The Law and Jake Wade (1958) Reviews

• The Law and Jake Wade: Remembering Richard Widmark

  bonfirexx2008-03-27

  I just learned that Richard Widmark passed away at the age of 93. Widmark was on a short list of my all time favorite actors, sharing top billing with Fred MacMurray, George Peppard, and the brilliant (in my opinion) supporting actor Martin Balsam. The best actors seem to adapt their roles to themselves, so that they never lose their off-screen persona. Frank Sinatra was always himself in his movies, as was John Wayne. And so was Richard Widmark. Why do we like "bad guys" so much? Possibly because we get the feeling that in their private lives they are neither good nor bad, but rather, something even better: genuine. Richard Widmark never divorced. He outlived two wives, one marriage lasting 55 years until his first wife passed on. So we know he was not a loner, although his life style was private, as he never appeared on TV talk shows to promote his movies or himself. Buoyed by his inimitable personal qualities, he carved a unique niche for himself in film, and ran with it for a half- century. The Law and Jake Wade made a strong impression upon me, seeing it for the first time, as a 16-year old, shortly after its release in 1958. This film had a 3-D quality, and a horror film quality which really grabbed its audience, at that time. By 1958 the 3-D fad was long gone, but, I swear, when the Indians attacked Widmark's gang at night with bows and arrows, it seemed like 3-D revisited as the arrows seemed to be coming right through the screen at the audience. Even knowing it was a movie, I was petrified, so realistic is this scene. Unfortunately, this realism cannot be duplicated via DVD or any lesser medium. Abetting all this excitement is the contrast in style of Widmark and Robert Taylor. While Taylor had adopted family values and professional law man responsibility following his maverick Civil War renegading in partnership with Widmark, Widmark, as the years passed, would have none of the maturing and sobering process to which most men evolve, after having sown their wild oats. So that when Widmark and Taylor locked horns due to a conflict of interest and values, long after the war's end and the demise of their gang, there could be no reconciliation as their cross-purpose came to a head. Widmark's upbeat, anti-social mores neatly bounce off Taylor's low-key, conventional manner, right up to their inevitable show-down. And it doesn't matter whether Widmark prevailed in the end, his is the character which makes this an enduring film-going experience. *****

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• No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

  bkoganbing2005-02-20

  Some of the best westerns of the Fifties and Sixties were directed by director John Sturges. Sturges's films combined that rare blend of action for the kiddies with adult problems and issues. Here the problem is a debt owed or at least that's what Marshal Jake Wade feels towards Clint Hollister. Before Jake broke with the Hollister, it seems that Hollister saved him from a hangman's noose back when he ran with Hollister's gang. Jake hears about Hollister being arrested and sentenced to be hanged so he rides a piece and breaks him from jail. That squares it as far as the Marshal is concerned, but the outlaw leader has other ideas. Seems Jake ran off with the proceeds from the last job. No good deed goes unpunished in this life. Hollister re-unites with his gang and they kidnap the Marshal and his fiancée and force him to lead them to the money. You have to watch the film for the rest of this. If you're any kind of a fan of westerns, I think you'll know how this turns out. Robert Taylor plays the upright Marshal Jake Wade who could have let the whole thing slide and let outlaw Richard Widmark hang, but he feels a debt. It's a good part for Taylor as he was winding down his contract at MGM. Unfortunately Taylor doesn't figure that Widmark owed him something for running off with the loot. The two leads play well off each other. Rounding out the cast is Patricia Owens who is your typical crinoline western woman and the rest of Widmark's gang which included DeForest Kelley, Robert Middleton, and Henry Silva among others. Nice Saturday afternoon fare for all fans of the American western, like me.

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• Good standard western, but with no outstanding merits...

  Nazi_Fighter_David2001-01-21

  In his second Western of 1958, after "Saddle the Wind," Taylor again is a reformed outlaw who has deserted Widmark's gang, taking along the proceed from a bank robbery... Taylor becomes a highly respected marshal of a small New Mexico town... He discovers that his old gang leader Widmark faces hanging nearly on a murder charge... Since Taylor owes his companion an ancient favor, he decides to help him escape from jail, but lives to regret it... Widmark kidnaps Taylor and his sweetheart Patricia Owens and he and his four confederates (Robert Middleton; Henry Silva; DeForest Kelley and Burt Douglas) force them across the Sierras to a deserted ghost town where Taylor has hidden a buried loot... Taylor and Owens attempt to escape but Widmark drives them into the town to recover the money... The Comanches were there on their backs... A well-staged Indian raid follows plus the final showdown.. With good shots of the High Sierras and Death Valley, "Law and Jake Wade" is a good standard Western filled with irony dialog and sardonic humor, enjoyable throughout, but with no outstanding merits...

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• Taylor and Widmark as adversaries in a search for hidden bank money

  Mickey-22001-08-01

  "The Law and Jake Wade" was made in 1958 and starred Robert Taylor as a former outlaw who gave up the life of crime and became Marshal Jake Wade. Taylor's character is chased by a former outlaw associate, Clint Hollister, eagerly portrayed by Richard Widmark, who returns with two intentions; first, to find the stolen bank money that Wade had hidden in a job they did together, and then kill Jake Wade for causing him so much trouble in the first place. The outlaw gang's portrayers are Henry Silva, Robert Middleton, Eddie Firestone, and before his days in "Star Trek" DeForest Kelley, and all set out to find the missing money. There is, however, some Comanche Indians on the warpath, and the trek where Taylor is leading them to is also in the territory controlled by the Indians. All the elements for a watchable western are included in this one, and the viewer can also take in some views of the western wildlands. A nice 7/10

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• Greed over common sense

  helpless_dancer2002-08-01

  Seems to me Widmark's character would have been money ahead to simply knock off another bank rather than go into injun country where the chances of dying were pretty high. However, this probably wouldn't have made any better of a film. Plenty of shooting, flying arrows, nasty killers, and as usual Widmark gives a stellar performance as a psychotic gunman intent on having his way no matter what.

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