Lawless Land

This seems to have been made as a matinée feature in the day. But it still holds up after all these years. Some of the acting is a bit bad, but some is pleasantly good. Very few stereotypical characters in this western, not very common for the genre and the time. Some very memorable lines, and delivery of those lines. I am by no stretch of the imagination a film scholar, so I don't know if the notable dialog in this film was borrowed from earlier work. My point? Much of the dialog in this movie can be recognized in many a well known movie that came later, including recent releases, and not just in westerns. If you come across this one, and enjoy a good story set to a western backdrop, you won't regret watching it.

"Lawless Land" is a fully satisfying, although simple, B-western from Johnny Mack Brown's flurry of westerns made from 1936 and 1937. His appearance nearly always guarantees a pleasant experience no matter what else goes on, but in this case the film has a really nice aura in and of itself. The sets are always important to me, and this film has some good ones, including an expansive hacienda; an oft-visited combination post office/general store; and a remote cabin nestled in the wood. And, of course, there a few outdoor locales but these are routine. Hair-raising action is not bountiful in this film, but when it does occur it is brief and effective. I really enjoyed the opening and closing music and the musical entertainment within the film, which is melodious and pleasingly gorgeous.

As for the acting in this one, JMB's lines are delivered in an oddly stilted way, as it often is, but his work is so earnest and affable that one happily goes along for the ride. No other cowboy star showed as much confidence and swagger as JMB, with the exception of John Wayne and possibly Buck Jones, but JMB's swagger is somehow always appealing. The familiar Ted Adams gets an unusually substantial role as the mustachioed villain in this one, and does a nice job. By contrast, although leading lady Louise Stanley is a pretty woman, she doesn't really bring much oomph to the proceedings. All in all, the cast is good enough to get the job done, but it really is the unfolding story the makes this simple B-western show worth one's while.

Sheriff Jim (Ed Cassidy) needs help and calls his Texas Ranger pal Jeff (Johnny Mack Brown) to town. Jeff arrives, only to learn about a series of murders including that of the sheriff. The law is paralyzed and the town falls in the hands of a gang of outlaws, headed by manipulative Clay Wheeler (Ted Adams). Jeff quickly slips into the role of a quick-witted investigator.

The main villain almost fooled me into thinking he's a model citizen. But it's Ted Adams so I knew he was the bad hombre, the one who shot the sheriff and the doctor. He's standout in the role as the duplicitous slime ball who wants to marry the daughter of the man he had killed, but he certainly doesn't have good judgement in picking henchmen as the one he has is pretty useless. It's quite an entertaining western, with some detective elements, though Mack Brown's character figured out who the bad guy is mid-way; it's never explained how, but in a 60 minute film you can't explain everything.

Lawless Land casts Johnny Mack Brown as a Texas Ranger who upon arriving in town hears that the sheriff has been killed only minutes earlier. As it was the sheriff Brown had come to see, he decides to stay awhile and see what's going on.

From the gitgo it's rather obvious that the town's leading citizen is responsible not only for the sheriff's murder, but a couple of others besides. Ted Adams is a villain in the grand tradition of Snidely Whiplash. If he had only let his mustache grow out into a handlebar he could have twirled them, let out a cackling laugh, and everyone would know.

Everyone has to know because this film was meant for the juvenile trade so you could not be subtle. When anything is subtle in one of these B picture horse operas, it's a rarity indeed.

All this on Adams part mind you because also in the grand tradition of those Victorian/Edwardian melodramas, Adams has designs on Little Nell in the form of Louise Stanley.

Both Brown and Adams can't get any good help, Brown enlists storekeeper Horace Murphy in his service and Adams chief henchman is Julian Rivero who can't do anything right. Rivero bungles one job after another for Adams usually in a way that provokes a lot of laughs.

I found Lawless Land to be thoroughly enjoyable taken on its own terms. I think it will still be viewing pleasure.

Johnny Mack Brown is the broad-shouldered hero of this cheap but amiable b-movie. He's a ranger who stumbles upon the double-murder of a town's sheriff and doctor and sticks around to woo the naive girl targeted by the bad guy. It's routine stuff and the acting is dreadful - but it's no less than we expect from a '30s programmer.