Hell Bent for Leather (1960)

People are voting emotionally.

Boring

Absolutely Brilliant!

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

I've seen and reviewed over two dozen Audie Murphy movies here on IMDb, almost all of them Westerns, and they generally range from pretty good to run of the mill. This one falls just shy of cracking the top third tier, but I have to say, there were a lot of things in the story that just didn't make sense to me. The main one was the motivation of the deranged marshal Harry Deckett (Stephen McNally) in his pursuit of Clay Santell (Murphy). He was so over the top in trying to hunt down and kill an innocent man that it made me wonder how he ever got to be a lawman in the first place. OK, late in the story it was posited that this was his one chance for glory by bringing in a notorious outlaw, but he was just as determined to kill Janet Gifford (Felicia Farr) as part of the bargain if she got in the way.Then there was the relationship between Santell and Janet. There was that close call at the Gifford farmhouse when the town posse just missed him, but Miss Gifford had the opportunity to blow the whistle at a time when Clay had just snuck into the house and could have been a real threat; she just didn't know. Clay proceeded to treat her pretty harshly by making her a virtual kidnap victim, leading the inept town citizens on a buckboard chase through the desert. That was actually a pretty dumb move on Santell's part, the men pursuing him were still close by and it didn't take much for them to see the pair try to make a getaway.And what's with the brother trio led by the injured bully Ambrose (Robert Middleton)? After terrorizing Clay and Janet in the mountain cabin, Ambrose wound up taking heat for the couple when Deckett arrived even though he had no motivation to do so, getting slapped around while brothers Shad and Grover hung around doing nothing. It would have been just as easy to say 'they went thataway' and no one would have been any the wiser. I didn't get that scene at all.And here's a good one. After paying forty dollars to Ambrose for one horse, Clay jumps the other two brothers to make his getaway after they steal his gold pouch. But later, on the trail to Paradise, they have only the one horse Janet is riding on. What happened there? Well most of the other reviews for the picture here are generally favorable, and I don't have a problem with that. I like Audie Murphy, but most of his films weren't written for mensa candidates, and this one is a pretty good example. What did get my attention in the story was a very minor occurrence at the hotel bar in Paradise when a customer came in and ordered some 'scamper juice'. That sounds just like what I could have used while watching the movie.

This western opens with a man carrying a fancy shotgun staggering through the brush into the camp of a man and his horse... the second man gives him water and is about to give him a much needed meal when the first man strikes him with his gun and steals the horse. The second man fires a single shot and the thief drops his gun but gets away... The first man is Travers, a wanted killer and the second, the hero of the story is Clay Santell. Without a horse Santell walks to the nearest town and to buy a new one and get something to eat; the town is fairly empty though as almost everybody is at the funeral of Travers' victims. The two people he does see are friendly enough until they see the distinctive shotgun he is carrying... clearly they believe he is Travers. Soon more men turn up and it looks as though Santell is going to be lynched; then the marshal arrives and says he is going to take him to Denver for trial. Something is wrong though; the marshal knows he isn't Travers but he as decided that he is fed up of tracking the real killer so will settle for a man who a town full of people have identified as the killer. Santell manages to escape and ends up in the company of a local woman who he forces to help him; in time she comes to realise he is telling the truth... the problem is there is a posse after them and the marshal will kill them both to keep the truth from coming out! This is a quality B-western; the plot may be simple but it is well executed; little time is wasted and once the action gets started it doesn't let up until the final scene. Audie Murphy does a fine job as hero Clay Santell; an unusual western hero as he has no gun for most of the film. Stephen McNally, who puts in a good performance as Marshal Deckett, makes an equally unusual antagonist; he is a lawman who is willing to murder innocent people to attain glory. The romantic interest is provided by Felicia Farr; she is the only standard main character; most westerns seem to have a woman who stands by the hero even if she distrusts him at first. The film is helped by a decent amount of action and plenty of tense scenes set amid some stunning scenery. If you are a fan of westerns this is certainly worth watching.

Hell Bent for Leather, from what I gathered was used, in the 19th Century to mean breakaway speed or great determination. This is not an Audie Murphy western, with great action scenes like "The Cimarron Kid" or "Duel at Silver Creek", but it is one of his best. It has a very good plot and two remarkable actors, Felicia Farr and Stephen McNally. Felicia is very attractive as Janet, a tough woman, who ends up helping Clay Santell (Murphy) who gets mistaken for a killer. But it is the Marshal Deckett (McNally) who makes the strongest impression, a man driven by his need for a false glory, which will compensate the humiliation of his past. Old timers Allan Lane and Bob Steele show up on the film.

Audie Murphy plays Clay Santell ,a horse dealer whose hospitality to a stranger who stumbles on foot and on the verge of collapse into his camp is to have his horse stolen by the man in question.Santell wounds his assailant who drops his lavishly embossed shotgun as he flees Santell's camp.The man is Travers ,a wanted outlaw .and the local townsfolk believe Santell is Travers,based on his having the gun .Corrupt Marshall Deckett (Stephen Mc Nally)takes him into custody ,knowing full well he is not Travers but hoping to pass him off as the outlaw ,and boost his reputation as the man who saw Travers hung.Santell escapes ,taking with him a young woman ,Janet Gifford ,and Deckett and a posse set out in hot pursuit. Can Santell avoid capture and clear his name ?That is the central issue of this modest but brisk Western that benefits from some striking location shooting and some decent performances especially from McNally and that splendid character actor Robert Middleton .Based on a novel by pulp Western maestro Ray Hogan this moves briskly and energetically and will appeal to most devotees of the genre.