Rating: 
Summary: A very pessimistic story
Review: I have seen this film twice and it makes me sad and pessimistic. If you like real heroes, do not buy this. It is well-made and acted film, but not for romantics like me. If you can take that all persons in this film are morally suspect, just enjoy it. My heart just is not able to give it more than 2 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Great Film - Sound Not So Good
Review: I was very disapointed with this film "LAWMAN" and not because of the film itself, but because of the sound quality of this DVD. The sound was very flat, high pitched and with no depth to the sound at all and that's sad because this is a great film in itself. This is a great Western with an excellent cast, especially the great character actor William C. Watson as Choctaw Lee, the gunfighter. Richard Jordon as Crow was also great. You just don't see great films like this anymore, basically because you don't have actors like this anymore, Burt Lancaster, Lee J. Cobb, Albert Salmi, etc. If someone else purchased this DVD and the sound is great, please let me know as maybe I received a defected DVD. I hope the DVD was defected as I would love to enjoy this film once more.
Rating: 
Summary: Lancaster still has it...
Review: In this 1971 film, Lancaster is a bit past his prime. However, he still has the marvelous acting qualities that make his work stand out.The direction, on the other hand, his a bit hit and miss for me. While the mood and atmosphere created by Winner are almost perfect, his "Bad 70s TV Action-Zoom Cam" gets in the way, with the camera zipping everywhere but where it ought to be. Much of this film called for more subtle camera motion, and the abuse of the zoom lens effect permanently marks the film as a product of its time. On the plus side, the aging gunfighters depicted by Lancaster, Cobb, and Ryan, the feeling of changing times, and the sense of a closing chapter in the history of the West are all spot on. It called to mind moments in "The Magnificent Seven" or another Lancaster film, "The Professionals", in which the day of the gunfighter has all but ended, leaving the few remaining with a stuggle to find their place. Ryan and Cobb are equally good here, but Ryan probably gets the edge. His character shows the gunfighter coming to terms with modern times by giving in and becoming part of them. Cobb depicts the will to change if only events would allow it. Lancaster is the embodiment of justice in the Old West, and change is resisted. Familliar faces pop up here and there, with Ralph Waite (Pa on "The Waltons") and John Hillerman (Higgins of "Magnum, PI") both in minor supporting roles. Waite plays one of the bad guys (in muttonchops!), while Hillerman is a citizen in the background. Hillerman's western accent is British instead, which is probably why he got only two lines in this one. A good, solid western, set in a stark evaporating frontier town just before 1900, the film is a keeper. The ending is a bit out of place and not particularly satisfying, but it is not rediculous. If you can sit through an hour and forty minutes of the Action Zoom Cam, you will find another wonderful Lancaster film waiting for you.
Rating: 
Summary: Cool and a half
Review: LAWMAN is one of the best Westerns made in 1971. Burt Lancaster looks a little chubby, but no more so than John Wayne around this time. there must have been some high calorie vittles served up in Dodge City. Robert Ryan plays a character whose name is actually "Ryan," Cotton Ryan, so when the other characters talk to him, they're always saying, "Ryan?" and when he answers "Yes," it's kind of strange. Robert Ryan looks terrific here. It's hard to believe such a vital force in the US cinema would soon be gone. Lee J. Cobb is also in the movie, and his head is as bald as a turkey egg, I had never realized what an imposing head Cobb has but he uses it in almost every scene, to emphasize his evil ways and his belief that any man can be bought. If that isn't acting chops enough, the movie also features Robert Duvall, looking young and suave.
For the love interest, Sheree North plays "Laura," the former girlfriend of Lancaster's character. Lancaster gives her until noon to deliver her husband to him on a silver platter as it were. Naturally Laura is torn between the husband she's grown fond of and her embery passion for Lancaster. Sheree North, once a Hollywood It Girl and Fox's replacement for Marilyn Monroe (should Monroe turn ugly) looks worn and frazzled, from living on the frontier ekeing out existence on a farm. She's great. Why she never got the Oscar I'll never know. It's a Michael Winner film from the same period as his masterpiece, THE GAMES, and features some of his trademark quick editing which makes the viewer dizzy and nauseous.
Rating:
Summary: One man who doesn't bow to people who break the law
Review: One of the most underappreciated westerns ever made, LAWMAN stars Burt Lancaster as a hard-bitten, taciturn lawman from the town of Bannock who rides seemingly for a hundred miles to the town of Sabbath to take in a group of cowboys who, in a drunken shooting spree, had shot up his town and killed an old man. But his appearance in Sabbath causes considerable hostility among the townsfolk, because they owe their livelihoods to that same bunch, led by Lee J. Cobb, and are unwilling to give it up. Lancaster, unsurprisingly, is unmoved. Therein hangs this solid, almost psychological, sagebrush saga. Lancaster, as usual, is brilliant in his role of an efficient, cold-blooded lawman, and Cobb is equally special as the leader of the group of cowboys being sought. This is not your typical good guys/bad guys saga: what happened in Bannock was a tragic accident, and Lancaster may be pushing his authority a bit too far. Robert Ryan, always one of the better and more overlooked actors in Hollywood, gives one of his greatest performances as Sabbath's aging, pragmatic marshal. Probably Michael Winner's best film as a director, LAWMAN was shot on location in central Mexico and has some stark photography by British cameraman Robert Paynter, giving it a look not out of place in a Sam Peckinpah or Sergio Leone film. It is violent in places, but it makes for very good viewing, especially for those who appreciate westerns of this type.
Rating:
Summary: Superb Film--BUT DON'T BUY THIS VERSION! FAKE WIDESCREEN!
Review: Superb acting, superb directing, superb dialogue. . . feel free to read my rave of the version with the same cover, ASIN 079283853X. The movie is so good, I had to give it 5 stars even with what I'm about to write. This "widescreen" version is an incredibly blatant ripoff. All they did was chop off the top and bottom of the already reduced TV image. Let me stress: YOU GET NOTHING EXTRA ON THIS VIDEO, AND YOU LOSE LOTS! It's such a shame because this movie deserves widescreen release. So in the meantime, buy 079283853X :-)!
Rating:
Summary: A total Shocker
Review: The first time I watched this Movie I thought well it was made some years ago,it should be the same shoot or be shot kind of Movie. Was I surprised and shocked, Burt Lancaster plays one tough-Mean Marshall, and when he's out to get you, you can be sure you're Got... and most times with a bullit in you, and the way he does it, with-out a thought. & I consider the ending of the Movie a [ Complete Total Shocker ].. Ouch...
Rating:
Summary: One of my top 5 all time favorite Westerns
Review: The plotline is simple. Jarrod Maddox (Burt Lancaster), is an aging lawman, still extremely capable, who arrives in town and gives notice that the men involved in a killing will return with him for trial "or I'll kill them where they stand". What unfolds is truly interesting, given depth by the rich characterizations of Lee J. Cobb, Robert Ryan (two exceptional supporting actors), Albert Salmi, Joseph Wiseman, Sheree North and others (look for Robert Duvall in a pre-Godfather role, as well as Ralph Waite, pre-Waltons) and a story that does not move in a conventional direction. More than once I have read reviews of this film that criticize its ending. I strongly disagree with this assessement. I think that the ending completes the drama fittingly. The ending is violent and disturbing, even dark, but this should lend itself toward reflection, not scorn.
Rating:
Summary: Great film hurt badly by unsatisfying ending.
Review: This could have been a five star movie. Burt Lancaster was terrific as the uncompromising lawman, and the supporting cast including Robert Ryan and Lee J. Cobb were first-rate. This film sports a good script that has surprisingly few cliches. This is a character-driven movie that draws you in and keeps you watching ...that is...until the final five minutes of the film. The ending jarred me, and I left shaking my head (it seemed totally out of character compared to the rest film). Even with this very unsatisfying ending, I give "Lawman" 7 out of 10. It's a film worth seeing, but it could have been one of those rare "don't miss" gems.
Rating:
Summary: Western Justice!!!!!
Review: This is a great violent western. Lancaster proves he
can step up and be just as tough as Eastwood and Wayne.
The action is superb. Western fans-Don't miss this one!
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