ChanBot
i must have seen a different film!!
Casey Duggan
It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
Fatma Suarez
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
bkoganbing
In Hell Bent For Leather Audie Murphy has the misfortune of running into Jan Merlin on the trail who robs him of his horse. Merlin is a man on the run and known to carry a distinctive shotgun as his weapon of choice. Murphy wounds Merlin fleeing and Merlin drops said shotgun with some fancy carving on the stock.Which is enough to give the townspeople the idea he's Merlin. That's further reinforced by Stephen McNally who represents the law on Merlin's trail.But McNally is tired of chasing Merlin. Since he is the only one who really knows Merlin and he's tired of chasing him, McNally is willing to take credit using Murphy, preferably dead and get credit for stopping the outlaw killer.Hell Bent For Leather is a lot like another classic western where McNally is the pursued instead of the pursuer Winchester 73. This film is tightly edited and the tale well told, not a minute of footage is wasted. Note also good performances from Felicia Farr as the woman who by circumstance becomes Murphy's hostage and then ally. And another from Robert Middleton as an old outlaw, not the most noble of characters but one with his own ethics.This one is a must for Audie Murphy's fans.
Spikeopath
Hell Bent for Leather is directed by George Sherman and adapted to screenplay by Christopher Knopf from the novel Outlaw Marshal written by Ray Hogan. It stars Audie Murphy, Felicia Farr, Stephen McNally and Robert Middleton. A CinemaScope production in Eastman Color, it features music jointly scored by William Lava and Irving Gertz (Joseph Gershenson supervising) and cinematography by Clifford Stine.Audie Murphy plays Clay Santell, a horse trader who is wrongly accused of murder and goes on the run pursued by a vengeful Marshal. The Marshal (McNally), knows Santell is innocent, but he doesn't care and figures that killing a wanted man that nobody has seen before can only earn him glory.There is often a tendency from Western film critics to undersell a "B" Western, it's like you are not allowed to rave about or rate a "B" the same as an Oater from the well regarded and well known movers and shakers in the genre. This happens to be more the case where Audie Murphy's output is concerned. Not blessed with great acting talent, Murphy none the less knew how to make a scene work, to imbue a passage of play with great presence, never once trying to hog the limelight from co-stars, he remains more so today a Western star whose values should not be easily dismissed. His CV contains quite a few bad or ordinary films, but he was in some very good ones as well, and one such film is Hell Bent for Leather. Plot is essentially standard fare, a wronged man is on the run and he is saddled with a pretty gal for the journey. Posse are in pursuit and wronged man has to prove his innocence before he is killed by a sadistic sheriff out to feather his own nest. Yet the locale and well written characters mark this out as a tough little Oater. Sure there's little action to pump the blood of those who need such passages, though some good chase scenes are here and one finishes with a great bit of stuntery, but the neat trick here is having Murphy and Farr's characters run off/up into the rocky terrain; the magnificent Alabama Hills rocky terrain. As Anthony Mann had a knack of marrying up surroundings to psychological aspects of his protagonists, so it be here with Sherman, but of course this is a "Audie Murphy B Western", so such things aren't possible...Hey, it's no Naked Spur et al, far from it, but it is far better and grittier than some think it is purely because of the director and star who made it. It also has a great finale, where up in the jutted rocks we get a tense situation that sees the wronged man, the guilty man, the spunky girl with a substantial back story and the unhinged glory seeking Marshal, all brought together in a moment of reckoning. You will not die of shock with the outcome, but it's a finale rewarding us for having spent the time with these deftly etched characters. Acting is safe and sound, with Middleton the stand out performer, and the music score is "B Western" 101 stuff. But if only for Stine's CinemaScope photography then the Western fan should see this, the Alabama Hills, so prominent in many a great and classic genre offering, are beautifully captured and very much a critical character in the story. 7.5/10
zardoz-13
"Big Jake" director George Sherman's "Hell Bent for Leather" is one of Audie Murphy's better westerns. This mistaken-identity, manhunt melodrama not only pits Murphy against Stephen McNally's crooked lawman but also Jan Merlin's shotgun-wielding murderer. This 82-minute Universal International Release puts protagonist in jeopardy from the start to finish. Sherman maintains a swift pace and "Posse" scenarist Christopher Knopf' screenplay is credible and entertaining throughout, putting our hero in tight spots while the villains are breathing down his neck. Clay Santell (Audie Murphy of "Column South") is minding his own business when a stranger toting a double-barreled shotgun enters his camp and requests water. After Clay gives Travers (Jan Merlin of "Illegal") his canteen, he rustles him up some grub. Travers strikes Clay a glancing blow at the head and steals Clay's horse. Before Travers clears out, our hero fires at him and knocks the shotgun out of Travers' hand. Now, poor Clay wanders on foot into town looking for a fresh mount. The blacksmith, Old Ben (John Qualen), dispatches a rider to alert the important officials about the stranger's arrival. Meantime, Clay has no idea Travers' shotgun has incriminated him and he sticks around long enough for three horsemen to catch him at the corral and arrest him. Naturally, Clay protests his innocence, and the town leaders are prepared to mete out justice despite never having seen Travers. All these law-abiding citizens know is Travers killed two well-liked people. Indeed, only Marshal Deckett (Stephen McNally of "Duel at Silver Creek") can identify Travers. Anyway, Clay catches his captors with their guard down and almost escapes. Luckily for Clay, Deckett intervenes and rides away with Clay as his prisoner. Later, when they are safely out of town, Clay asks Deckett to release him. When Deckett refuses, Clay escapes and takes refuge in a rancher's bunk house where Janet (Felicia Farr of "The Last Wagon") has been babysitting children during a funeral. Deckett alerts the citizens that Travers has escaped, and they assemble a posse. After Deckett and the posse ride off, Clay forces Janet at rifle point to drive a two-horse buckboard.As Janet and Clay are pulling out in the buckboard, they are spotted and Clay shoots at the man who sees them. Deckett and the town citizens pursue them. During the chase, Janet struggles to get the rifle away from Clay, and together they fall off the buckboard and tumble down a slope. Deckett and company catch up with the buckboard and their Native American tracker, William (Eddie Little Sky of "The Hallelujah Trail"), assures them that Clay is making for the mountains. Clay discovers to his chagrin that he used the only bullet in the long gun when he fired at the man back at the ranch. As they climb the mountains, Clay tells Janet that he is not Travers. He complains that Deckett is so inclined to end the chase and he is prepared to claim that Clay is Travers. They clamber into the mountains. Eventually, Clay realizes that he isn't getting anywhere with Janet so he releases her. She promises to bring Pennick (Herbert Rudley of "The Young Lions") back to talk to him. Clay sits down and awaits Janet's return. Janet descends the ridge and William catches her. Deckett rides up and sends William after the rest of the posse while the lawman forces Janet to take him to Clay. Clay jumps Deckett and Deckett calls him Santell in Janet's presence. Clay and Janet escape from Deckett just as the posse arrives. Deckett and Moon unleash a volley of rifle shots at Clay and Janet as they ascend the ridge. Everybody thinks the ridge is impassable until somebody observes that the only man to cross it was Janet's father. William takes Deckett and the posse on a four hour ride around to the other side while Clay and Janet forge ahead.They get caught in a rain storm and take refuge in an abandoned stagecoach relay station. As it turns out, Janet knows the place well because her father used to run it. She regales Clay with her hard luck story about how her mother died and her father went bonkers. They are surprised when three men burst into the station. Ambrose (Robert Middleton of "The Law and Jake Wade") and two friends invade the station and Janet tends to Ambrose's wounded leg when the latter tells them about their encounter with Travers. Clay inquires about buying one of their horses and shells out forty dollars. Outside, Ambrose's two friends, Shad (Joseph Ruskin of "Smokin' Aces") and Grover (Steve Gravers) try to take all Clay's money, but our hero thwarts them and Janet and he escape on separate horses. It doesn't take Deckett and his posse long to find Ambrose and company and beat the information out of them because they find Clay's money pouch. Shad tells Deckett that Clay was heading for the town of Paradise.Our hero and heroine ride into Paradise on one horse and Clay spots his horse. Travers spots the posse and hightails it. Clay and Janet steal mounts and pursue Travers with Deckett and his posse hot at their heels. No sooner have Janet and Clay caught up with Travers than the posse rides in and Clay tries to make a deal with Deckett. Deckett goes out to meet him and Clay bluffs him and almost gets his six-gun until Travers appears armed with a shotgun. Clay and Janet listen as Travers talks about what a treacherous fellow Deckett is and Deckett tries to cut a bargain with Travers. If they can kill Clay, Deckett will lead the posse away from Travers, but Travers shoots Deckett. Clay grabs a six-gun and kills Travers. Reluctantly, Perrick and the posse believe Clay's hard-luck story now and he is free.Altogether, "Hell Bent for Leather" qualifies as an adequate sagebrusher. If you look closely, you'll spot legendary B-movie western stars Allen Lane and Bob Steele.
lorenellroy
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.
