Hell Bent for Leather

• Directed by George Sherman
• February 1, 1960
• Based on the 1959 novel Outlaw Marshal by Ray Hogan

When a man comes into the town of Sutterville after his horse is stolen, a crooked marshal names him as the criminal he is looking for and now that man must clear his name.

Despite a title that sounds like an adult movie or a Judas Priest song, Hell Bent for Leather is a surprisingly traditional Western of the time. The story starts simple enough as traveler Clay Santell (Audie Murphy) heading to someplace for reasons has his horse stolen when he helps a stranger (Jan Merlin) who turns out to be a vicious killer named Travers.

Santell’s issues begin when he walks to the nearby town of Sutterville to get a new horse while carrying Travers’s distinctive gun which the killer had abandoned. Somehow these people-many of whom saw Travers-all believed that Santell is Travers based on the gun and not what they know of his face. The confusion is based on the two looking alike but Merlin and Murphy have different builds, Merlin is taller, and their faces bare only vague passing similarities. This is not the only thing I have watched with a scenario of mistaken identity and like so many of those the casting director or the makeup artist did nothing to help the actors look similar.

Santell’s issues are compounded when Marshal Harry Deckett (Stephen McNally) starts agreeing with the obviously blind locals and rides off with Santell in custody. It looks like Deckett is being understandable but what becomes clear is that this marshal is willing to hang an innocent man just make a name for himself and get back to the comforts of civilization. Yikers! This is a complete inversion of the traditional cinematic lawman of the time. 

McNally cuts quite the portrait of evil all man in this. He never hams it up, but you can see as he practically rings his hands at the thought of being able to kill an innocent man and stop having to look for the person he is supposed to be after.

Realizing what is going to happen Santell escapes from Deckett and takes a local woman named Janet (Felicia Farr) hostage until he can prove he is not Travers. She is a pariah by association because of her father who did something wrong. Farr plays a character that is more than a pretty face and damsel in distress. She provides assistance with her performance coming off with the weight of being unwelcomed anywhere.

While not outstanding, it is a solid Audie Murphy film sporting colorful vistas. McNally sometimes steals the movie with his portrayal of the corrupt marshal. Forceful and sinister yet never anything that makes you ask how nobody could figure it out. It even pushes things for the time with some bandits that Santell and Janet meet while in hiding. Their ogling and veritable eye rape of Janet (with clear intentions of just rape) is disturbing.

Once on the run Murphy’s performance shot up. There was a sense of desperation and frustration though no panic. He helms a moody Western with (mostly) no stupid decisions by characters just to keep things moving. Not that it is all intellect. There’s plenty of action with the occasional bit of assistance falling right into Santell’s lap such as during the aforementioned scene in the hideout when the creeps point Santell and Janet in the direction of Travers. A little too coincidental but the way Santell ferrets out the info he needs is good.

Like many Westerns of the day nobody is  so broken that is beyond belief. This is a simple story of good versus evil and right versus wrong with a better than most a villain. His motivations are certainly different from the rest. He just wants to get his man and go home. And he is revealed to be a pretty crappy person in his own right. Not as bad as the killer but pretty darn close. 

If I had a major complaint, it’s the very ending. Everything is nicely resolved and Santell clears his name, but it ends with him giving a stern word to the people who were going to hang him because they thought he was the killer based on circumstantial evidence and then ‘The End’ comes up on the screen. That just left me hanging (no pun intended) a little bit.

Hell Bent for Leather is exciting and fun and just a good old fashion Western. The whole cast is superb in a very enjoyable film.