Sierra (1950)

Audie Murphy plays Ring Hassard, a young man who’s spent most of his life hiding out in the hills above the town of Sierra Vista with his dad Jeff (Dean Jagger), who was accused of a murder he didn’t commit 15 years earlier.

That means Ring’s suspicious of strangers, like a lost young lady named Riley Martin (Wanda Hendrix), and has no trust of the law.

But he’s forced into contact with both after his dad is badly injured breaking a horse, leaving him in need of a doctor.

Pretty soon, Ring finds himself in trouble, too. A band of horse rustlers have stolen his unbranded mustangs — the ones he planned to sell to pay the doctor — yet he’s the one accused of horse stealing when he tries to get them back.

Riley, searching for her first case as a lady lawyer, tries to come to his defense. But Ring’s so sure he’ll be found guilty, he refuses to testify in his own defense.

He winds up breaking jail with the help of a mule-riding, song-singing friend named Lonesome.

Then Ring bands together with another family of fugitives — the Coulters — with the goal of capturing a large herd of mustangs and starting a ranch with him and his dad. That’s, of course, if the law will let him alone.

Audie Murphy as Ring Hassard, a man taught by his father to trust no outsiders in Sierra (1950)

Wanda Hendrix as Riley Martin, rescued by Ring, then determined to rescue him from life as a recluse in Sierra (1950)

Review:

Wow, there’s a lot going on in this little Western. A dad hiding out from the law. A son who’s hiding out as well. A lady lawyer who falls for the lad, even though she’s already engaged to another man.

And that other man happens to be behind lots of horse rustling. Then there’s the herd of mustangs and a trial and a jailbreak and, of course, a stampede.

There’s some silliness, too. Hendrix’s character is bitten by a rattler at one point. Proclaiming none of his knives sharp enough to cut out the poison, Ring Hazzard “shoots” it right out of her arm with his six-gun.

Later, when he’s locked up in jail, Lonesome (Burl Ives) sings the deputy sheriff to sleep so he can break Ring out.

But Murphy is pretty effective considering this was just his second Western. And Hendrix brings some real spunk to her role. At the time this film was made, they were husband and wife. It would be a short-lived union.

You’ll also spot Tony Curtis and James Arness in minor early roles as members of the Coulter gang.

Dean Jagger as Jeff Hassard, forced to hide in the hills after being accused of a murder he didn’t commit in Sierra (1950)

Burl Ives as Lonesome, the one man who knows Jeff Hassard’s whereabouts in Sierra (1950)

Directed by:
Alfred E. Green

Cast:
Audie Murphy … Ring Hassard
Wanda Hendrix … Riley Martin
Burl Ives … Lonesome
Dean Jagger … Jeff Hassard
Richard Rober … Big Matt Rango
Tony Curtis … Brent Coulter
Houseley Stevenson … Sam Coulter
Elliott Reid … Duke Lafferty
Griff Barnett … Dr. Hank Robbins
Elisabeth Risdon … Aunt Susan
Roy Roberts … Sheriff Knudson
Greg Martell … Tom Hogan
Sara Allgood … Mrs. Jonas
Erskine Sanford … Judge Prentiss
John Doucette … Jed Coulter

Runtime: 83 min.

Title tune: “Hideaway,” performed by Burl Ives

Ives also sings: “End of the Road,” “The Whale Song,” “Sarah the Mule,” “Black Angus McDougal” and “Drift Along.”

Richard Rober as Big Matt Rango, out to get the Hassards and their new herd of horses in Sierra (1950)

Elliott Reid as Duke Lafferty, the man planning a future with Riley Martin (Wanda Hendrix) in Sierra (1950)

Memorable lines:

Jeff Hassard, after being injured breaking a horse: “I don’t want a doctor. If I live, I want to be free. If I die, I don’t need their help.”

Duke Lafferty: “You’ve got some talking to do, and you’d better make it fast.”
Ring Hassard: “I never talk fast.”

Lonesome, trying to make a run for it on a slow mule named Sarah: “Sarah, sometimes you make make me ashamed of both of us.”

Sam Coulter: “I’ve come so close to hanging so many times, you’d think I’d get used to it.”

Erskine Sanford as Judge Prentiss, agreeing to allow Riley Martin to defend Ring at trial in Sierra (1950)

Roy Roberts as Sheriff Knudson, planning to bring in Jeff Hassard on an old murder charge in Sierra (1950)

Houseley Stevenson as Sam Coulter and James Arness as Little Sam, two of Ring’s partners in a horse roundup in Sierra (1950)

Elisabeth Risdon as Aunt Susan, a woman against anyone wearing the Hassard name in Sierra (1950)

Wanda Hendrix as Riley Martin, the aspiring lady lawyer who finds herself falling for Ring Hassard in Sierra (1950)

Audie Murphy as Ring Hassard, watching over his injured father in Sierra (1950)