La squadra infernale

A reluctant deputy takes an even more reluctant posse after 4 dangerous thugs who killed several townspeople and left with a hostage. The posse is so inept that several of them are gunned down while engaging the enemy on 3 or 4 occasions. Ol' Murph tried to keep them in line but they were mostly pretty hopeless. Lots of gunplay made for a good western, even if it was a little lame.

Posse From Hell is my second favorite Audie Murphy western, his best being No Name On The Bullet. It's Audie who is leading the men who make up the Posse From Hell, he's a deputy tracking down the killer of the marshal and another citizen from his town of Paradise.

Four prize specimens scheduled to hang escape from territorial prison and come upon the town and terrorize it, taking with them as hostage and sex toy Zohra Lampert. The leader of the four is Vic Morrow who packs a deadly shotgun. Morrow is absolutely riveting in his evil, this may very well be his career role.

In fact Posse From Hell has many good supporting parts, Robert Keith plays a vain Civil War soldier looking to recapture some of his former prestige or acquire some he never had. John Saxon also stands out as a bank clerk who's from the east who joins the posse to see if he has the right stuff. Rudolfo Acosta who usually plays bad guys plays an Indian who joins the posse as a tracker and takes a lot of guff from the more self righteous whites.

Seeing how deadly Morrow is with a shotgun this is an image that will disturb you and stay with you a long time.

A nice cast of familiar players help Audie Murphy make this one of his best westerns. An absolute must for his fans.

Audie Murphy Over John Wayne Any Day. Real Life War Hero Audie Murphy was an Admired Man who was Brave, Courageous, and True. He Admitted that Acting was a Battle He Never Won. With a Likable Screen Persona He Soldered through a Career including many a Western. This was One of His Best.

A Solid Cast of B-Movie Actors, Striking Color Cinematography, more Violent than usual for the Time, some Truly Good vs Evil Characters, and Philosophical Musing make this an Above Average Entry in the Wagonload of Westerns in the Time Period (1950-Early 1960's).

It's a Grueling Task for the Make-Shift Posse on the Trail of some Hideous Bad-Guys lead by Vic Morrow and Lee Van Cleef. Audie and John Saxon reach Deep for some Soul Searching and the Ever Elusive, Nasty and Clever Outlaws show some Serious Signs of the Change about to Occur in Hollywood.

A Must See for Western Fans, especially Audie Murphy Cultists. The Story is well told and as Entertaining as All Get Out as these things go. This is one that the Most Decorated Military Hero in History can be Proud.

Medium budget'd B-Western, starred by the all-american clean shaved Audie Murphy, one of the most condecorated combat soldiers of World War II which turned Hollywood star, mostly in Western films, with more than 40 credits in his resumé. Stoic, healthy, soft-spoken with a natural shyness, but projecting an on-screen likeability that earned him his loyal fanbase, Audie Murphy was (and still is) one of the most beloved American icons.

"Posse from Hell" directed by Herbert Coleman, making his debut in the director's chair after being an assistant director, and shot by Clifford Stine in the beautiful palette of Eastmancolor, is one of Audie's most underrated Westerns.

Written by Clair Huffaker, based on his own novel, tells the story of four fugitives from death row that rode to the pacific town of Paradise, and after killing the Town Marshal, they made hostage a beautiful girl and ran away with $11,200 from the Bank. Former gunfighter Banner Cole (Murphy) arrives to town the next day and makes a promise to the dying Marshal that will form a Posse and bring the four men to justice.

The story itself is nothing new to the genre and has been seen before in countless B-Westerns, but the way it was shot and paced, makes a joyful entertaining and exciting experience to the viewer. The movie looks good visually and the cinematography is above par, including nicely composed shots from Alabama Hills, Lone Pine and Olancha Dunes in California.

Audie Murphy plays himself effortlessly, with a good bunch of supporting players, including a young John Saxon; a sadly underused Vic Morrow as the leader of the fugitives pack; future Western icon, Lee Van Cleef; method actress Zohra Lampert and the character actors Robert Keith, Rodolfo Acosta, Frank Overton, Royal Dano and Ward Ramsey, among others.

"Posse from Hell" could have been more nastier (as the story suggests) and could have ended sooner, but with Audie aboard, he made sure that his moral valors and code of honor were there to the character's redemption, with the film ending in a positive note. Every Audie Murphy's is a happy end and that's what his fans want.

I give it a 7.5

Recommended !!

Very superior B-Western. It is well cast. The posse is made of heterogeneous, well fleshed-out characters --more so than the usual Western. I enjoyed everything about the film, even stolid, amiable star Audie Murphy, who seemed tolerable. Most of the time, in an understated way, he seemed to keep from laughing out loud or reprimanding his inept posse crew. It must amuse most fans that while Murphy was the most decorated American soldier in WW II (maybe US history) in real life, his movie presence is often milquetoast.

I want to mention three very unusual things about this movie, all commendable in my opinion: One, in most Westerns the bad guys hold up the bank, quickly race out of town, and an instant posse takes off after them. But here there was an amazing scene that I found believable and in tune with the movie. The bad guys killed the marshal and some others and DIDN'T rush out of town. Instead they took over the saloon, sat down at some tables and gave orders and threats and killed some as examples, for an extended period of time. It made some sense to me. The townsfolk were not soldiers or gunmen. They didn't want to die, so they didn't fight back.

Two, when the posse came across one fatally wounded outlaw (Van Cleef), he lie on the ground telling them that they had a duty to care for his wounds, but Murphy said they couldn't spare a man to take Van Cleef back to town or to tend to him on the spot, so they had to leave him to die there.

Three, most Westerns would end with the death of the last outlaw, but not this one. After the last outlaw is killed, Murphy carries John Saxon (good as a posse member) a few miles back to town in triumph to be congratulated. But the film refuses to end there. There is a lot of talk about the dead marshal who had recommended bad boy gunfighter Murphy for the job, about Murphy possibly becoming the new marshal and talk with the girl (Zohra Lampert, a favorite of everyone) about her future.