BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Martin Bradley A so-so western from director John Sturges but then even a so-so western if often a lot more entertaining than many a better director's more 'serious' pictures and this one has the added bonus of Richard Widmark at his nasty best. It also features that great character actor Henry Silva as one of Widmark's gang. The star, however, is that plank of wood, Robert Taylor while the leading lady is the nondescript Patricia Owens. It has a reasonably decent plot, some great scenery and a fair amount of action which, in the end, is as much as you might want from any horse opera so while this is no classic by any stretch of the imagination, it is never less than watchable.

school_account Let's face it, Robert Taylor is an awful actor. It just seems like somebody needed to fill this role quickly and grabbed a paunchy old stage hand from sweeping the floor, saying you'll do ! The guy just can't act ! How did he get by for so long in Hollywood with no talent, when there were other superb actors around like Spencer Tracy , Kirk Douglas, Richard Widmark etc... Robert Taylor must have read many scripts turned down by the proper actors of Hollywood just to get work.He is actually billed as the lead in this movie ! Even John Wayne on a bad day could act this man under the table. The definition of a Superstar is the star that carries the movie. Without Richard Widmark's presence billed as second lead, this movie would have fallen completely flat. Is this movie really directed by the same man who made "Bad day at Black Rock" and "The Great Escape" ? John Sturges must have been having an off day. Although he didn't have much to work with. The poor script and leading man to name but two. In Bad day at Black rock you have of course the master and arguably the best screen actor there has even been , Spencer Tracy. In this movie you have Robert (the statue) Taylor. Without a good leading man a movie is sunk before it begins.John Sturges should have been more like William Wyler in his approach to directing Robert Taylor. To at least coax a mediocre performance from the man, rather than this exhibition of rocking horse excellence. Nice to see Dr McCoy though, playing yet another heavy, he is a very good actor, obviously, although he never liked beaming down to planets.

mgtbltp I watched this out of the new Warner's DVD set tonight, I had caught it on TV about a month or so ago under a less that ideal setting. This time it had a proper viewing and my undivided attention. The film was Directed by John Sturges, and I can't recommend more that you see this alone for the gorgeous cinematography by Robert Surtees. Here is a Western that in outdoor locations and settings looks perfect. The sagebrush engulfed ghostown at the end is really impressive. Either they went to the trouble of building a partially collapsed wooden aqueduct to a water tank or the set was an actual real ghostown .These locations are all in Lonepine, Death Valley, and The Alabama Hills. Why no recent Westerns in the last 30 years have not been shot there is beyond me, but using those locations would be like slipping into a comfortable old pair of shoes and would also give a certain cachet to a work. Those locations are not as singularly iconic as the Buttes of Monument Valley, but they actually represent even more the West as a whole because they provide an infinite variety of jagged peaks, flat plains, alluvial fans, eroded badlands, and boulder fields.The film stars Robert Taylor as Jake Wade , a reformed outlaw, Richard Widmark as Wade's old partner in crime Clint Hollister from the Civil War Kansas/Missouri border war. Patricia Owens is Peggy Wade's fiancé who knows nothing of his past. Robert Middleton plays Ortero a member of the old Wade-Hollister Gang. Henry Silva is in one of his stock quasi lunatic hothead roles he played so well, as new gang member Rennie. De Forest Kelley (Bones from Star Trek) is again playing a heavy (very similar to what he played in Warlock) gang member Wexler, Eddie Firestone is I believe minor gang member Burke who rounds out the main cast.The story is basically that a reformed Wade finds out that Hollister has been captured and held in a jail awaiting a hanging close enough nearby to allow Wade to break him out in order to pay back a dept owed (Hollister saved his life). After accomplishing this Wade splits with Hollister to go back to his reformed ways, things don't quite go as planned. It seems that on the last job Wade & Hollister pulled Wade disappeared with $20,000.*note bene those who watch this the way they take no chances and bind this Wade's hands behind his back in stark contrast to the stupid remake of 3:10 to Yuma.The only minor things keeping this Western out of a top ten list are that the night time scenes are all shot on obvious sets one of which has a ridiculous backdrop painting of Monument Valley, looking very out of place. Another is that though all the clothes of the actors who have been on the trail supposedly for days are suitably well dusted up, none of the actors have any stubble or the beginnings of beards. And finally the way Robert Taylor looks & plays his part seems just a tad off the mark (old Hollywood style), its like the difference between Sturges' "Gunfight at the OK Corral" and his "Hour Of The Gun" the way in the former Lancaster appears as Earp with the way in the latter Garner looks as Earp.This is a definitely a Western to own.

zardoz-13 The John Sturges western "The Law and Jake Wade" is a solidly made, entertaining 1950's era oater that stands out as one of the earliest 'take-me-to-the-buried-treasure' plots. Indeed, Robert Taylor is rather wooden as Jake Wade, but after all, Taylor is the hero and Wade is a lawman who represents the status quo. Richard Widmark said in an interview that he thought the movie was bad but he enjoyed the character of villainous Clint Hollister. The cast is uniformly excellent,especially De Forest Kelly with his Southern drawl and Henry Silva as the crazed kid Rennie. Aside from one obvious studio bound scene around a night camp fire, this western was filmed in the rugged outdoors at Lone Pine, California, and in Death Valley."The Law and Jake Wade" opens traditionally with a lone horseman riding through scenic terrain until he enters a clapboard western town and reins up in front of a marshal's office. Quietly, Jake Wade (Robert Taylor of "Quo Vadis") dismounts and walks into the office and thrusts the muzzle of a shotgun into the lawman's back. Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark of "Kiss of Death") is lounging in the calaboose when he spots Jake with a shotgun in the marshal's back. "Well, who'd have thought," he marvels as his old friend forces the lawman to unlock the cell. Hollister complains about the terrible food that he has been served and slugs the lawman, knocking him out cold. As he is buckling on his gun belt, two deputies walk in unexpectedly, and he cuts loose on them with lead. Jake Wade, who has been trying to get them both out of town with the least amount of commotion, knocks the gun out of Clint's hand. They ride out with the townspeople firing shots at them. As it turns out, Jake and Clint once rode together as partners in crime. Their lawless days came to an end when Jake thought that he had gunned down an innocent child during a daylight robbery. Jake took the loot from the robbery and never looked back. Indeed, he rode away and buried the money and then created a new life for himself. Now, he serves as a lawman himself with a prospective bride-to-be, Peggy (Patricia Owens of "Seven Women from Hell"), awaiting marriage. Jake rides with Clint for a ways then decides to split up. Clint is happy to see Jake but he feels betrayed by Jake's stashing the loot and leaving the gang. Jake explains to Clint that he saved his old outlaw buddy from a date with the noose because Clint had rescued him from being hanged in the old days. Clint wants to shoot it out now with Jake, but Jake refuses to give him a gun.When Jake returns to town, he spots a suspicious cowboy, Rennie (Henry Silva of "Sergeants Three"), loitering on front street. Later, Jake dresses up in his best suit and rents a buggy to visit Peggy. They quarrel because Jake wants her to move with him away somewhere else. Peggy doesn't want to leave and storms away from a dinner table. Jake rides back to town and an inquisitive Rennie visits him at the jail. Something about Rennie spooks Jake, and he slugs the kid without warning. Before he realizes it, another old friend Ortero (Robert Middleton of "Cattle King") pulls a derringer on him. It seems that Jake's deputy had locked up Ortero for sleeping off a drunk in the gutter, but he forget to frisk him. The rest of Clint's gang arrive, including Wexler (De Forest Kelly of "Star Trek"). Wexler isn't too happy with Jake either for pulling out on them and taking the money. Jake explains that he took the money, buried it, and refused to look back. Clint wants Jake to take them to where he buried the loot. Initially, Jake says no until Clint takes Peggy hostage, and Jake has to lead them to the loot."Bad Day at Black Rock" director John Sturges doesn't waste a moment in this character-driven epic. Everybody has that tough leathery look and these are no-nonsense characters. No sooner have they left for the badlands where the loot is buried than they learn that the Indians are on the warpath, adding to their woes. Jake tries to escape at one point, but Clint is just too sly for him. Eventually, when they reach the ramshackle ghost town where Jake buried the money, we learn he stashed it in the local cemetery, anticipating a similar burial of stolen gold in Sergio Leone's "The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly."Three-time Oscar winning lenser Robert Surtees of "PT-109" and "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" photographed this western in widescreen and it looks terrific! Some of the long shots will just blow your mind, but then anybody who watches Sturges' westerns will know that the director loved to shoot really long, long shots. Ferris Webster, another Sturges' favorite, edited "The Law and Jake Wade." The screenplay by William Bowers of "Support Your Local Sheriff" provides some flavorful dialogue. Widmark excels as the villain. The last shoot-out seems to prematurely end, still "The Law and Jake Wade" ranks as one of those memorable, widescreen western from the 195os. Okay, "The Law and Jake Wade" isn't the greatest western ever made, but it is competently-down, suspenseful and a wonderful way to burn 86 minutes.