[2] On the trail of the shooters Jared Maddox, Bannock's marshal, rides into the town of Sabbath with the body of Marc Corman.

When that falls through, his men resolve to kill the marshal, an effort which leads to a dramatic gun fight in Sabbath's main street.

There are no shiny guns and new boots in this movie, it's dusty and coarse the harshness of life in those times is captured in a manner unseen in today's westerns.

Burt Lancaster plays a no nonsense "killer of men" who betrays his own code of moral conduct in a way that seems unavoidable.

The film was based on an original script by Gerald Wilson who said he was inspired by an item he read in the journal of Charlie Siringo which said the only hired killers in the old West were the lawmen, and it was they who caused most of the violence.

"[12] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film two stars out of four and called it "a Western with a lot of sides but no center.

The characters played by Lee J. Cobb and Robert Ryan are more interesting, but never get a proper chance to influence events.

"[13] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune awarded two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "It's the opportunity to see some familiar faces that makes 'Lawman' an entertaining Western.

"[15] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "a good solid western" with Cobb "a fine and worthy adversary" to Lancaster.

[16] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post stated that the film "smells of confused plotting, gratuitous brutality and a veritable outbreak of overripe dialogue.

"[17] John Pidgeon of The Monthly Film Bulletin called the story "utterly conventional" and concluded that "despite the acting, the theme—of the morality of taking life in the name of the law—is ill-served by Winner's fashionable attention to gore, not to mention his hotch-potch of styles, as tiresome as the frenetically zooming camera.