Hell Bent for Leather

Clay Santell's horse is stolen and he reaches the town of Sutterville on foot. The townspeople mistake him for a wanted killer, seize him and hand him over to the lawman Harry Deckett. Deckett is tired of chasing the real killer after years; he decides to shoot Santell and turn him in as the murderer. Santell escapes and takes Janet Gifford hostage. On the road she starts believing what he tells her. This eighty-two-minute western is one of the films Audie Murphy turned out one after another at Universal. The mould is simple but the idea is strong: the villain is not an outlaw but the law itself. Because Deckett cannot catch a criminal he chooses to put somebody else in his place, and does it in his official capacity. George Sherman directed. The film is short, fast and unadorned; it counts among the well-built ones in the B-western field.