Lawless Border: A Quick Fix for Western Fans

Is it worth your time?

If you have a soft spot for grainy, old-school black-and-white Westerns, you’ll probably enjoy this one. It’s lean, it’s fast, and it doesn’t overstay its welcome. But if you need high-budget polish or a script that isn't pulling from a dusty grab bag of cliches, you might want to skip it.

Honestly, watching Bill Cody play the tough-guy-in-disguise is a bit of a trip. He spends half the movie trying to be a bad guy, but he has that look in his eyes that screams "I'm a good guy, I swear."

The Setup

The plot is exactly what you think it is. Border patrol, smugglers, a girl in the middle, and a brother who is way deeper in trouble than he lets on. It feels like every other Saturday matinee flick, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

There is this one moment where Mary shoots Bill, and it feels like the camera just hung there for three seconds too long. You can practically hear the director yelling, "Look at the drama!" It’s a little goofy, but I didn't mind it.

Some Thoughts

• The landscape is mostly just dirt and rocks, but that’s all you really need for a decent chase scene.
• The villains don't have much to do besides look mean and stand near doors.
• I kept thinking about The Snowshoe Trail while watching, just because there is a similar feeling of characters running around places they shouldn't be.
• The dialogue is mostly just people telling each other what they’re about to do next.

Is it a masterpiece? No. But it isn't trying to be. It’s just a movie about a guy with a badge and a guy with a gun, and the inevitable mess that happens when they run into each other. Sometimes the simplicity is refreshing compared to modern movies that try to explain everything three times.

The pacing is actually pretty tight. It doesn't waste time on long, drawn-out backstories that nobody cares about anyway. You get straight to the infiltration and the eventual reveal. Boom. Done.

Also, the hats. I don't know why, but the hats in this movie are fantastic. They look like they’ve seen about fifty years of dust, which adds a nice touch of reality that the script kind of lacks.

Bottom line? It’s a breezy watch. Perfect for a rainy afternoon when you don't want to think too hard. 🤠