5/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 5/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Law of the 45's remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, only if you have a very specific itch for 1930s B-Westerns that move faster than they think. It’s got that grainy, slightly frantic energy where nobody stays in a room for more than thirty seconds without someone else busting through the door.
If you need deep character arcs or, you know, a plot that makes sense after the second act, skip it. You will probably hate this if you get annoyed by movies that treat physics as a mild suggestion rather than a rule.
There is a scene near the middle where they are just running around in the dirt, and I swear, I lost track of who was shooting at who. It didn't seem to matter.
The bad guys wear black, the good guys wear light-colored hats, and the horses look like they’d rather be eating hay than acting. It’s charming in a weird, dusty way.
It’s not as interesting as something like The Border Wireless, but it gets the job done. It’s a B-movie, plain and simple. Sometimes it feels like they spent more money on the catering than the script pages.
I found myself zoning out during the dialogue scenes only to be snapped back by someone falling off a porch. It’s that kind of movie. The pacing is less of a steady climb and more of a series of sudden jolts. I kinda liked it, actually.
It’s barely over an hour, which is the best length for these things. Any longer and the repetition of the 'crooked lawyer' trope would have put me to sleep. There's a certain comfort in knowing exactly what is going to happen next, even if what happens is just a guy waving a gun around for ten minutes.
If you're looking for something complex, go watch Kollezhskiy registrator instead. But if you just want to see some folks ride horses and cause a ruckus in a town that looks like it was built yesterday? This is your jam. 🤠
