From Hell to Texas (1958)

Very disappointing...

Entertaining from beginning to end, it maintains the spirit of the franchise while establishing it's own seal with a fun cast

The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Another example of a movie made before 1960 that is creatively able to portray anger, violence, love, and romance without profanity, nudity, or crudity. The character Tod is virtuous as are the characters of Chill Wills and his family. The western vistas are captured well by the photographer Dennis Hopper, known in more modern times for non-western roles plays a spoiled and insecure youngest son of the antagonist a role similar to his in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.I always enjoy Chill Wills. He adds authenticity to any western. I have never seen him play a villain. This movie is no exception. He is a kind, upstanding, generous family man with a lovely daughter.Just all in all an enjoyable movie. Just wish it did not have to end with the typical "riding off into the sunset" scene. I would rather have the movie 15 minutes longer and develop the good guys after the villains are gone.

It is very hard to define when somebody is a good person, and Tod Lohman (Don Murray) in this western is certainly one. He does not kill Tom Boyd (Dennis Hopper) when in the reverse situation Tom Boyd would have killed him and he also does not kill a horse which would incriminate him, but on the contrary, feeling sorry for the horse, takes him along. Three people who are strangers to him are willing to help him even though this would put them in trouble. At a certain moment R.G.Armstrong (Hunter Boyd) asks the priest: Why are people so willing to help this man who they hardly know? And the priest answers him that this is a matter of the heart. And this excellent western takes us on the journey of a man hunted because he unwillingly was responsible for the death of someone who wanted to kill him. His survival is against all odds, but then if it would be just odds, life would be very predictable… William K. Everson one of the great authorities in Westerns considers this film the best western from 1950 to 1962, between "Wagon Master" and "Ride the High Country". "But in "From Hell to Texas" he (Hathaway) seems to have combined the sentiment and austerity of Hart and the slickness and spectacle of Ford" (A Pictorial History of the Western Film, page 221). Great action scenes, great cinematography, great Henry Hathaway... great film.

I found this not bad at all, and was a little surprised that it was made in 1958; somehow it had a late sixties' feel to it. The strong point was R G Armstrong's patriarchal father with a curious sense of justice; having caught up with the fugitive Murray, he gives him a horse to replace the one his son had shot and then gives him a headstart before renewing the chase. The worst part was the cloying, instant romance between Murray and tomboy Varsi.Incidentally, previous commentator edk313 reckons he spotted "Jack Elam's inimitable face with a look of horror on it because he is a cowboy in the path of the stampede! This is his only role in the film and he is not credited. I'd love to know the story on that scene." In the version I've just seen on British TV I didn't spot Elam, the only casualty of the stampede being one of Armstrong's sons. But it was quite common for film-makers of this period to borrow footage from another film for a battle or similar "big" scene; however, the footage of the pony stampede in FHTT does look as it was shot as part of the film.

Henry Hathaway's westerns are more ambitious than simple action films,their high moral standards favorably compare to those of John Ford ,Henry King or Delmer Dames.At first sight,"from hell to Texas " seems a plea against violence ,but it's not only that.Although a sharpshooter ,Don Murray's character is nothing more than a child who is clueless.The scenes by the river are revealing:he's a shy prudish lad ,whose only guide is his bible and his mother's photograph .In fact,he's desperately searching for a father.On his way,he will meet two older,wiser men for whom he's only a kid . It's really amazing how much these characters feel the hero's weakness and how they want to protect him.Another father is his fiercest enemy because this man thinks he's responsible for his son's death.The screenplay smartly avoids the events that led to the chase.On one hand,a young man trying to find a place he can call home (you do not like solitude,don't you,he says to a horse ),on another a blind father who destroys his family because of a false revenge.The rebuilding of a family,with ,in parallel ,the nearly destruction of another one.