Posse from Hell (1961)

Audie Murphy plays Banner Cole, a young gunman who rides into the town of Paradise expecting a reunion with his friend, the town marshal.

He finds the marshal dying and three other men dead — the result of a visit by four vicious killers.

Those killers also made off with $11,000 from the Paradise bank and with a young girl, whom they later rape and leave for dead.

Murphy takes the marshal’s badge from his dying friend and, reluctantly, organizes a posse to go after the killers, though he’d rather go alone.

His posse includes a former Union cavalry officer who thinks he should be leading the posse (Robert Keith as Captain Brown), a tenderfoot banker (John Saxon as Seymour), a young gun (Paul Carr as Jock Wiley), the brother of one of those killed (Frank Overton as Burt Hogan), an Indian (Rodolfo Acosta as Johnny Caddo).

Also along for the ride is a drunk (Royal Dano as Uncle Billy), the only relative of the raped girl).

It isn’t much of a posse, Murphy realizes. And it quickly unravels until only Seymour and the Indian remain.

For Seymour, the adventure marks the first time he’s “felt like a man at a man’s game.”

For Johnny Caddo, joining the posse is simply “what a man should do.”

Banner Cole, who respects few men, comes to respect both of them.

But will they be able to stop the outlaws, who have apparently decided to return to Paradise and kill everyone they can.

Review:

Well done, surprisingly violent Western, with Murphy turning in a convincing performance as an embittered gunman who’s pretty much given up on his fellow man.

Saxon also delivers a solid performance as the tenderfoot forced to travel along with the posse to make sure the bank’s money is recovered.

The role of the kidnapped female fell to Zora Lampert. This marked her only big-screen Western. The outlaw gang includes Vic Morrow and Lee Van Cleef, who was soon to find Spaghetti Western fame after playing roles like this in Westerns for a decade.

Directed by:
Herbert Coleman

Cast:
Audie Murphy … Banner Cole
John Saxon … Seymour Kern
Zohra Lampert … Helen Caldwell
Vic Morrow … Crip
Robert Keith … Captain Brown
Rodolfo Acosta … Johnny Caddo
Royal Dano … Uncle Billy
Frank Overton … Burt Hogan
Paul Carr … Jock Wiley
James Bell … Benson
Ward Ramsey … Marshal Webb
Lee Van Cleef … Leo
Ray Teal … Rossom (the banker)

Runtime: 89 min.

Memorable lines:

Townsman: “Never mind about outside help. You can count on us.”
Banner Cole: “The only thing I’m counting on is that there will be more dead men before this is finished. Any of you still want to come, get ready to meet me in the marshal’s office.”

Mr. Rossum: “Don’t you have any personal feelings about this.”
Seymour Kern: “Yes. I want to finish my work here and get back to the main office and civilization as soon as possible.”

Helen Caldwell: “Those men. The smell of blood and sweat and whiskey. It was so ugly.”

Wiley: “Boys, we’re about to make ourselves famous. They’re going to be reading about us all over the territory.”
Seymor Kern: “Not in the obituaries, I hope.”

Seymour Kern: “I’m surprised they ran.”
Johnny Caddo: “Well, in the dark, they probably thought there was a big bunch of us.”
Banner Cole: “That’s not surprising. Kern must have fired 50 shots at that house.
Kern: “And I don’t think I missed it once.”

Ray Teal as the banker Rossom with Seymour Kern, an Easterner under his employ in Posse from Hell (1961)

Rodolfo Acosta as Johnny Caddo and Paul Carr as young gun Jock Wiley, about to confront the Crip gang in Posse from Hell (1961)

Frank Overton as Burt Hogan, wanting to avenge his brother’s death, but not spend much on the funeral in Posse from Hell (1961)

Ward Ramsey as Marshal Webb, making the late-night rounds in Paradise in Posse from Hell (1961)

Zohra Lampert as Helen Caldwell, who winds up being kidnapped for watching over her uncle in Posse from Hell (1961)

Royal Dano as Uncle Billy, the hard-drinking relative of Helen in Posse from Hell (1961)