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33 of 33 found the following review helpful:
 A WESTERN FROM THE GENRE'S TWILIGHT YEARSSep 01, 2000
By Parisonn of Atlantis
Had this movie been made a dozen years earlier, it might have found an audience. By 1973, however, the Hollywood western was riding into the sunset and the studio hardly bothered even releasing this admittedly-minor production.Vera Miles plays the shy, quiet wife of a blustery frontier lawman who clearly doesn't appreciate her. On impulse, she helps a handsome, sweet-talking young prisoner escape from her husband's jail. The bulk of the movie then follows this mismatched pair as they flee across a desert landscape. The dialog between the runaway wife and the outlaw isn't sharp enough or observant enough to lift the proceedings above the ordinary, but the femininist tone of the script is a pleasant surprise and Vera Miles makes for an appealing heroine. Sam Elliott, virtually unknown at the time, plays the escaping prisoner. His screen personae hadn't yet developed and so his character never quite comes into focus. At times the movie simply uses him for "beefcake" value and he has several scenes in which he gets to show off that gloriously-hairy chest. While not a notable contribution to the genre, "Molly and Lawless John" at least brought no shame to the once-proud American western.
16 of 17 found the following review helpful:
 Technical problems render this oater virtually unwatchableJun 29, 2005
By David C. Read
This undistinguished oater is made much worse by technical problems. It isn't a bad little western, and the two lead roles are played competently by Vera Miles, whose most famous role was Laurie Jorgensen in "The Searchers," and Sam Elliott, who was born to make westerns. It had a good plot and some beautiful desert locations.
Unfortunately, the film was not well shot. None--and I mean not one--of the interior scenes is adequately lighted; you can barely make out dark shadows moving around against a black background. The scenes in the Cactus Jail, which are key and set up the movie, might as well be taking place in a cave without even a candle for light. Then there's the DVD which is full-frame and was mastered from an extremely distressed print of the film. The DVD is blurry and shows every scratch, spot, and speck of dirt that 33 years of obscurity could inflict on the print. Too bad. Miles and Elliott deserved better. Frankly, because of the technical issues, the film is probably not worth wasting 90 minutes on.
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 Westerns started Coming BackFeb 21, 2008
By Dennis W. Smith
In the late 1960's and early 1970's the "western" started making a comeback.(It had really never left the American psyche)--"Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid","Jeremiah Johnson",etc--Right thru the award winning "Lonesome Dove" in 1991 and the oscar winning (best film) "Unforgiven"--And recently the remake of "3:10 To Yuma"---"Molly and Lawless John" was(is)a gem of a western that was made without fanfare much as "The Ballad Of Cable Hogue" and "A Big Hand For The little Lady"were which were classics.I would rate "Lawless John" in that group and highly recommend it.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Great finishJul 02, 2006
By LF
"Keep your feedback to yourself, these are my opinions, not yours"
I bought this film as part of a double feature with a terrible movie called Gone With The West. I was surprised at how good this one was. It is about a self centered jerk, played by Sam Elliot, and an incredibly gullible and stupid woman, played by Vera Miles. Vera is married to the obnoxious sheriff who is holding Sam in jail for murder. Sam plays on Vera's gullibility to let him out of jail, thanks to the fact that the sheriff just smacked Vera in the face and made her mad.
Vera follows Sam out of town, only to learn that he is a total jerk. The movie takes a really strong turn at the end, with a great climactic scene. Check it out.
10 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Molly and Lawless JohnDec 07, 2003
By John Clement
It's a good old "B" western with Sam Elliot as the bad guy. Very good for all Sam Elliot fans and Good for all cowboy movie fans.
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