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Another largely forgotten today Western from the 1950s, From Hell to Texas is an incredibly interesting revenge tale that manages to get quite a bit right with its story and the camerawork and score. The film follows the life of Tod Lohman. A cowboy played by Don Murray is trying to escape a group of cattlemen led by Hunter Boyd R.G. Armstrong and his sons, one of whom was Dennis Hopper. As it turns out, Todd killed one of Boyd’s sons, and now the whole clan is after him. While trying to escape, Tom meets a nice old farmer, Amos Bradley Chill Wills, and his daughter, a tomboy Juanita played by Diane Varsi. After meeting them, Tom decides to search for his father, but after some time gets overwhelmed and instead goes looking for the Boyd clan.
From Hell to Texas is directed by Henry Hathaway, one of the workmen filmmakers, mostly active during the 1930s to the 1960s. He is best known today for a couple of Westerns starring John Wayne The Sons of Katie Elder and True Grit, both greatly serving the late period John Wayne cycle and the latter being well known as the film where The Duke won an Oscar. He also worked in Film-Noir and a few other genres, but it is in the West where he truly left his imprint. It is quite clear that Hathaway’s talent for making Westerns is as obvious in this film as it is in any of the other Westerns he has directed. On the surface, From Hell to Texas appears poised to be ‘just another’ Western, devoid of all original elements and cliches that so many films in the genre have, such as ruthless cattle barons and their families, a fugitive, benevolent old man, and more. But From Hell to Texas is also a well-shot film with exhaustive camerawork. In an effort to keep the audience on their toes, shots seem to come from nowhere. By doing this, Hathaway does make the material feel fresh.
However, apart from his camerawork, he also knows how to tell a story. From Hell to Texas perfectly illustrates the role of a director as a storyteller. Hathaway shows considerable skill in knowing how to stress the parts of the story that make it more interesting at the right moments. This is best covered in the film when focusing on Tom as a man in search of a family, and the death of another family member (from the Boyd family) that sets the plot in motion, together with the idea of the Bradley family as a surrogate family, combines to craft a tale of a need to belong and a need to preserve that which you can belong to. Further adding to this craft of storytelling, Hathaway also demonstrates that he is adept at directing action. The final shootout in the film is best executed. It is a very interesting scene with some exquisite camerawork.
This also illustrates the conflicting relationship between communism and individualism as the individual’s premise allows one man to take down an entire gang. This was done out of the desire to serve a community. The scene is also highly violent, or perhaps, being the most violent I have seen out of a Code Era Western in the film. However, it is all tastefully done and does not feel as if the movie is resorting to violence for the sake of it.
Equally, Daniele Amfitheatrof has his own unforgettable and exceptionally splendid portion of the score. He makes it possible for the audience to appreciate the subject’s personal experiences as well as evoke larger occurrences. His inclusion of voices into the score deserves separate mention here, as it does serve as some sort of precursor of Morricone’s better-known Spaghetti Western scores. And for the most part, the acting is quite good here, too. Nobody really steals the show, mind you, but they all put in decent performances. Virtually the biggest problem the movie has is that it’s too short. From Hell to Texas is the kind of movie that has a lot of story to tell, and it does seem as though it is the kind of story that is best told in grand, epic, sweeping, and long fashion. Texas feels less than two hours long, so at around 100 minutes, the film feels like it has a lot more to convey but chooses to do it far too quickly. This doesn’t mean it’s a bad movie, From Hell to Texas gets a lot of things right, but it feels like an incomplete story, which is distracting.
From Hell To Texas excels in multiple areas, including acting, directing, and the score. As a result, the film flows considerably well. Above everything, it is simple and to the point, which is a huge plus. However, it is evident that room for improvement exists. It genuinely feels as if a more intriguing movie is hidden beneath the surface. Overall, the film does an excellent job of capturing the viewer’s attention.
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