ma-cortes
Interesting and enjoyable Western with a deep meaning upon the power of forgiveness and an attractive ending . This cultured actioner Western contains noisy action , dashingly violent scenes , rider pursuits , impressive Indians attacks and loads of crossfire .This splendid motion picture was professional and convincingly directed by Henry Hathaway , doing an useful job and being well starred by top-notch actors . When ranch hand Tod Lohman (Don Murray who recently passed away) accidentally kills the son of a powerful rancher (R.G. Armstrong) , he panics and flees , as he on the run with posse on his trail . As the rancher carries out his vengeful crew hunt Tod down , being accompanied by his another wild son (Dennis Hooper) and crafty Mexican underling (Rodolfo Acosta) . Meantime , innocent Tod finds refuge with kindly as well as wealthy farmer (Chill Wills) . At the farm Tod falls for his daughter (Diane Varsi) but trouble won't remain far away for long time . Exciting Western also titled ¨Manhunt¨ packs thrills , emotion , shootouts , go riding , a love story and including timeless resonance about a merciless as well as useless vengeance . Acceptable Western realized in the tradition of "StageCoach" "High Noon" and "Shane" . The screenplay achieved an important message by focusing on the morality of revenge . Striking interpretations by a good cast , particularly R.G. Armstrong as vengeful father in typical fire-eating form and Dennis Hopper who worked steadily in Western genre through the 1960s including twice more with Hathaway: "The Sons of Katie Elder" in 1965 and "True Grit" in 1969. Support cast is frankly well , plenty of familiar faces such as Chill Wills , Dennis Hopper , Jay C. Flippen , John Larch , Malcolm Atterbury , James Philbrook , Ken Scott , Margo and Rodolfo Acosta . Furthermore , Diane Varsi bringing his own brand of sweet charm to the role of beautiful heroine . Colorful cinematography in CinemaScope by Wilfred Cline , though a right remastering being necessary . Atmospheric and evocative musical score by Daniel Amfitheatroph .This well-paced in cracking style flick was stunningly directed by Henry Hathaway and usually works very well , being capable handled in spectacular photography , adding gorgeous outdoors from Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, Iverson Ranch , Chatsworth, Los Angeles, Bishop, and Death Valley, California . Henry Hathaway does the human touch and full of insight that accompanied him during most of his films and the story develops pleasantly in large frames with an interesting plot and fully adjusted to the requirements of the action . His fetish actor was John Wayne , both of whom collaborated in various sincere Westerns , they included ¨North to Alaska¨ , ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨ and Wayne's Academy Award-winning ¨True grit¨, among others . Hathaway himself was only even nominated for an Oscar , but his movies themselves are testimony to his skills to heighten narrative tension and shoot action so exhilarating it made adrenalin run . Henry was a craftsman who had a long career from the 30s with successful films , and especially Westerns , as ¨Brigham Young¨ and ¨Raw Hide¨ . In his 60s Hathaway still got the vigour to make some fiery movies as ¨How the West was won¨, ¨Nevada Smith¨, and ¨Shoot out¨ . He was an expert on Western genre as he proved in ¨True grit¨ , ¨Five card stud¨ , ¨Nevada Smith¨ , ¨How the West was won¨ , ¨Rawhide¨ , ¨Brigham Young¨ , ¨Buffalo Stampede¨, ¨Garden of evil¨ , ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨ and , of course this , ¨From Hell to Texas¨ . Rating : nice Western , 6.5/10 .
dbdumonteil
Henry Hathaway's westerns are more ambitious than simple action films,their high moral standards favorably compare to those of John Ford ,Henry King or Delmer Dames.At first sight,"from hell to Texas " seems a plea against violence ,but it's not only that.Although a sharpshooter ,Don Murray's character is nothing more than a child who is clueless.The scenes by the river are revealing:he's a shy prudish lad ,whose only guide is his bible and his mother's photograph .In fact,he's desperately searching for a father.On his way,he will meet two older,wiser men for whom he's only a kid . It's really amazing how much these characters feel the hero's weakness and how they want to protect him.Another father is his fiercest enemy because this man thinks he's responsible for his son's death.The screenplay smartly avoids the events that led to the chase.On one hand,a young man trying to find a place he can call home (you do not like solitude,don't you,he says to a horse ),on another a blind father who destroys his family because of a false revenge.The rebuilding of a family,with ,in parallel ,the nearly destruction of another one.
