of forcing Taylor to take them to the place where the stolen stash is buried. There follows a long journey through forests, over mountains, through what appears to be Zabriskie Point in Death Valley, to the ghost town where the treasure is. There are snide remarks from Henry Silva and some of the other goons about Owens' figure but Widmark is thinking only of pelf, after the acquisition of which he intends to slaughter Taylor and do God knows what with Owens. Of course, Taylor makes some plucky escape attempts but they only prove to be brief delays. Nice atmospheric shooting during some of these scenes. Death Valley is nonpareil. The ragged hills are tinted with lavender. On a chilly September night in Death Valley I stopped the car next to a sidewinder (Crotalus cerastes) who was curled up on the slightly warmer black pavement. He was sluggish enough for me to pick him up by the tail, whirl him over my head, and fling him off into the sand and out of danger.When they finally reach the ghost town, it's beautifully bleachly dilapidated -- only a handful of empty weathered buildings and outhouses, a leaning water tower, a neglected cemetery, disarticulated wagons and other artifacts, and a main street with scattered creosote bush. It's the kind of setting that a child would be delighted to explore. The child probably wouldn't like the fact that the place is surrounded by hostile Indians. The Indians stage an attack that was pretty brutal for its time, but they are finally driven away and all the thugs expect Widmark are killed by arrows. This leave Taylor and Widmark for the final shoot out on the desolate street. Guess who wins. Widmark wins! He ravages the girl, desecrates Taylor's body, ties it behind his chariot, and races around the walls of Troy.

An awesome rugged Western masterfully directed by John Sturges including good main cast and agreeable secondary actors in which Marshal Taylor tangles with nasty bandit Widmark over a buried loot . It deals with outlaw Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark) getaways from prison with the help of a lawman with a dark past called Jake Wade , because once Clint did the same for him . Jake left Clint just after , but Clint finds him back and forces Jake by kidnapping his girlfriend called Peggy (Patricia Owens) to lead him to a loot Jake buried one year ago when he abandoned Clint . Hollister and his sidekicks (Robert Middleton, DeForest Kelley , Henry Silva) tie Jake and survey to no escape . Then Peggy learns all too quickly about Jake's dark past . When they arrive in the ghost little town where Jake hid the money, they have to fight off a bunch of marauding Indians .This exciting as well as robust Western contains tension-filled , juicy atmosphere , thrills , suspense , gun-play and an impressive final on a dead little town which was one of filmmaker Sturges's best moments . Magnificent western from the John Sturges/Richard Widmark team and their second collaboration , after ¨Backlash¨ and considered one of their best . Colour , music , scenarios , landscapes all marks well in this thrilling story about a compulsive outlaw who contends his old friend as well as his nemesis . It describes a long journey in which there are extreme characters combined with psychological observations and enriched by eventual ambiguity and a tense picture about dishonesty and badness . This particular Western only starred by a few characters contains an interesting screenplay by William Bowers based on the novel by novel Marvin H. Albert . By that time (1958) the picture was considered quite strong , tough , surprisingly violent ; today is deemed a classic film . And seems to be a great influence of wide range such as violence , a hard battle of wits among gunslingers and scenarios . The two stars , Robert Taylor and Richard Widmark , make nice adversaries . They are accompanied by a good support cast such as Robert Middleton , Henry Silva , Burt Douglas , Eddie Firestone and intimate ¨Bones¨ DeForest Kelley of Star Trek . Filmed in Cinemascope in colorful cinematography by Robert Surtees who gets to take from nature the maximum impacts as deserts , valleys , mountains , being wonderfully photographed . Being filmed on location in Alabama Hills , Lone Pine, Death Valley National Park,California, USA . Breathtaking background scenarios , dramatic close-up along with shining illuminations , all of them perfectly mingled with a tale full of violence , tension , intrigue and shoot'em up .This top-drawer Western drama was compellingly produced by William Hawkes and stunningly realized by the master John Sturges , infusing the traditional Western with psychological confusion , including his characteristic use of landscape with wonderful use of Natural Parks which is visually memorable . Sturges established his forte with magnificent Westerns almost always plenty of action , violence , and splendid outdoors . Sturges began his directing career at Columbia Pictures, where from 1946-49 he he worked on "12-day wonders" ("B" pictures shot on a 12-day schedule). From there he moved on to MGM where he filmed more "B" pictures, albeit on a larger budget . He established an independent production company in 1959, releasing through United Artists. From 1960-67 he worked under contract for United Artists. His first major hit was the western Dog Day at Black Rock (1955) , which he shot in just three weeks, wrapping up virtually every scene in a single take . He specialized in robust action pictures, particularly westerns. He excelled at bringing to life tautly written stories about tough characters facing difficult circumstances . Throughout his career he regularly alternated hits with misses . He has also been criticized for his lack of stylistic trademarks , though his best films remain exciting to watch . Sturges was expert on all kind of genres , but especially warlike such as : ¨Great Escape¨, ¨Ice Station Zebra¨ and ¨Eagle has landed¨ and Western such as ¨Last train of Gun Hill¨, ¨Magnificent Seven¨, ¨Backlash¨, ¨Law and Jake Webb¨, ¨Joe Kidd¨ and Chino¨, among others . This high-level and Western will appeal to Robert Taylor and Richard Widmark fans .

See the movie..Don't let yourself be swayed by one or two bad reviews for this under-rated late 50's western with Robert Taylor playing the title character..Jake Wade ..town Marshall..and Richard Widmark as his ex-gang buddy(?) from back in the day..Civil War and post war years..a few have said the score sucked..maybe because of the strike in 1958..I can neither confirm nor deny..if that's the case, it must have been short lived as other films were released the month before(5) and a month later (1) ..big budget movies were released all year with great scores..by this time Robert Taylor was no longer the young handsome face of the 30's and was a veteran actor and a lot like Gary Cooper..played darker,more serious roles late in his career. More gritty..more realistic..the same year he did Saddle The Wind with John Cassavetes..and as gritty as Gregory Peck's The Bravados the same year..1958 and Peck's The Big Country..Cooper also played a town Marshall marrying someone younger in High Noon..he was a star and under played his role here letting Richard Widmark get most of the best lines until the last three minutes of the movie.."I would have handed you your gun" followed by Taylor's response.."you always liked me more than I like you"..good line..great acting..great supporting cast..great scenery filmed on location..but this movie is a sleeper and a keeper..and worthy of some attention..it deserves a look-see..from a good movie year..one of the better performances from that year..

I watched this out of the new Warner's DVD set tonight, I had caught it on TV about a month or so ago under a less that ideal setting. This time it had a proper viewing and my undivided attention. The film was Directed by John Sturges, and I can't recommend more that you see this alone for the gorgeous cinematography by Robert Surtees. Here is a Western that in outdoor locations and settings looks perfect. The sagebrush engulfed ghostown at the end is really impressive. Either they went to the trouble of building a partially collapsed wooden aqueduct to a water tank or the set was an actual real ghostown .These locations are all in Lonepine, Death Valley, and The Alabama Hills. Why no recent Westerns in the last 30 years have not been shot there is beyond me, but using those locations would be like slipping into a comfortable old pair of shoes and would also give a certain cachet to a work. Those locations are not as singularly iconic as the Buttes of Monument Valley, but they actually represent even more the West as a whole because they provide an infinite variety of jagged peaks, flat plains, alluvial fans, eroded badlands, and boulder fields.The film stars Robert Taylor as Jake Wade , a reformed outlaw, Richard Widmark as Wade's old partner in crime Clint Hollister from the Civil War Kansas/Missouri border war. Patricia Owens is Peggy Wade's fiancé who knows nothing of his past. Robert Middleton plays Ortero a member of the old Wade-Hollister Gang. Henry Silva is in one of his stock quasi lunatic hothead roles he played so well, as new gang member Rennie. De Forest Kelley (Bones from Star Trek) is again playing a heavy (very similar to what he played in Warlock) gang member Wexler, Eddie Firestone is I believe minor gang member Burke who rounds out the main cast.The story is basically that a reformed Wade finds out that Hollister has been captured and held in a jail awaiting a hanging close enough nearby to allow Wade to break him out in order to pay back a dept owed (Hollister saved his life). After accomplishing this Wade splits with Hollister to go back to his reformed ways, things don't quite go as planned. It seems that on the last job Wade & Hollister pulled Wade disappeared with $20,000.*note bene those who watch this the way they take no chances and bind this Wade's hands behind his back in stark contrast to the stupid remake of 3:10 to Yuma.The only minor things keeping this Western out of a top ten list are that the night time scenes are all shot on obvious sets one of which has a ridiculous backdrop painting of Monument Valley, looking very out of place. Another is that though all the clothes of the actors who have been on the trail supposedly for days are suitably well dusted up, none of the actors have any stubble or the beginnings of beards. And finally the way Robert Taylor looks & plays his part seems just a tad off the mark (old Hollywood style), its like the difference between Sturges' "Gunfight at the OK Corral" and his "Hour Of The Gun" the way in the former Lancaster appears as Earp with the way in the latter Garner looks as Earp.This is a definitely a Western to own.