The Law and Jake Wade

'Old' Westerns aren't my favourite type of film - never have been, but if I had to make an exception for a classic example, right now this would be it. One thing in its favour from my point of view is that it tells a simple story which really boils down to one man versus another. Sure, both the title character and the baddie have cohorts, but the crux of the matter is that there's a score to be settled between the two leads. Joyfully, there isn't a posse in sight (unless you include the Indian encounter.)

There's nothing' better than a man trying to atone for his past getting caught up once more with an old accomplice who won't let him forget it. What some call a wooden performance from Robert Taylor, I prefer to call 'relaxed'. I've seen him harshly judged in some quarters, but to me he was a likable presence - although it's true to say that of the two, Richard Widmark takes top honours. The final showdown is tense and competently strung out by Sturges. While it's not quite mano a mano, it IS one on one... To me, that's a good thing.

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).

Robert Taylor stars as Jake Wade, former outlaw gone straight who must battle his old partner, Richard Widmark as Clint Holister, the leader of a band of outlaws wanting to find stolen bank money, the location of which only Jake Wade knows. Robert Taylor does a competent job in the lead, but Richard Widmark really steals the show as the menacing leader of the gang. The movie is exciting, fast paced and leads to a satisfying climax. Good solid western.

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...

Seems to me Widmark's character would have been money ahead to simply knock off another bank rather than go into injun country where the chances of dying were pretty high. However, this probably wouldn't have made any better of a film. Plenty of shooting, flying arrows, nasty killers, and as usual Widmark gives a stellar performance as a psychotic gunman intent on having his way no matter what.