The Law and Jake Wade

Some of the best westerns of the Fifties and Sixties were directed by director John Sturges. Sturges's films combined that rare blend of action for the kiddies with adult problems and issues.

Here the problem is a debt owed or at least that's what Marshal Jake Wade feels towards Clint Hollister. Before Jake broke with the Hollister, it seems that Hollister saved him from a hangman's noose back when he ran with Hollister's gang. Jake hears about Hollister being arrested and sentenced to be hanged so he rides a piece and breaks him from jail.

That squares it as far as the Marshal is concerned, but the outlaw leader has other ideas. Seems Jake ran off with the proceeds from the last job. No good deed goes unpunished in this life. Hollister re-unites with his gang and they kidnap the Marshal and his fiancée and force him to lead them to the money.

You have to watch the film for the rest of this. If you're any kind of a fan of westerns, I think you'll know how this turns out.

Robert Taylor plays the upright Marshal Jake Wade who could have let the whole thing slide and let outlaw Richard Widmark hang, but he feels a debt. It's a good part for Taylor as he was winding down his contract at MGM. Unfortunately Taylor doesn't figure that Widmark owed him something for running off with the loot. The two leads play well off each other.

Rounding out the cast is Patricia Owens who is your typical crinoline western woman and the rest of Widmark's gang which included DeForest Kelley, Robert Middleton, and Henry Silva among others.

Nice Saturday afternoon fare for all fans of the American western, like me.

Any movie that adds significantly to my lexicon is tops in my book. Richard Widmark is so good at being so bad. He doesn't do it any better than in this movie. And ever since I've seen this move (many years ago) I always say, "More of that doin' without thinking'" whenever I do something mindless and/or stupid. Watch the movie and you'll see what I mean!

I read the comment about Robert Taylor being a bad actor. He is rather stiff, but it doesn't seem to bother me. I had a friend say the same thing about Tony Curtis. I guess it is a subjective thing. Either it bothers you or it doesn't. All I really had to say was in the first paragraph. The rest was necessary to fulfill submission guidelines. What's wrong with a short review. Sometimes less is more!

Reformed marshal helps former cohort escape from prison, but comes to regret it. Taylor is fine as the stoic marshal trying to escape his outlaw past. Widmark makes a terrific villain, without resorting to the giggling psycho persona that marked many of his earlier performances as bad guys. He even has some funny lines. The enigmatic Silva is notable as a member of Widmark's gang. Sturges made a number of Westerns during the 1950s. This is another solid entry in the director's Western filmography, although it's not as good as the one that preceded it (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral) or the one that followed it (Last Train from Gun Hill).

In his second Western of 1958, after "Saddle the Wind," Taylor again is a reformed outlaw who has deserted Widmark's gang, taking along the proceed from a bank robbery...

Taylor becomes a highly respected marshal of a small New Mexico town... He discovers that his old gang leader Widmark faces hanging nearly on a murder charge...

Since Taylor owes his companion an ancient favor, he decides to help him escape from jail, but lives to regret it...

Widmark kidnaps Taylor and his sweetheart Patricia Owens and he and his four confederates (Robert Middleton; Henry Silva; DeForest Kelley and Burt Douglas) force them across the Sierras to a deserted ghost town where Taylor has hidden a buried loot...

Taylor and Owens attempt to escape but Widmark drives them into the town to recover the money... The Comanches were there on their backs... A well-staged Indian raid follows plus the final showdown..

With good shots of the High Sierras and Death Valley, "Law and Jake Wade" is a good standard Western filled with irony dialog and sardonic humor, enjoyable throughout, but with no outstanding merits...

Jake Wade (Robert Taylor) breaks his partner Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark) out of jail. Jake had buried their loot and refuses to reveal the location to Clint. Jake is actually the new Marshall of another small town married to wife Peggy (Patricia Owens). Clint and his new crew catch up to Jake, and he wants the loot.

It's a good if not great western. Robert Taylor is on the decline and he's a diminishing leading man. This one is all Richard Widmark. He is chewing up the movie the whole way through. He has all the swagger in the world. This has a fight with Indians. There is final shootout between the two leads in an abandoned town. It's all here.