_**An A.C. Lyles town-bound Western that culminates with a court sequence**_ A judge rides into a Kansas town (Dale Robertson) to arbitrate a murder trial involving the son of the formidable mogul (John Agar and Barton MacLane). Yvonne De Carlo plays a saloon girl, Lon Chaney Jr. a friend of the accused and Bruce Cabot a hired gun. “Law of the Lawless” (1964) is an A.C. Lyles Western, who produced over a dozen ‘second-feature’ Westerns in the mid-60s, which all featured former A-list actors and were shot in 10-14 days. The teams Lyles gathered together for his productions always knew what they were doing and did it competently and efficiently. As such, there’s little artistic merit to this Western, but it effectively gets the job done if you’re in the mode for traditional town-bound Western. De Carlo was certainly a beauty and this was her last film before focusing on The Munsters for the next few years. The movie runs 1 hour, 27 minutes, and was shot at Iverson Ranch & Paramount Studios, Los Angeles. GRADE: B-/C+
Wealthy rancher Bick Benedict and dirt-poor cowboy Jett Rink both woo Leslie Lynnton, a beautiful young woman from Maryland who is new to Texas. She marries Benedict, but she is shocked by the racial bigotry of the White Texans against the local people of Mexican descent. Rink discovers oil on a small plot of land, and while he uses his vast, new wealth to buy all the land surrounding the Benedict ranch, the Benedict's disagreement over prejudice fuels conflict that runs across generations.
Stodge City is in the grip of the Rumpo Kid and his gang. Mistaken identity again takes a hand as a 'sanitary engineer' named Marshal P. Knutt is mistaken for a law marshal. Being the conscientious sort, Marshal tries to help the town get rid of Rumpo, and a showdown is inevitable. Marshal has two aids—revenge-seeking Annie Oakley and his sanitary expertise.
Gene takes care of three tough kids sent west from Chicago after their father died and left them a cattle ranch. They help him catch a bunch of rustlers.
Billy Carson, looking for rustlers, kills Bradley in a gun fight. Arrested, the judge finds him innocent but jails him anyway. When the rustling resumes he is released and posing as a Mexican cattle buyer he hopes to trap the culprits.
Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.
It is now an accepted fact that the best of Johnny Mack Brown's Universal westerns were directed by the talented Joseph H. Lewis. Boss of Hangtown Mesa may not be in the same league as the Brown-Lewis classic Arizona Cyclone, but it comes awfully close. This time around, hero Steve Collins (Brown) comes to the aid of Betty Wilkins (Helen Deverell), who has taken over the telegraph-line business established by her uncle John (Henry Hall). The latter was murdered by outlaws who don't cotton to having the territory linked up electronically with the rest of the world.
A young doctor rejects his older outlaw brother Johnny who put him through medical school by dubious means. The brothers find themselves on opposite sides of a range war between homesteaders and a crooked cattleman.
Outlaw and self-appointed lawmaker Judge Roy Bean rules over an empty stretch of the West that gradually grows, under his iron fist, into a thriving town, while dispensing his his own quirky brand of frontier justice upon strangers passing by.
Lassiter discovers the judge who cheated his neice of her inheritance leads a gang of bad guys posing as vigilantes. This 1941 Fox production stars a young George Kennedy as Lassiter.
The Mesquiteers capture a horse thief who escapes justice through a crooked judge. They gather signatures urging the governor to investigate but a friend with the petition is murdered. Stony is accused.