Rating: NR
Genre:
Romance
Release Date: 05/06/2003
SubTitles: French/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD1
Run Time: 80 Minutes
Flags: Suitable for Children
Distributor/Studio: Universal Studios
The first film version of
W.R. Burnett's novel
Saint Johnson was filmed as
Law and Order in 1932. Essentially an all-names-changed retelling of the
Wyatt Earp legend, the film scored on its humanity and restraint. The 1953 remake eschewed the shadings and subtleties of the original in favor of a traditional shoot-em-up, replete with gratuitous violence.
Ronald Reagan stars as the
Earp counterpart this time, who has sworn to bring criminal
Preston S. Foster to justice. The original
Law and Order had no love interest at all; the
Reagan version pairs up the star with beautiful
Dorothy Malone, and offers a
second leading lady in the form of
Ruth Hampton. The original had a hanging sequence which was treated as business as usual; the remake turns this sequence into a brutal lynching. Common to both films was the final showdown between
Reagan and
Foster, given added melodrama in the later version by the fact that
Reagan had previously sworn to give up his guns for the love of his lady. Like most of
Ronald Reagan's 1950s vehicles,
Law and Order paid its way and was then forgotten.
~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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