Popular reviews

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  Review by sakana1 ★★★★ 25

  Before they are about anything else, westerns are about men and their feelings.

  The feeling of having found a companion for life. The feeling of fighting for that life, alongside someone you know as well as you know yourself. The feeling of staying alive when you shouldn't have, and sharing that moment — the giddy elation; the bone-deep weariness; the need to scream and cry — with someone you love. Realizing a man from whom you suddenly can't imagine being parted doesn't want to leave.

  The empty feeling of being alone, when the person you love is gone. When they leave without explanation; without reason; without so much as a handshake.

  The pain of the way that friendship, with the one person…

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  Review by Andy Summers 🤠 ★★★★ 9

  During my Western odyssey I've discovered that there are certain actors that earn my admiration before the film has even started. Despite my love for the Western greats like Scott, Wayne, Murphy, McCrea, and Stewart, Richard Widmark has always been an actor that could put them all to shame when it came to unpredictable onscreen characters. He had menace in those eyes, a smile that could turn into a maniacal grin, that was made for both noirs and villainous Western bad guys, and for me he's yet another Hollywood star who never received half the recognition he deserved. Widmark left a real impression in his cinematic debut performance as Tommy Udo in Henry Hathaway's Kiss of Death, and although he…

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  Review by noir1946 ★★★½ 4

  On the surface, The Law and Jake Wade is a conventional Western. We know that lawman Jake Wade (Robert Taylor) is going to prevail in the end, even in this era of so-called adult Westerns, and that bad guy Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark) will get his comeuppance. But how the film arrives at the inevitable sees enough twists and turns to maintain interest.

  The biggest twist is that Wade is a semi-reformed outlaw. Hollister was his partner until something occurred a year earlier to make Wade decide to reform. How he managed to become a U.S. marshal is a question the film never manages to answer. Wade thinks he owes Hollister something, so he breaks his old colleague out of…

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  Review by ScreeningNotes ★★★★ 2

  "During the war they made me an officer and a gentlemen for doing the same things they were going to hang me for!"

  A dark-clothed man enters a small, quiet town in the dead of night and breaks his old partner out of jail—but this isn't your standard crime duo, nor your benevolent outlaws. This is an ex-criminal turned sheriff, Jake Wade, and he's freeing Clint Hollister, the man who used to be his partner, from a nearby town. Their last deal went sour and Hollister was captured, so now Wade feels he owes it to Hollister to set things right. But Hollister wants the money. Wade says it's gone, but Hollister doesn't believe him, and he'll do anything he…

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  Review by waiyanaung ★★★½

  Jake Wade and Clint Hollister used to be big time outlaws until one day Jack run out on Clint during a robbery, buried treasure in some place and the latter ended in a prison. Times passed, and Jake is now a marshal in small time, finds a woman to love and about to settle down, but the burden of betraying his friend is eating his alive and when he heard about the news that the nearest town is holding Clint and about to hang him, Jack rode to there, got Clint out of the jail, told him never to come back here again and freed him. But of course, how silly of Jake to do that, Clint came back to…

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  Review by Christopher Moore ★★★½ 2

  The Law and Jake Wade doesn't start off strong. I was worried I had a dud on my hands, but it gets progressively better as Richard Widmark and Robert Taylor's backstory is established. Jake Wade (Taylor) is a marshal who falls back into his old outlaw gang, led by Clint Hollister (Widmark) who wants to know where Taylor left the gold from their last bank robbery.

  As usual, Widmark is electric and plays the nasty villain very well. However, Taylor is not overshadowed by any means. His may be a stolid turn that doesn't excite as much interest, but you get the sense it aids a well-balanced dynamic with Widmark - the sparks do fly here. In fact, now that…

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  Review by Quiller ★★★★★ 6

  A man with two horses enters a small frontier town. He heads directly to the jail, enters it, and quietly breaks another man out. The other man turns violent, knocking out the guard and shooting three other men who suddenly appear. The first does not draw his own pistol and, in fact, seems disgusted by the second man’s actions. He even takes away the second man’s gun. After they escape, the first man insists they separate, though the second man refers to $20,000 he believes the first man possesses. The first man claims he doesn’t, says he’s merely returning a favor, and departs. He eventually arrives at another town and enters its jail. But this time he belongs there. He’s…

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  Review by Zoë 🐝 ★★½ 5

  I'm usually not a huge fan of Robert Taylor - I tend to steer clear of him after I found him boring in Party Girl and Quo Vadis - but as a huge fan of the fantastic Richard Widmark I bit the bullet and gave The Law and Jake Wade a try. I think I may need to reassess my distaste for Taylor, he was really great as Jake Wade and completely surprised me with his stoic, poised, and self-assured performance. His age (he was approaching his 50s when he made this film) also adds to his character. Though he and Widmark were technically only three years apart Taylor looks older than his years and his world weariness and aged…

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  Review by LeeJ54 ★★★★ 3

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  "We're like customers in a barber shop. Just waitin' to get a nice close cut," Rennie, (Henry Silva, anticipating a Comanche attack).

  In The Law and Jake Wade we have an interesting John Sturges western that involves more conflicted characters than Sturges was usually noted for (not to diminish his excellent genre directing). Nevertheless, it is reminiscent of Anthony Mann's work.

  Special thanks are due to fellow Western aficionado and LB friend, @Andy Summers, whose excellent review herein, and other comments about Widmark's performance in this one (mentioned in his other Widmark reviews, such as RW's performance in The Last Wagon (1956), led me to move this film up on my watchlist!

  The film features outstanding performances that include Robert…

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  Review by lauren! ★★★

  it was okay. i probably would’ve enjoyed the movie a lot more if it didn’t pause every two minutes. anyway, those cowboys are gay asf! end of review.

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  Review by Jacob Olsen ★★★★ 1

  Clint Hollister: «Well, did you say a few words over the boys?»
  Ortero: «Yeah. Goodbye.»
  - Ortero never was much for making unnecessary speeches

  John Sturges, I guess, will never be mentioned as one of the great directors. Not even when limited to the Western genre. He made two that he's famous for; The Magnificent Seven and Gunfight at The OK Corral. And they are both good films. But let's be honest about it - that is because of the script, not the directing. However, the question remains whether he may have deserved a bit more recognition for his Westerns.

  For instance, he directed Bad Day at Black Rock. Perhaps not immediately included in Western canons, mostly because it's contemporary.…

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  Review by Kevin Jones ★★★½ 3

  The 1950s, Pt. III: 31/100
  Ranked: John Sturges
  1958 Ranked

  Director John Sturges knew his way around a western. Is he considered among the western masters? If not, he should be. Most directors who helmed a western in their time would dream to have his output in the genre. The Law and Jake Wade is no exception, a rock solid story about two men on opposite sides of the law, albeit with a wrinkle. Jake Wade (Robert Taylor) is a cop. Clint Hollister (Richard Widmark) is a criminal. Except, as the opening scene shows, one can hardly tell the difference as the Sheriff Jake Wade travels to a nearby county to bust the condemned Clint Hollister out of prison. The…