Bandidos en la sierra

Sierra is directed by Alfred E. Green and adapted to screenplay by Edna Anhalt from the novel "Mountains Are My Kingdom" written by Stuart Hardy. It stars Audie Murphy, Wanda Hendrix, Burl Ives, Dean Jagger and Richard Rober. Music is by Walter Scharf and the Technicolor cinematography is by Russell Metty.

1950 is right at the beginning of Audie Murphy's film career and it's a big indicator of where his genre staples were laid. Of the three Westerns he made in 1950, Sierra is the weakest, but even then it's above average and shows enough of why Murphy was such an engaging star to his fans.

Plot has Murphy and Jagger as a Son and Father living in the mountains due to Pops being on the run from the law. They survive by trapping and breaking wild horses and then use Burl Ives' prospecting troubadour type as an intermediate salesman. One day a lost lawyer from town in the form of Hendrix gets involved in the lives of the mountain duo, where a series of events then lead to Murphy having to go into town and from there things become dangerously interesting for all involved.

The location photography is outstanding, with Metty bringing visual joys from Cedar City and Cedar Breaks in Utah. The costuming (Yvonne Wood) is top draw, and how nice to see Ives in a jolly role where he warbles and strums at various junctures in the play. Murphy and Hendrix have the chemistry, even though their ill fated marriage would end this same year, and the legal axis of the narrative (intriguing court sequences with Hendrix as the defence) adds some thought into proceedings.

Unfortunately for action junkies this is not the one for you, there's some nifty horse play and stampedes, and of course some macho posturing in sync, but it's with the smart story (greenhorn young man meets city life for the first time/lady lawyer trying to make it in the male dominated West) where the pic gets its strength. In the support slots you find Tony Curtis (billed as Anthony) and James Arness, who add a bit of colour to an already lively frontline cast. 6/10

This is not one of Audie Murphy's better known movies. In fact, hardly anyone has heard of it. I saw it once many years ago, and fell in love with it. I really enjoyed Burl Ives performance also. I have wanted a copy of this movie for my colldection for a long time.

Audie Murphy and his aging, fugitive father Dean Jagger, live deep in the mountains, away from trouble. A chance encounter with lost lady lawyer Wanda Hendrix and a serious injury to Jagger sends Audie to town for the first time since he was a small boy, where he finds trouble with the law.

Striking locations, good photography, and a well-plotted story combine to make a fairly entertaining movie. Action scenes are handled quite nicely as well, especially the climax, involving a stampeding of hundreds of horses, back and forth between the good guys and the bad! The only problem with the movie is that the ending (satisfying as it was) is just a little too convenient.

An interesting cast includes Burl Ives as a singing mountain man and early performances from Tony Curtis and James Arness as brothers and part of an outlaw family hiding on Audie and Jagger's mountain

Meanwhile, Audie plays pretty much the same type of character you always see (and love to see) him playing, that of a young, angry, brooding, misunderstood young man, real-life traits, shaped by his service in World War II, that Hollywood seized upon and interestingly enough, inspired writer David Morrell to create the character of Rambo, a piece of trivia that makes seeing Audie elude a posse in the mountains all the more interesting.

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.

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.