The Lawless

Pretty impressive description of the culture struggles between the white bread caucasians and Mexican workers in 1950. Right from the start, we see a confrontation between the young upper class Joe Ferguson (John Sands... where did he go, anyway...?) and the blue-collar worker Lopo Chavez (Maurice Jara in his first role.), trying to make ends meet Also in his first role is 20 year old Tab Hunter as "Frank". Nice performance by the attractive 25-year- old Gail Russell as the lead Sunny Garcia; unfortunately Russell died before 40 from a heart attack and alleged alcoholism. The story is that when reporter Jonas Creel (Herb Anderson) meets up with Sunny at a dance, he turns in a story on the fight that breaks out, and the poop hits the fan. Macdonald Carey is the union rep "Wilder" caught in the middle, along with Creel, the reporter. Then we see the fathers and sons discussing who gets what punishment, and the chase is on for one of the workers Paul Rodriguez (Lalo Rios) who may or may not have committed a serious crime. Good story. Many of these same issues are still hot-button issues today in southern California, and all along the U.S. border.

..And some of those "B"s are far better than some of the "A"s of today. Macdonald Carey is at his best here as an editor who slowly becomes involved in the conditions and prejudices against the California fruit pickers. this movie is way ahead of its time in how it depicts a small city in the grip of discrimination and fear. Gail Russell, though never a great lead, is luminous here and utterly convincing as Mac's opposite - the editor or a Mexican newspaper. I was completely caught up in and the ending is quite nerve-wracking, you cannot predict which way it is going to go. The supporting cast is also terrific and the crowd scenes and slow panning action for the dance in the country and the street scenes is amazing. I understand the director was a victim of the McCarthy witchhunt and lived out his days in England where he directed "Dirk Bogarde" in "the Servant" another great movie. Highly recommended, an 8 out of 10.

After watching The Lawless I've come to feel there is a back story in the making of this film. First of all it comes from Paramount which was not a studio known for making socially significant films. But secondly with director Joseph Losey, a man who would shortly leave the USA never to work on our soil again, the producers were Paramount's Dollar Bills as they were known.

This is a Pine-Thomas Production and they supplied all the B films it seemed for Paramount in about 15 years from World War I until Bill Pine's death. The usual run of films for these two were decent action adventure, western, or occasionally a noir film. But this one is a real odd fish in their credits. Not to say it isn't good, because it's good and powerful. Timely too, coming out right around the time Joe McCarthy was telling he had lists of varying amounts as to how many Communists there were employed in our government.

Times like those give way to people's primal fears. The Lawless deals with the mob mentality of a southern California town when a young Mexican kid, Lalos Rios, gets himself in a jackpot during a brawl that breaks out at a dance. During his flight he gets even more problems when the cop driving the car that picked him up crashes after the driver loses control and is killed. The reason it crashes because the cop in the back seat starts pounding on him.

Ihe Lawless is about fear and people lose their trust in the law when fear steps in. Young Rios is afraid of what the mob will do and the mob of whites who were comfortably in the majority are afraid of the growing numbers of these darker and different people.

Standing up for law and order in its best sense is the editor of the local newspaper MacDonald Carey. He pays big time for going against the mob. As did director Joseph Losey and many others at that time.

Elements of They Won't Forget and Fury are found in this film and later on MGM put a lot more dollars into Trial, a film about the same issues addressed here.

Besides Carey and Rios, you'll see some outstanding performances by Gail Russell as the Mexican American love interest for Carey and by an old flame of Carey's Lee Patrick who plays a right wing reporter slanting the story against Rios for all its worth. Watch Patrick's facial expressions as she's dictating copy, they're frightening and unforgettable.

Made on the shoestring Pine-Thomas budget that Paramount normally allotted for them, The Lawless is an uncomfortable reminder of past times with very much relevance for the present.

Tightly paced social problem programmer is well directed by Losey. Carey was never the strongest of leading men and perhaps the film would have been better served by an actor with more gravitas in the lead but he turns in an acceptable performance. Gail Russell is fine in the limited screen time she has but her role isn't really noteworthy. The person who is underutilized is Lee Patrick as an out of town reporter, whenever she's on screen the other actors recede into the background so sharp is her presence, the mark of a truly outstanding supporting performer. The story is sadly relevant even today, how people can be swayed by mob rule and unreasoning prejudice.

One of the best things about Joseph Losey is that he often made socially-conscious films. This is certainly no different. The premise to this film is good, but the execution is just a bit short. The story is about a Mexican youth in a border town who gets up caught in a violent situation that leads to a manhunt for him. The white part of town and the brown part of town are at odds here. There is a different kind of twist in the film that doesn't make both sides simply good and bad. Gail Russell plays a Mexican newspaper editor. Uh-huh. It's very far-fetched. MacDonald Carey plays the big-shot editor of the big paper in town. It's a middling film but with a daring message for its time.