Fighting Lawman

The Fighting Lawman is directed by Thomas Carr and written by Dan Ullman. It stars Wayne Morris, Virginia Grey, John Kellogg, Harry Lauter, John Pickard, Rick Vallin and Myron Healey. Music is by Raoul Kraushaar and cinematography by Gilbert Warrenton.

Marshal Jim Burke (Morris) is working hard to put away four bank robbers but also finds one of the sisters of the men has designs on the stashed loot herself...

A brisk black and white Oater that has no pretensions to be anything other than a stock formula good versus evil story. It follows the standard procedures for such a production, a shoot-out is followed by a chase, which is followed by a fist-fight, then a murder, a chase, a shoot-out, a fist-fight and on it goes until good triumphs over evil. It's the sort of film where upon hearing from the Marshal that he has killed her brother, the sister is angry for about 30 seconds and then forgives said Marshal because he was just doing is job. The cast breeze through the lightweight script with smiles and sneers, though Grey scores well as the cunning female giving the boys a run for their money.

Feels more like a 40s Western than a 50s effort, but it's unassuming fluff and the Simi Valley exteriors make for a pleasing airy backdrop. 6/10

Virginia Grey steals the show with this unexpected female character, far from clichés and also far from a Calamity Jane or Annie Oakley like role. Her character is quite ambivalent, you don't really know what to think about her, and I like this, whilst Wayne Morris is totally bland, predictable in his actions. That Thomas Carr's western is not the worst ever of this film maker who had many difficulties in his career to show the least ambition. But maybe he needed more budget; after all some of his last films were better than the previous and cheaper ones. So, I advise you to focus on Virginia Grey's character. I repeat, that's the most interesting in this film. Excellent, awesome final shot, very unusual for this kind of B picture.