Tod Lohman (Don Murray) is a cowpoke looking for his father, who headed West years earlier, leaving him and his mother behind.
But he’s forced on the run after a scuffle that leaves Shorty Boyd, son of a powerful rancher, dead.
Shorty’s dad, Hunter (R.G. Armstrong), thinks Lohman murdered Shorty. Tod insists Shorty fell on his own knife.
But Hunter sends his men out to bring Lohman in. And his determination grows when a second son (Otis) is trampled when Lohman spooks a herd bearing down on him.
And Lohman subsequently wounds Boyd’s youngest son Tom (Dennis Hopper) when he tries to take matters into his own hands to prove himself to his father.
Lohman winds up getting a helping hand from another rancher named Amos Bradley (Chill Wills) and his oldest daughter, pretty Juanita (Diane Varsi).
He’ll also make a new friend in an Indian trader named Leffertfinger (Jay Flippen).
Don Murray as Tod Lohman, on a difficult trek to avoid Hunter Boyd and his men in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Diane Varsi as Juanita Bradley, sneaking a peek at the Bible handed down to Tom by his mother in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Review:
Better than average Western, with Murray as a deadly, but reluctant to kill cowboy whose promises his dying mother he’ll keep the Ten Commandments.
In one scene, he’s in a shootout with Hal Carmody, one of Boyd’s top men. Rather than kill him outright, Lohman fires at a rock precariously sitting way above Carmody, helping to topple it down on the man.
Of course, as the film comes to a climax, Lohman eventually decides to stop running and face his accusers.
Meanwhile, R.G. Armstong’s Hunter Boyd — a man who has let nothing stand in his way to build a cattle empire — can’t understand why everyone seems so eager to help the young cowboy with the gentle spirit.
This marked the only Western for Diane Varsi, who had made a Academy Award nominated splash in her film debut, “Peyton Place,” a year earlier. She’d soon retreat from the bright lights of Hollywood.
R.G. Armstrong as Hunter Boyd, determined to get even with Tod Lohman for two dead sons in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Dennis Hopper as Tom Boyd, bearing the wound from his first meeting with Tod Lohman in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Directed by:
Henry Hathaway
Cast:
Don Murray … Tod Lohman
Diane Varsi … Juanita Bradley
Chill Wills … Amos Bradley
Dennis Hopper … Tom Boyd
R.G. Armstrong … Hunter Boyd
Jay Flippen … Jake Leffertfinger
John Larch … Hal Carmody
Margo … Mrs. Bradley
Ken Scott … Otis Boyd
Rodolfo Acosta … Bayliss
Salvador Baguez … Cardito
Harry Carey Jr. … Trueblood
Jerry Oddo … Morgan
Jose Torvay … Miguel
aka: The Hell-Bent Kid
Runtime: 100 min.
Chill Wills as Amos Bradley, the rancher who takes a liking to Tod Lohman in From Hell to Tesas (1958)
Jay Flippen as Jake Leffertfinger, the trader who helps Tod Lohman elude Boyd’s men in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Memorable lines:
Hunter Boyd to youngest son Tom Boyd after Lohman gets the better of him: “Instead of taking Miguel with you, you decided to play cat and mouse. And the mouse ate the cat.”
Juanita Bradley, when Tom Lohman explains that he’s trying to find his father: “He deserted your mother, and you’re gonna give him a hand? No wonder you’re in trouble, boy. You’re not very bright.”
Amos Bradley, about Juanita: “Tod, I got six daughters. This is my oldest. She’s the nearest thing I ever had to a boy. I put up with her. I’d take it kindly you could overlook her bad manners.”
John Larch as Hal Carmody, Hunter Boyd’s right-hand man, trying to ambush Tod Lohman in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Harry Carey Jr. as Trueblood and Jerry Oddo as Morgan, two of Boyd’s men on Lohman’s trail in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Tod Lohman: “Shorty fell on his knife. And that’s the Lord’s truth.”
Hunter Boyd: “Trouble is, no one saw it but the Lord. And he don’t talk to me.”
Jake Leffertfinger to Tod Lohman: “You sure do work hard at doing the wrong thing.”
Tod Lohman: “People don’t understand — killing sickens a man.”
Jack Leffertfinger: “A man’s got a right to convictions, I guess. The only thing is, they don’t help anybody, including himself, unless they fit the time and the place. Boy, this ain’t the time and the place.”
Don Murray as Tod Lohman, a young man trying his best to avoid killing while dealing with a vengeful cattle king in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Diane Varsi as Juanita Bradley, a tomboyish young woman smitten with Tod Lohman in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Rodolfo Acosta as Bayliss, one of the fast guns working for Hunter Boyd in From Hell to Texas (1948)
Margo as Mrs. Bradley, surrounding by her husband’s six daughters, including Juanita (Diane Varsi, left) in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Dennis Hopper as Tom Boyd and R.G. Armstrong as Hunter Boyd, closing in on their prey in From Hell to Texas (1958)
Don Murray as Tod Lohman, trying to figure out a way to slip past Boyd’s riders with the help of Juanita (Diane Varsi) and Amos Bradley (Chill Wills) in From Hell to Texas (1958)
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A cast of truly outstanding Western actors elevates a good film to near greatness. RG Armstrong is wonderful in the role of a cattle baron who is obsessed with killing a young man he incorrectly believes killed one of his sons in a scuffle over a girl. But although Armstrong’s Hunter Boyd has blood in his eyes, he also has a code of honor that includes allowing his quarry–Don Murray’s Tod Lohman–a four-hour head start in his efforts to escapt Boyd’s clutches.
Chill Wills is terrific as an affable, big-hearted rancher who takes a shine to Lohman and does what he can to help him evade Boyd and his goons. And there are charming domestic scenes of Wills’ Amos Bradley, his Mexican wife and their brood of chatty young daughters. Watch these, incidentally, and you’ll be craving tamales, tacos and chiles (Chilles?) rellenos.
John Larch, as always, makes his mark. This time he’s a Boyd gunman who loses his life in a duel in the rocks with Lohman.
Dennis Hopper is there in a role that suits him–a neurotic, petulent and vaguely effeminate kid trying to earn his spurs in the Old West. Boyd’s only surviving son, he doesn’t do anything right in this story.
And then there’s Jay Flippen who makes a strong impression as a brave and rather pugnacious Indian trader who aids Lohman in a moment of peril. Tim Robbins is, I dare say, a latter-day Jay Flippen.
There’s a very interesting philosophical tension in this picture. Lohman, a pacifist from Iowa who nevertheless possesses tremendous talent with the artillery, steadfastly refuses to defend himself and does everything possible to avoid bloodshed. He is a soft-hearted idealist in a brutal environment, and he is frequently aided in his efforts to escape Boyd by folk he randomly encounters. This phenomenon perplexes Boyd who at one point asks a priest why people are willing to do this. The padre responds, “You ask a difficult question. You wish me to explain the human heart.”
Nevertheless, the film’s conclusion produces something of a volte face. In the ultimate showdown between Lohman, Boyd and his men, Tom Boyd (Hopper) catches on fire after shooting on oil lamp, and staggers into the street. Lohman, braving gunfire from the elder Boyd, douses the flames and saves, to all appearances, Tom Boyd’s life.
In the next scene Hunter Boyd says to Lohman, “This story will be told for a very long time in 12 different ways, none of them favorable to me. If you’ll grant that I spared your life for saving my son, I’ll gladly go to hell for all the rest of it.”
Lohman’s reply: “I’ll grant you that, and I have no doubt you will.”
Boyd appears almost thunderstruck by the response. Ultimately, the God-fearing pacifist reveals an Old Testament heart of iron. His refusal to grant Boyd absolution is, in its own way, the most violent act of the film.