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Hellgate

  • 1952
  • Approved
  • 1h 27m
IMDb RATING
6.4/10
606
YOUR RATING
Sterling Hayden and Joan Leslie in Hellgate (1952)
DramaWestern

After the Civil War, an ex-Confederate ranch owner is framed and sent to a brutal desert prison in New Mexico.After the Civil War, an ex-Confederate ranch owner is framed and sent to a brutal desert prison in New Mexico.After the Civil War, an ex-Confederate ranch owner is framed and sent to a brutal desert prison in New Mexico.

  • Director
    • Charles Marquis Warren
  • Writers
    • Charles Marquis Warren
    • John C. Champion
  • Stars
    • Sterling Hayden
    • Joan Leslie
    • Ward Bond
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • IMDb RATING
    6.4/10
    606
    YOUR RATING
    • Director
      • Charles Marquis Warren
    • Writers
      • Charles Marquis Warren
      • John C. Champion
    • Stars
      • Sterling Hayden
      • Joan Leslie
      • Ward Bond
    • 14User reviews
    • 6Critic reviews
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • See production info at IMDbPro
  • Photos47

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    Top cast49

    Edit
    Sterling Hayden
    Sterling Hayden
    • Gilman S. Hanley
    Joan Leslie
    Joan Leslie
    • Ellen Hanley
    Ward Bond
    Ward Bond
    • Lt. Tod Voorhees
    James Arness
    James Arness
    • George Redfield
    Peter Coe
    Peter Coe
    • Jumper Hall
    John Pickard
    John Pickard
    • Gundy Boyd
    Robert J. Wilke
    Robert J. Wilke
    • Sgt. Maj. Kearn
    • (as Robert Wilkie)
    James Anderson
    James Anderson
    • Vern Brechene
    • (as Kyle James)
    Richard Emory
    Richard Emory
    • Dan Mott
    Dick Paxton
    • George Nye
    • (as Richard Paxton)
    William Hamel
    • Lt. Col. Woods
    • (as William R. Hamel)
    Marshall Bradford
    Marshall Bradford
    • Dr. Pelham
    Sheb Wooley
    Sheb Wooley
    • Neill Price
    Rory Mallinson
    Rory Mallinson
    • Banta
    Pat Coleman
    • Hunchy
    James Harrison
    Paul Marion
    Paul Marion
    Kermit Maynard
    Kermit Maynard
    • Barricade Guard
    • Director
      • Charles Marquis Warren
    • Writers
      • Charles Marquis Warren
      • John C. Champion
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

    User reviews14

    6.4606
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    Featured reviews

    dougdoepke

    Prison, Southwestern Style

    Surprisingly well-produced and offbeat Western from budget-minded Lippert Productions. Note how well stocked with convicts the prison camp is, along with the realistic army tents for the staff. Hard to believe this "Devil's Island" is just a few miles from downtown LA in often-used Bronson Canyon. Lippert does a really convincing job recreating a desert penal colony in the middle of a big city. The prologue from Oliver Wendell Holmes suggests the story is based on fact, though that's not stated. Hayden plays a veterinarian wrongly convicted of guerrilla activity following the Civil War. At the prison camp he has to survive a guerrilla-hating commandant (Ward Bond), a cruel guard (the great Robert Wilke), and scheming fellow prisoners like James Arness. (The Hayden-Arness fistfight features two of the physically biggest men in Hollywood.)

    The camp is a real hellhole, with underground cells (well-done), a half buried punishment coffin called "the oven", and a posse of Pima Indians for those escaping on foot. And get a load of that trap door leading underground, as if the Devil himself were on the other side. I like the way armed guards are posted on the canyon rim and silhouetted against the sky— another nice touch. There's plenty of intrigue and action, although the typhus outbreak comes as something of an anti-climax following the jailbreak. Hayden underplays throughout, as does Arness. It's really Bond and Wilke who make the strongest impression. Then too, pretty Joan Leslie has her name on the marquee, but only appears for about 5 minutes as Hayden's long-suffering wife. Anyway, it's an offbeat and entertaining 90 minutes that'll make you think twice about helping suspicious-looking strangers,
    8Marlburian

    Excellent western

    The Moves4Men channel on British TV is providing me with some excellent films that I wouldn't otherwise have seen (as well as some recordings which I delete within ten minutes of starting to view). "Hellgate" is one of the grittiest Westerns I've seen, especially considering that it was released in 1952, when the rigours portrayed on screen were usually somewhat muted.

    The characters sweat copiously, their clothes are filthy and they show evidence of having no access to razors - in contrast to too many action films where the actors remain remarkably clean and well-shaven.

    One reviewer here has referred to Ward Bond being "inexpressive", but he certainly looked thuggish to me, and Robert Wilke was as malevolent as ever. Perhaps Joan Leslie was a tad too pretty? The way the film ended was a bit anti-climatic and I would have liked to see a bit more soul-searching going on before the concluding decision was made.

    I'm very glad to have watched this film.
    8bluespheresdailyplus

    HELLGATE

    Summary: An ex-confederate soldier, now a veterinarian, who has come to accept the ways of the North that have been imposed on the land, unwittingly helps a wanted criminal. Despite Hanley's efforts to accept the Yankees and their brand of modernity the local law enforcement, running on high emotion, exploit the tenuous link between the confederate and their wanted man by arresting him and sending him to a terrible place: Ward Bond's prison - and Bond has an extreme prejudice for men of the innocent man's sort.

    This is an excellent film that resolves itself beautifully. Sterling Hayden, a wonderful actor who epitomises his era, turned in a great performance as the alienated and wrongly imprisoned man.
    8bkoganbing

    Hard Time On The Desert

    One of the best films to come out of the Poverty Row Lippert Pictures Studio was this hard nosed and brutal western drama Hellgate. The title is named after a prison on the New Mexico desert where Sterling Hayden is sentenced to some hard time.

    A number of reviewers have already commented that the plot is taken straight from the story of Dr. Samuel Mudd. Hayden is a former Confederate soldier who has settled in a Union area of the west and just wants to forget the war. Hayden and wife Joan Leslie give some assistance to an injured man, Hayden is a veterinarian and therefore has some medical training. The man turns out to be a former Quantrill guerrilla and the locals are quick to believe Hayden has to be one also. He gets sentenced to Hellgate where he comes under the tender care of commander Ward Bond and Sergeant Major Robert J. Wilkie.

    Though the plot may come from The Prisoner Of Shark Island, the jail is like the one Sessue Hayakawa ran in The Bridge On The River Kwai. It's set in a desert canyon with no water, it has to be transported in every month. The jails are underground carved right in the rock crevices. Like Hayakawa, Bond has no guards the desert does discourage most escapes. He does however have Pima Indians who can track escapees and get more for bringing them dead than alive.

    If you know the story of Samuel Mudd from The Prisoner Of Shark Island you know what happens here in Hellgate. Sterling Hayden really dominates this film, especially when he vies for supremacy in his particular cell with James Arness, a pretty hard case himself. This is one of Hayden's best acted roles and ought to command some of the same attention given to The Asphalt Jungle and The Killing.

    Don't miss this one if it is broadcast, especially for fans of Sterling Hayden.
    6Leofwine_draca

    Prison flick with a difference

    Seen today, HELLGATE is an interesting cinematic curio that ably mixes both the western and the prison genres into a rather unique whole. Although in terms of execution the film has dated somewhat, it remains watchable thanks to the strange nature of the prison itself: a canyon in the scorching desert in which the cells have been dug into a grimy cave system.

    The hero of the piece is square-jawed Sterling Hayden, committed to the clink for a crime he didn't commit. The usual prison clichés are here including a particularly sadistic warden in the form of Ward Bond, but there's a greater emphasis on character than usual which makes it a pretty decent film. The direction and black and white photography could have been better but as a routine programmer this holds the attention, delivering suspense at regular intervals and building to a thrilling climax.

    Related interests

    Mahershala Ali and Alex R. Hibbert in Moonlight (2016)
    Drama
    John Wayne and Harry Carey Jr. in La Prisonnière du désert (1956)
    Western

    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Goofs
      When Gil Hanley is in jail, he is kissing his wife Ellen and his whole head is sticking out between the bars, which are so far apart he could have slid out sideways between them.
    • Crazy credits
      Opening credits prologue: KANSAS, 1867-- A STATE OVERRUN BY GUERRILLA TERRORISTS IN THE WAKE OF THE CIVIL WAR
    • Connections
      Version of Je n'ai pas tué Lincoln (1936)

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    FAQ14

    • How long is Hellgate?Powered by Alexa

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 5, 1952 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Les portes de l'enfer
    • Filming locations
      • Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Commander Films Corporation
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Tech specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      • 1h 27m(87 min)
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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