El Paso (1949)

John Payne is Clay Fletcher, who returns home after the Civil War to find one thing missing: lovely Susan Jeffers (Gail Russell).

So he heads to El Paso, Texas, to find the girl he courted during a brief leave from the Army.

He finds much more: A town ruled by Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden), his crooked Sheriff La Farge and a land acquisition company that is cheating e-Rebels like himself out of their land.

Susan’s father is wrapped up in their mischief. He’s now a drunken judge who holds court in a saloon and rules as Donner demands.

As for Susan? She’s unhappy in El Paso. And she’s being courted by that very same Bert Donner.

Clay decides to help John Elkins, one of those ex-Rebels and a man who served under him during the war. And he plans to do so by sobering up Judge Jeffers and forcing El Paso to hold a fair trial for a change.

But a couple of killings later, Clay decides it’s going to take more than fair trials to end the reign of Donner and La Forge.

It’s going to take lynchings and gunplay. And Clay Fletcher is pretty good at the latter too, thanks in part to some training from a Mexican friend named Vasquez.

John Payne as Clay Fletcher, swapping his lawyer suit for cowboy duds and a six-shooter in El Paso (1949)

Gail Russell as Susan Jeffers enjoys a surprise reunion with Clay Fletcher in El Paso (1949)

Review:

A rather routine Payne outing, complete with plenty of action, a couple of lovely ladies and a sappy, moralistic ending.

Gabby Hayes is around to provide comic relief as a friend of Clay Fletcher. He heads to El Paso to sell pots, pans and knives, but winds up making a series of trades with a shrewd twoseome.

By the time all is said and done, he’s the proud owner of a prize cock-fighting rooster who — to his embarrassment — starts laying eggs.

This marked Gail Russell’s first Western since starring alongside John Wayne in “Angel and the Badman” (1946). Sadly, she’d appear in just eight more films before dying of alcoholism at age 36 in 1961.

Sterling Hayden (right) as Bert Donner, the man who rules El Paso with his hand-picked sheriff (Dirk Foran, left) in El Paso (1949)

Gabby Hayes as Pesky Tees, surprised when his prize fighting rooster lays an egg in El Paso (1949)

Directed by:
Lewis R. Foster

Cast:
John Payne … Clay Fletcher
Gail Russell … Susan Jeffers
Sterling Hayden … Bert Donner
Gabby Hayes … Pesky Tees
Dick Foran … Sheriff La Farge
Eduardo Noriega … Don Nacho Vasquez
Henry Hull … Judge Jeffers
Mary Beth Hughes … Stagecoach Nellie
H.B. Warner … Judge Fletcher
Robert Ellis … Jack Elkins
Catherine Craig … Mrs. Elkins
Arthur Space … John Elkins
Steven Geray … Mexican Joe

Runtime: 103 min.

Henry Hull as Judge Jeffers, Susan’s father and a man with a drinking problem in El Paso (1949)

H.B. Warner as Judge Fletcher, Clay’s father, realizing he’s lost his wallet somewhere in El Paso (1949)

Memorable lines:

Pesky Tees: “Sure hope these Indians aren’t the scalping variety.” He runs his hand through his gray hair. “Sure ain’t hankering to lose this beautiful head of hair.”

Stagecoach Nellie, peeking out the stage window: “Nope, it’s white men. Probably a holdup. You’d better give me your valuables. They don’t bother us women.”

Don Nacho Vasquez to Clay Fletcher: “There is only one law here in El Paso. If you want to live, you have to learn how to shoot. Quick.”

Bert Donner: “I see you found yourself a new coat.”
Clay Fletcher: “Yes, the coat of a brave man who died defending the rights of his people. There are two bullet holes in the back of it. You’ve heard of senor Montez?”

Don Nacho Vasquez, as he and Fletcher test their shooting skills, only to be interrupted by a servant rushing to save the dinner plates: “Just like a woman. She thinks a dinner plate to eat on is more important than a dinner plate to shoot at.”

Susan Jeffers, noting Clay Fletcher has changed after spending time with Vasquez: “No, Clay, not the clothes. The guns. What do they mean?”
Clay Fletcher: “Just a couple of extra legal arguments in case I need them.”

Clay Fletcher: “The scales of justice are tipped too far out of balance here in El Paso. And there’s only one way to even them up — with a gun and a rope!”

Padre: “From now on, we’re going to have law and order in our fair city.”
Stagecoach Nellie, an expert at separately men from their money: “Hey, does anybody know when the next stage leaves for San Antone?”

Eduardo Noriega as Don Nacho Vasquez, Fletcher’s south-of-the-border friend in El Paso (1949)

Mary Beth Hughes as Stagecoach Nellie, working her tricks on Clay Fletcher (John Payne) on the stage to El Paso in El Paso (1949)

Arthur Space as John Elkins, agreeing to the suggestion of his former commander, Clay Fletcher (John Payne) that he stand trial in El Paso (1949)

John Payne as Clay Fletcher and Gail Russell as Susan Jeffers reacting to the sight of her father coming home drunk again in El Paso (1949)

Henry Hull as Judge Jeffers, trying to regain respectability with the help of Clay Fletcher and daughter Susan (Gail Russell) in El Paso (1949)

John Payne as Clay Fletcher and Gabby Hayes as Pesky Tees have their first run-in with the men who rule El Paso in El Paso (1949)