I like Ronnie Reagan, but this is not one of his better films. Dorothy Malone is a lightweight actress, but I don't think any female lead would have made much difference to the outcome. Preston Foster is the only authentic A actor in the film, although I did enjoy seeing the professor from Gilligan's Island as the judge.The plot is mundane and full of cliches, but the actors try to do the best with the hands they are dealt. The fascination of watching an American president acting in a film is always an extra added attraction. The end result is an amazingly average Western; watchable, but not notable. The doctor in the town is Holliday; sound familiar? Spare us.

Ronald Reagan quits his job as sheriff of Tombstone (No, he's not Wyatt Earp.) and heads for greener pastures in an attempt to start a new calmer life for himself and his brothers, only to find out that his new home is run with an iron hand, both figuratively and literally, by old foe Preston Foster and his sniveling sons.A solid studio B-western, this looks like a million bucks in gorgeous Technicolor and has a script that really knows what buttons to push.One of Reagan's better roles, he strikes all the right notes and is definitely well cast.This is also a great showcase for up and coming future stars Russell Johnson (the professor on Gilligan's Island) and an almost unrecognizable Dennis Weaver, who really makes the best out of his role as one of Foster's sadistic sons.The final fist-fight between Reagan and Foster is well staged, exciting, and immensely satisfying.

This is resoundingly bad. The script and supporting cast are plainly stupid - this in isolation could be tolerated; but the stupidity extends to the inability to tell much of a story through visual perspective, so both of its legs are shot out from under it.There's no attempt to break new ground, it's all about affirming the "men are men, women are sex objects" motif.Reagan himself actually does the best work here -- knowing he has to play it straight, but he always manages to slip in his trademark wink at the audience.Foster's prosthetic hand would later be recycled for Nicholas Cage in "Moonstruck".The fistfight at the end between Reagan and Foster is well composed, using a vocabulary heavily borrowed from in later action films, notably the image of the hero who's about to have his face impaled on a prong ("Cobra", among many others).

Law and Order is the story of Frame Johnson (Ronald Reagan) a town tamer who wants to retire. He has two brothers played by Alex Nicol and Russel Johnson who help him and a fiancee Dorothy Malone. Sounds familiar? Yes, it is Wyatt Earp all over again, but in the story of Wyatt there was the gunfight at the O.K. corral, which involved strategy, and also a lot of conflicting feelings from different factions.Here it is basically Reagan fighting a bandit called Durango Kid at the beginning,and then moving to another town where the bad guy is Preston Foster. There is a lot of action but a lack of anything else. Reagan, who was a good actor, and the excellent Dorothy Malone don't have much of a chance to show their feelings. Alex Nicol, with the collar of his jacket lifted, looks more like a model for a fashion magazine. But if your looking just for plain entertainment, this film is ok.