The Law and Jake Wade is a 1958 Metrocolor western released by MGM in CinemaScope,
based on the 1956 novel by Marvin H. Albert and directed by John Sturges.
The film was shot on location in California's High Sierra mountain range,
Lone Pine and Death Valley.
This movie was Robert Taylor's last A-picture as the top-billed lead.
User Review
QuoteDisplay MoreAlways on the run...
26 April 2007 | by Howlin Wolf (Oldham, Gtr Manchester, England.)
'Old' Westerns aren't my favourite type of film - never have been,
but if I had to make an exception for a classic example, right now this would be it.
One thing in its favour from my point of view is that it tells a simple story
which really boils down to one man versus another.
Sure, both the title character and the baddie have cohorts, but the crux of the matter
is that there's a score to be settled between the two leads.
oyfully, there isn't a posse in sight (unless you include the Indian encounter.)
There's nothing' better than a man trying to atone for his past getting
caught up once more with an old accomplice who won't let him forget it.
What some call a wooden performance from Robert Taylor,
I prefer to call 'relaxed'. I've seen him harshly judged in some quarters,
but to me he was a likable presence - although it's true to say that of the two,
Richard Widmark takes top honours.
The final showdown is tense and competently strung out by Sturges.
While it's not quite mano a mano, it IS one on one... To me, that's a good thing.