LeonLouisRicci In this one You get two Over-Rates for the Price of One. Director John Sturges and Actor Robert Taylor.Thankfully, this is a Sturges Film that is Rated Accurately. Slightly Above Average. Almost all of the Director's Movies, even the ones that are Considered Great, are really Only Slightly Above Average at best and Don't Hold Up all that well.Robert Taylor was a Movie Star and was Never Considered a Great Actor. Competent, with a Good Work Ethic, He was a Major Star for Decades. Here He's His Prototypical Wooden Self.Richard Widmark (playing Type as a giggling Psycho) seems to be Talking to a Wall as He Converses with Taylor. Henry DaSilva and DeForest Kelly, along with Patricia Owens are in Support and do OK.The Highlight of the Movie is the Indian Attack that is Staged Well and Violent for the Time, but the rest of the Movie is Stodgy and Lethargic with some Good Cinematography from Burt Surtees. The Post Indian Attack Drags On. Worth a Watch but Not a Must See. It can be Enjoyed by Western Fans.

DKosty123 John Sturges work behind the camera is solid, and the beauty of this film in front of the camera shows it. Robert Taylor is only three years older than Richard Widmark, though he appears much older. Even though the rest of the cast features De Forest Kelly, the focus here is almost entirely on the 2 big stars.The love interest in Patricia Owens, is not just forgettable, but her role is really a minor one here. She is there as Taylor's love interest, but becomes more of a prop than anything in this movie. Owens is engaged to Taylor but is more of hindrance than help for most of the film, questioning him from the beginning. Then finding out to her dismay the whole movie who she is really trying to hitch too.Widmark wants money hidden by Taylor after one of their heists. They were gang members together, as well as soldiers in the Civil War. They meet in the beginning of the film when Taylor saves Widmark from the noose to return a favor. While their characters are filled out, most of the others are just there going along most of the movie. Think the script could have been better but it is an average film in an era where Westerns were being cranked out on an assembly line in films and on TV.

bsmith5552 "The Law and Jake Wade" doesn't rank up there with many of Director John Sturges' other classic westerns (The Magnificent Seven and Gunfight at the OK Coral for example) however it is very entertaining western nonetheless, due in large to its small cast of veteran performers and the crisp direction of Sturges.The film opens with Jake Wade (Robert Taylor) breaking his former partner convicted killer Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark) out of jail. It seems that Hollister had done likewise for Wade in an earlier time. We learn that the two had rode together robbing banks and stagecoaches and that the two had split up when an attempted robbery had gone wrong.Wade had escaped with $20,000 buried it and settled in a small town where he became town marshal and acquired a girl, Peggy (Patricia Owns) in the process. Hollister had maintained his criminal ways leading to his arrest.Hollister and his gang which includes Orleso (Robert Middleton), trigger happy gunman Rennie (Henry Silva), Wexler (DeForest Kelley) and Burke (Eddie Firestone) trail Wade to force him to bring them to the missing money. They take Peggy along in order to force Wade to comply. They bicker and fight among themselves along the way until they reach a ghost town where the money is hidden. A lively Commanche attack ensues and some of the party don't survive. Eventually the long awaited showdown between Wade and Hollister takes place and........................................Robert Taylor and Richard Widmark play well off of each other. Taylor the grim faced anti-hero (we never learn if he really has reformed) and the sneering vengeful Widmark brings back memories of his early villain roles. Taylor had been a "pretty boy" leading man early in his career but had gravitated towards westerns later on as had many of his contemporaries.The supporting cast is excellent. Robert Middleton who usually played a sadistic villain, has a more sympathetic role this time around. Henry Silva and DeForrest Kelley are quite good as no good bad hombres. Patricia Owens has little to do other than play the helpless heroine. As a sign of the times, it is interesting to note that not one of the bad guys lays a hand on the comely Owens despite being nasty sorts and out on the lonely trail together.This is a good western.

bonfirexx I just learned that Richard Widmark passed away at the age of 93. Widmark was on a short list of my all time favorite actors, sharing top billing with Fred MacMurray, George Peppard, and the brilliant (in my opinion) supporting actor Martin Balsam. The best actors seem to adapt their roles to themselves, so that they never lose their off-screen persona. Frank Sinatra was always himself in his movies, as was John Wayne. And so was Richard Widmark. Why do we like "bad guys" so much? Possibly because we get the feeling that in their private lives they are neither good nor bad, but rather, something even better: genuine. Richard Widmark never divorced. He outlived two wives, one marriage lasting 55 years until his first wife passed on. So we know he was not a loner, although his life style was private, as he never appeared on TV talk shows to promote his movies or himself. Buoyed by his inimitable personal qualities, he carved a unique niche for himself in film, and ran with it for a half- century.The Law and Jake Wade made a strong impression upon me, seeing it for the first time, as a 16-year old, shortly after its release in 1958. This film had a 3-D quality, and a horror film quality which really grabbed its audience, at that time. By 1958 the 3-D fad was long gone, but, I swear, when the Indians attacked Widmark's gang at night with bows and arrows, it seemed like 3-D revisited as the arrows seemed to be coming right through the screen at the audience. Even knowing it was a movie, I was petrified, so realistic is this scene. Unfortunately, this realism cannot be duplicated via DVD or any lesser medium. Abetting all this excitement is the contrast in style of Widmark and Robert Taylor. While Taylor had adopted family values and professional law man responsibility following his maverick Civil War renegading in partnership with Widmark, Widmark, as the years passed, would have none of the maturing and sobering process to which most men evolve, after having sown their wild oats. So that when Widmark and Taylor locked horns due to a conflict of interest and values, long after the war's end and the demise of their gang, there could be no reconciliation as their cross-purpose came to a head.Widmark's upbeat, anti-social mores neatly bounce off Taylor's low-key, conventional manner, right up to their inevitable show-down. And it doesn't matter whether Widmark prevailed in the end, his is the character which makes this an enduring film-going experience.*****