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Sierra
Ring Hassard and his father Jeff, wild horse breakers, live in a hidden mountain eyrie as Jeff is wanted for a murder he didn't commit. Things change when they take in a lost young lady, Riley Martin, who finds that Ring has "never seen a woman close up." Jeff is injured, Ring runs afoul of horse thieves and the law, and Riley (who is a lawyer) labors to clear the Hassards (who others would prefer dead).
Release : | 1950 |
Rating : | 6.4 |
Studio : | Universal International Pictures, |
Crew : | Art Direction, Art Direction, |
Cast : | Wanda Hendrix Audie Murphy Burl Ives Dean Jagger Richard Rober |
Genre : | Western |
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best movie i've ever seen.
In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.
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
I'm always fascinated by a movie star's early work and even more so with Audie Murphy because this was just 5 years after his heroics in WWII. It's amazing to think how much transition this young man went through in only a handful of years. Murphy is a natural fit for Westerns with his quiet manner and brooding looks. Sierra is not often shown on television, but if you have the chance to catch it, you won't be disappointed. I'd say watch for Burl Ives alone, because his voice was timeless. Such beautiful simple little Western melodies are peppered throughout the film. What's also unique about Sierra is that Murphy is costarred by his then-wife Wanda Hendrix. Their marriage didn't last long, but their chemistry is very obvious. And keep your eyes peeled for a young Anthony "Tony" Curtis as a Coulter gang member.
Even though Sierra was not written by Zane Grey, it has all the elements of a typical Grey story, like hidden places and horse stampedes. Most Audie Murphy films were made to measure for him but not this one and the fact is that he comes out quite well. The main character is Wanda Hendrix, who was married to Murphy for a certain time. She is Riley, a girl who gets lost in the mountains when trying to look for Lonesome (Burl Ives). Instead she finds hundreds of horses and Murphy. Murphy has been hiding with his father Jeff (Dean Jagger) who is a fugitive. Jeff gets hurt trying to tame a horse and when he thinks he might die, he tells his son to always remember that he is innocent. Hendrix overhears it and will do everything she can to help them. Burl Ives as the singing Lonesome adds a lot to the film with his music and personality, completely different from the serious and bitter men he used to play in many films. Sierra is a light, colorful, entertaining, sometimes naive western worth seeing.