Law of the Lawless *** (1964, Dale Robertson, Yvonne De Carlo and William Bendix) – Classic Movie Review 14,010

The 1964 American Technicolor and Techniscope double feature Western film Law of the Lawless stars Dale Robertson, Yvonne De Carlo and William Bendix, and is the first of the A C Lyles Westerns for Paramount Pictures. 

‘The Hanging Judge had come to the moment of decision!’

The 1964 American Technicolor and Techniscope double feature Western film Law of the Lawless is directed by William F Claxton, produced by A C Lyles, and stars Dale Robertson, Yvonne De Carlo and William Bendix. 

Director William F Claxton’s 1964 Western film Law of the Lawless stars Dale Robertson, Yvonne De Carlo, and William Bendix, along with Bruce Cabot, Barton MacLane, John Agar, Richard Arlen, Kent Taylor, Lon Chaney Jr, Jody McCrea, Bill Williams, Rod Lauren, George Chandler, Roy Jenson, and Don ‘Red’ Barry.

Dale Robertson gives a stalwart central turn as circuit judge Clem Rogers (known as ‘The Hanging Judge’) come to a Kansas town in 1889 to try Pete Stone (John Agar), the son of his former gunslinging pal, now town boss Big Tom Stone (Barton MacLane), for the murder, in this thinly plotted but certainly enjoyable enough Western tale. The entertaining proceedings are very much brightened by the welcome and busy cast of exceedingly familiar old-style Western faces. Yvonne De Carlo plays the saloon girl Ellie Irish.

A typical, well constructed product of producer A C Lyles, it is made with considerable loving care by director William F Claxton. Lester Shorr’s Technicolor and Techniscope cinematography is a big plus.

Dale Robertson stepped in at six hours’ notice when star Rory Calhoun came down with pneumonia the night before filming. Robertson got a call at 11.30 pm that he was needed for a 6 am start.

It was shot in 10 days in August 1963, and first released three months later in late 1963 in Italy, where Westerns were especially popular. In America, it opened in Los Angeles on March 18, 1964 and was released on May 13, 1964 (US) in a double bill with Robinson Crusoe on Mars.

It is the first of the 13 A C Lyles Productions second feature Westerns for Paramount Pictures. In 1963, Paramount publicity director Lyles offered to make a quickly shot low-budget Western for the studio, buying a script from his screenwriter friend Steve Fisher. Paramount Lyles to CBS to join the production of the Rawhide series to learn about making Westerns, an odd but good move that certainly worked. The film did well at the box office and Paramount gave A C Lyles the go-ahead to produce more second features.

It is followed by Stage to Thunder Rock (1964), also directed by William F Claxton, and featuring Barry Sullivan, Marilyn Maxwell, Scott Brady, Lon Chaney Jr, and Keenan Wynn.

It is the first of eight Westerns that Lon Chaney Jr made for A C Lyles between 1964 and 1968.

Dale Robertson was very popular after starring in 201 episodes of the Western TV series Tales of Wells Fargo shown from 1957 to 1962 on NBC.

Film director Joe Dante said of the A C Lyles Westerns: ‘The reward lies in the simple appreciation of basic craftsmanship and Hollywood myth-making.’

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 14,010

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