Hellfire

You can't ask for more in a western than Wild Bill Elliott and Marie Windsor. Elliott was one of the manliest and most genuine western stars of the '40's, and no woman had more strong charactered parts in B westerns and film noirs than Marie Windsor.

This is a rousing movie about redemption and the hard road to reach it. Things don't come easy for the two stars, but they both just keep on a pluggin' away in true western style. What makes this movie more than just another formulaic oater is the fact that Doll Brown (Marie) is not your average swooning damsel in distress. One gets the feeling that the two stars had genuine affection for each other (notice that I said affection, not lust) and this shows through in the film.

Changes in the characters that take place during Hellfire seem like changes that would really happen if two people liked each other- it is not the usual surrender of one star (almost always the female lead) to the strength of the dominant one (almost always the male lead).

If you like Westerns (and here I mean not just Howard Hawkes or John Ford films and not just any weak programmer destined for a Saturday matinée second feature), you should enjoy this one.

In continuing to review previous movies or TV appearances of the cast of the original "Dallas" in chronological order, I'm now at 1949 with one of the earliest of the Republic B-movies that featured Jim Davis before his iconic role as Jock Ewing on that classic primetime soap. Here he plays one of the Stoner brothers-IMDb lists him as Gyp but I don't remember his first name ever mentioned-who's looking for a woman named Doll Brown-real name Mary Carson who also goes by Julie Gaye-who killed someone close to him. Marie Windsor plays this anti-heroine who had a rough life and is trying to find her younger sister hoping she's living a better life than her. She gets in with a Zeb Smith (William Elliott) who's a crooked gambler trying to reform himself after promising a dying preacher (H.B. Warner) to build a church for him. Brown is friends with a Marshal Bucky McLean (Forrest Tucker) who's looking for this Ms. Brown himself for personal reasons. I'll just say that this was quite a compelling western drama that's both a little action packed and touching when certain emotional changes are made. And there's also some nice singing by Ms. Windsor in the middle. So on that note, I highly recommend Hellfire.

The writers and producers of "Hellfire" seem to have wanted to throw away the formulas and cliché's usually found in Westerns. They put an emphasis on character development to bring us vivid characters, performed very well by superior b-movie actors.

This movie marked the beginning of my long-time infatuation with Marie Windsor. View it and your own Marie love affair will begin. She brings us a rare combination of strength and beauty and her performance is to be admired by both men and women. About 15 years before Jane Fonda saddled up, Marie gives us a precursor to Fonda's "Cat Ballou" but in a more serious acting style with less emphasis on comedy.

Bill Elliott underplays as usual but his role calls for it, and this is probably his best film performance. His performance beautifully compliments the dynamic Windsor. Elliott is known for underplaying, but underplaying is not always a bad thing. Elliott proves that here.

Elliott, Windsor and a restrained Forrest Tucker form an effective 3-way acting ensemble that is fascinating to watch, as aided by some great screen writing.

In the 1940's or today you don't always need big names or budget to make a successful film. Just watch "Hellfire" straight through and let the characters and unusual plot twists grab your attention. You will be entertained.

The color filming is good and all the supporting actors are first-rate. Look for the great Harry Woods in a small part- I wish he could have had a bigger role because every performance by Woods is essentially a screen acting clinic.

Billy Graham proudly declared 'Mr.Texas' (1951), the maiden production of his company World Wide Films, "the first Christian Western". He probably didn't go to the movies much, otherwise he might have known about John Ford's '3 Godfathers' and 'WagonMaster', sandwiched between which came this rollicking candidate for cult status alongside 'Johnny Guitar'; although it's unlikely that the Reverend Graham would have approved of it bearing a title suggesting damnation rather than salvation.

Immaculately directed by R.G.Springsteen and atmospherically photographed by Jack Marta in Trucolor (like 'Johnny Guitar'), Dorrell & Stuart McGowan's tremendous script bears a passing resemblance to both 'Destry Rides Again' and to Ralph Nelson's 'Lilies of the Field' (1963), in which Sydney Poitier helped build a chapel for a group of nuns. Here the wonderfully laconic Wild Bill Elliott (billed as 'William') as former gambler Zeb Smith dedicates himself to honouring the dying wish of preacher H.B.Warner (who over twenty years earlier had played The Messiah himself in DeMille's 'The King of Kings') by raising the money to build a church in his memory.

Although from now on never without his Bible (which he calls 'The Rule Book'), unlike Destry Smith still relies upon his fists and his six-shooter to resolve tricky situations, on the grounds that it "Seems to be the only kind of sermon I can make folks listen to". The fun really starts with the entrance of the always awesome Marie Windsor as sloe-eyed female outlaw Doll Brown - "Fast on the draw and fast on the jaw" - who recoils from Smith's Bible like a vampire from a crucifix.

Without the film's religious content it's interesting to speculate on how some of the film's heady brew of sex and violence would otherwise have fared with the Breen Office - there's a torture sequence when Smith is strung up like Christ and a lit lamp held against his bared back; and it has a fascinatingly ambiguous ending probably dictated by just how far a criminal past was then permitted to go unpunished.

This is one of the best "B" westerns ever made. It stars the queen of the "B"s herself -- Marie Windsor, along with those two other great "B" stars, "Wild Bill" Elliott and Forrest Tucker.

It has an unusual twist which sets it apart from other westerns; Bill Elliot plays a card sharp and all-around bad dude whose life is saved by a preacher who takes a bullet meant for Wild Bill (all this takes place in the first five minutes of the movie so the plot is not ruined for you).

Bill promises the dying preacher that he will complete the preacher's mission and collect the money needed to build a church. He also promised to "follow the rules" i.e., raise the money without resorting to crime.

Bill Elliott's efforts to change his ways and avoid temptation make for a great movie.