Sierra is an unpretentious little western that paired Mr.&Mrs. Audie Murphy at the time, Audie and his leading lady Wanda Hendrix. Audie is cast in the first of many roles as a callow western youth who was raised by his father Dean Jagger who is a fugitive from the law.Way back when Jagger was charged with the murder of Sara Allgood's husband and fled to the high Sierra country where he raised his son and now both make a living catching young wild mustangs of which there are plentiful in the Sierra foothills. Hendrix is a rarity for the time, a female attorney who might gain acceptance back east, but in the rough and testosterone driven west is finding it hard to get clients. Audie and Dean might be the way to break into the man's world of the court, but both them are fighting their own sexist nature and don't take her advice.There's a nice part in Sierra for Richard Robert who would die two years later in an automobile crash cutting short a promising career as a film villain. Tony Curtis has a small role as the son of another fugitive whose family teams up with Murphy and Jagger.In his memoirs Tony Curtis says that soon afterward the tempestuous two year marriage of Murphy and Hendrix broke up. He tried to date Hendrix but Murphy was a jealous man with a bad case of post traumatic stress courtesy of the late World War and all the action where Audie Murphy became our most decorated soldier. Curtis describes himself as young and stupid and thinking not with his brain. He made it a point to avoid Audie for years afterward.Best of all is Burl Ives, a hermit who lives close to Murphy and Jagger and who has some nice ballads to sing in Sierra.Sierra is a nice western, made better with Burl Ives and his singing.

Sierra is an enjoyable early Audie Murphy western, based on the novel The Mountains Are My Kingdom by Stuart Hardy. It co-stars his first wife Wanda Hendrix, and features an excellent cast, with an amusing performance by Burl Ives, who cleverly sings Murphy out of jail. Beautifully filmed against the most stunning landscapes in Utah, this story revolves around Audie Murphy and his father, fugitives from the law, as the father has been falsely accused of a murder he did not commit. They live a secluded life in the mountains, spending there time trapping and breaking wild horses. Burl Ives is their only trusted friend who helps them in the selling of the horses. Trouble is unleashed while out trapping one day, Murphy discovers a lost Wanda Hendrix close to their hide-out. The story progresses at a good pace and has plenty of action and moves toward an adequate ending.Audie Murphy's performance is very good and he displays an awkwardness that very much suits the character he plays. Wanda Hendrix is equally good and the chemistry between Murphy and Hendrix displays well on film. This interesting western offers sightings of James Arness and a young Tony Curtis in the cast of hired outlaws. Fans of Audie Murphy should find the stars fifth film entertaining.

Until they take in a fugitive girl, a father and son hide out in the mountains to elude a bogus murder charge.Pretty good Murphy western, one of his earliest. When you think about it, his transition from Texas sharecropper to WW II hero to Hollywood actor is remarkable. True, it was hard for him to loosen up on screen, still he delivered his lines well enough, while nobody could do a hard-eyed stare better. Here Murphy does well enough, carrying most of the movie. The role of a hard eyed loner (Ring Hassard) appears tailor made for him. At the same time, diminutive, girlish Hendrix (Riley) manages her courtroom lawyer sequence in pretty convincing fashion. Ironic to think the two were married at the time, but in the process of getting divorced. So there's something poignant about their riding into the sunset at movie's end.Universal popped for a pretty big budget, unlike many of Murphy's later westerns. The red rock Kanab (Utah) locations are really eye-catching. Then too, those wild horse herds are anything but skimpy. And nobody could strum a guitar more soothingly than the rotund Burl Ives. Together they add a lot of color and mood to the dramatics. At the same time, there's not much gunplay, yet quite a bit of suspense to the rather complex story.All in all, it's a picturesque, entertaining Murphy western.

Skip it – While this ranks among Audie Murphy's best westerns, it's far from spectacular. The plot, however, is unique. It is the story of an innocent young man who was raised in the mountains by his outlaw father. When his father gets injured, he is forced to go for help, and in doing so enters society for the first time. The naïve young man gets in to trouble, and it doesn't help matters any when the townspeople find out his true identity. While the plot is original enough, nothing else really stands out about this film. It co-stars a very young Tony Curtis and a very old Burl Ives, who starts getting annoying after he sings his fourth song. There is not very much action, and there are twice as many songs as gunfights. 2 action rating