7/10
1ST LEAD ROLE FOR AUDIE MURPHY...A VIOLENT BUT OTHERWISE UNREMARKABLE WESTERN...BETTER THINGS TO COME
4 August 2021
Stepping into the Infamous and Legendary Boots of "Billy the Kid" in His First Starring Role,

Audie Murphy is Stiff, Searching for a Screen Persona, and He Performs in a Flat, Restrained Style.

That He would Soon Abandon as "Murph'' would Learn the Ropes and Mature into a Fine "Western" Screen Presence.

Shot in Technicolor with a Good Cast Including Albert Dekker and Gail Storm, with Will Greer as a Side-Kick.

The Location Back-Drops are Pedestrian.

The Many Gun Battles are Also Presented without Style as the Whole Film Lacks Any Style or Remarkable Elements at all.

But, the Body-Count is HIgh and the Escape from the Lincoln County Jail Contains an Ultra-Violent Encounter for the Time.

It Makes its way Through the Story of "The Kid" with a Modicum of Accuracy but in the End its an Average Western All Around.

While Audie Murphy's Baby-Face did Him No Favors when Playing Outlaws and Gritty Gunslingers, in this Case it was a Positive.

To See the Popular War Hero in His Major Introduction to Hollywood Westerns,

the Genre He Would Ride for Over 20 Years with some Reel Highlights. This One is...

Worth a Watch.
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