User Reviews

"Legion of the Lawless" is about a group of vigilantes in this entry in the George O' Brien RKO western series.

O'Brien plays a lawyer Jeff Toland who arrives all duded up at the dividing line between a split town...Ivestown and East Ivestown separated by a creek. The division as I understand it was that Ivestown would be set up for the so-called pioneers and would have the best land in the area whereas East Ivestown contained a group of nesters and farmers who got the worst of the available lands. Ivestown is run by a vigilante committee headed by Henry Ives (Hugh Sothern) but run behind the scenes by Les Harper (Norman Willis).

Toland sets up shop much to the dismay of Harper and his cronies which include Holmes (Bud Osborne), Borden (Monte Montegue and Ben (Slim Whitaker) who don't like strangers in their midst. Toland meets Ives daughter Ellen (Virginia Vale) but she doesn't want Toland to stay on either. Toland befriends a drunken Doc Denton (Herbert Heywood) and somehow reforms him. Young Eddie (Billy Benedict) hangs around as Toland's helper.

Believing that the railroad is coming through Ivestown, Harper begins bullying property owners buying their properties on the cheap in order to profit from the coming of the railroad. The rail road surveyor presents his report to Toland to be notarized and reveals that the railroad will be going through East Ivestown instead.

Borden overhears a part of the conversation and reports back to Harper. Harper decides that since Doc was present at the meeting, to have Holmes and Ben lure Doc into the saloon and fill him full of drinks. Doc unwittingly spills the beans and Harper and his masked gang begin to bully the residents of East Ivestown including the Blacksmith (Martin Garralaga) and the storekeeper Rafe Barton (Eddy Waller), giving them 48 hrs to get out of town.

Henry Ives meanwhile, has been convinced by Toland to call a meeting to disband the vigilante committee and select a sheriff. Harper sends his boys after Ives and murder him before he can preside at the meeting. Toland treis to reassure the East Ivestowners and goes to confront Harper and his gang and...........................................................................

Oh yes, Toland and the lovely Ellen resolve their differences and...................................

Long-time extra and very occasional character player Herbert Heywood has his only featured role here as Doctor Denton, and the movie is well worth seeing on his account only. But it also has lots of other features to recommend it, including an involving script that grabs attention right from the start and then proceeds to come to a great climax, plus top-of- the-mark direction by David Howard and splendid acting from all concerned, but especially George O'Brien, Virginia Vale and Norman Willis. As usual in O'Brien westerns, production values are remarkably high by "B"-feature standards. Available on an excellent Grapevine "George O'Brien" DVD, coupled with "Hollywood Cowboy".