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.

"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.

Since I watch Westerns very closely, taping them and watching them over, sometimes I see things I missed earlier. This movie kept you at the edge of your seat much of the time, especially when Santee did not have a gun or any money. One part of special interest was when he and the girl went into a saloon and asked for a glass of water because he had lost his money in a scramble to get away from R. Middleton and his boys earlier. At the bar was a rifle that Santee had his eye on. Next to the rifle, standing, was an old timer I recognized to be Kermit Maynard. In the list of actors, he was not even credited as being in the movie. I watched it over and over, and I am pretty sure K. Maynard was the guy at the bar, who picked up the rifle and left. Anybody see it that way??? Thanks.

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.