Robert Duvall's Divisive '70s Western With Burt Lancaster Is Streaming For Free
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In terms of old school cinema icons, it's hard to do better than Burt Lancaster. The star of "From Here to Eternity" and "Sweet Smell of Success," among many other revered films, he is the definition of a movie star. One might think pairing him with another icon in Robert Duvall, of "The Godfather" fame, would give rise to an instant classic. Instead, it resulted in a once-divisive Western, which you can watch for free right now.
Streaming (again, for free) on The Roku Channel, 1971's "Lawman" is a relic of a bygone era. Directed by Michael Winner (who's best known for directing the Charles Bronson action movie classic "Death Wish"), the movie was met with a mixed response from critics in its day. However, it's received a more favorable reappraisal in the year since then. So, those interested in judging for themselves can now do so, free of charge.
"Lawman" takes place in the Wild West town of Bannock. During a drunken spree, one of a half-dozen workers from a nearby ranch accidentally shoots an innocent man. Thus, Bannock's marshal, Jered Maddox (Lancaster), comes to the larger town of Sabbath with the dead body of one of those responsible and demands the surrender of the remaining five (whose ranks include Duvall's character) from sheriff Cotton Ryan (Robert Ryan) and ranch owner Vincent Bronson (Lee J. Cobb), leading to a tense confrontation.
Lancaster starred in many arguably perfect movies. "Lawman" isn't generally viewed as one of them, nor is it a film that's likely to come up regularly in conversation. But it does have an impressive cast and arrived at a time when Westerns were still wildly popular globally.
Lawman preceded Robert Duvall's legendary run in the '70s
The 1970s was the peak era of the so-called Spaghetti Western, with Italian-produced entries in the genre being made at a blistering pace. This decade also gave rise to many great Westerns in general, including "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and "High Plains Drifter," among many others. "Lawman," however, was sort of lost in the flow of its era and divided critics back in the day.
The New York Times, for example, called "Lawman" a "potent but curiously exasperating Western" in its original review. In a two star review (out of four stars), legendary critic Roger Ebert referred to it as "a Western with a lot of sides but no center." More modern reappraisals have helped reshape the movie's image, though. Case in point, it now carries a favorable 73% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
As for Robert Duvall's contribution, he played Vernon Adams, a member of the gang that Burt Lancaster's Jered guns for. "Lawman" was a relatively early entry in Duvall's filmography and preceded a run for the ages in the decade that followed. Indeed, Duvall had appeared in "The Godfather," "Joe Kidd," "The Conversation," "The Godfather Part II," "Network," and "Apocalypse Now" before the '70s were done.
Duvall has since become one of cinema's most cherished actors, nominated for seven Oscars and winning the prize for Best Actor for his role in "Tender Mercies." He's revisited the Western genre several more times throughout his career, including in the groundbreaking miniseries "Lonesome Dove" in 1989.