PodBill Just what I expected

Executscan Expected more

WillSushyMedia This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

rickdumesnil-55203 not a very bad western......predictable.....but fun to see Randolph Scott practically always in a good humour and looking good for his advancing age. the action is alright and the actors do their jobs....but i don't get Angela lansbury. in all her roles she ruins the movie for me I'm sorry but she doesn't pull my heart strings at all. yes luckily randy was in this film because i don't think i would have reached the end. i have 4 more Scott westerns to watch i hope they fare better than this one and Angela is not co starring or even a character actress. oh i forgot the atmosphere of the movie really passes well and the town is well depicted. maybe a few known character actors....gabby Hayes...Andy devine...Walter Brennan would have helped it get better

Panamint You might notice that Randolph Scott is trying very hard in this film and is committed to a good performance, and this is one of his best. He tried noticeably harder in movies that he produced (understandably) like this one versus the studio-contract films he endlessly tromped through for many years.Scott, like many leading men, also noticeably worked well with respected superior actresses like Angela Lansbury here, as opposed to just random movie actresses and bimbos. Scott ups his game here and their scenes together are good. Excellent supporting players are on hand including the avuncular Wallace Ford, perennially versatile and noted actor Michael Pate, and others. John Emery, almost unknown today but part of the Hollywood fabric for a long time, makes a too-rare Western villain appearance as a rotten saloon owner. Middle age and many years of sins are etched in Emery's face. He is perfect for this role. Some fans will undoubtedly remember Emery from the sci-fi classic "Kronos".Angela Lansbury- what can I say but just note how she distinguishes and elevates this movie. You know what I mean- she's Angela Lansbury.So the formula routine plotting and the clichés are uplifted in the end result of "A Lawless Street". I can recommend it for Western fans and for fans of the individual actors involved.

RanchoTuVu A town is at the crossroads between law and order and its commercial interests, saloon owner Cody Clarke (John Emery) and mayor Hamer Thorne (Warner Anderson) choose the latter in order to maintain the surging saloon business. In order to achieve their goal they have to get rid of the competent marshal played by Randolph Scott, and hire a gunman (Michael Pate) to take care of him. Scott is wounded and widely believed to have been killed, but comes back to settle scores, while his ex-wife (Angela Lansbury) who is now a singer and dancer in a burlesque company comes into town and does a quite revealing song and dance number. Directed by B film genius Joseph H. Lewis, the film has originality, style, and quite an interesting premise, though the opportunities slip by.

Robert J. Maxwell The story is simplicity itself. Scott is the marshall keeping the town (referred to several times as a wild beast) peaceful despite the efforts of two corrupt businessmen to take it over and run it on their terms. They hire a gunman (Pate) to come in and knock off Scott. At about the same time Scott's showgirl wife (Lansbury) shows up. They've separated because she doesn't want him using guns to earn a living. Or something like that. (Where have we seen this before?) Pate shoots Scott, who recovers later and shoots Pate. The businessmen are subdued by the rest of the townspeople who have come to their senses and acquired ethics. Scott hands over his badge because the beast has been tamed and the town no longer needs his kind of marshall. He rides off into the sunset with his wife and a carriage full of luggage and mulligan stew. The end.Angela Lansbury is a first-rate actress. She wows the audience in pieces as different as "The Manchurian Candidate," "Death on the Nile," and "Sweeney Todd" on Broadway. But she's given practically nothing to do here. Warner Anderson's acting is flat and matter-of-fact but he's okay. The other villainous businessmen are less than interesting, which is too bad because movies like this depend as much on the character of their heavies as they do on the star. Wally Ford is in the Thomas Mitchell/ Edgar Buchanan part. The movie's score blossoms during the overture to Lansbury's stage appearance. Elsewhere the score is overblown and sounds hastily assembled with comic notes where none are called for. The second half of the movie deteriorates. I cannot imagine why the rich ranchers and the rest of the townspeople (the wild beasts) have a sudden and entirely unmotivated change of heart and rally to Scott's side. Also, Scott gets to beat hell out of a human being the size of Man Mountain Dean, without using a gun. The two men have a lengthy and brutal fistfight and wind up with their shirts torn to shreds but not a drop of blood is spilled. But the first third of the movie gives Scott some scenes and dialogue that are outstanding for him, considering his usual persona. He shoots a man in self defense and is, if not ashamed of having done it, at least remorseful. The victim's widow has some sensible and believable lines too, and not favorable to Scott. Scott doesn't go on about his sadness -- he never goes on about anything. But we can sense the writers and the director giving him a chance to play something more than a heroic marble statue. It would have been nice had the rest of the movie been so played.