The Kid from Texas (1950)

Audie Murphy plays Billy the Kid, who’s been taken on as a hand by rancher Roger Jameson and finds himself in the middle of the Lincoln County War with rival rancher Major Harper.

Billy frees Jameson from one jam with some fancy gun play, but his boss is a peaceful man and convinces the youngster to take off his guns in hopes of putting violence behind him.

That works for a while. But when Jameson is gunned down by Haper’s men, Billy straps on his gun belt again and sets out to get revenge against everyone who was involved.

He has a new boss now, Alexander Kain (Albert Dekker), once Jameson’s lawyer. Kain pretends to befriend Billy, especially when he needs his gun to strike back against rustlers.

But as the number of notches on Billy’s gun rises, Kain shows his disapproval by kicking in a large portion of a $10,000 reward on the kid’s head.

That move is partly spurred by jealousy because Billy’s been paying a good deal of attention to Kain’s pretty and much younger wife Irene (Gale Storm).

After turning down an amnesty offer from Gov. Lew Wallace, Billy finds he has a new problem.

Pat Garrett has been sent to Lincoln County to bring peace to the area, one way or the other.

Audie Murphy as Billy the Kid, putting away his guns at the request of rancher Jameson in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Albert Dekker as Alexander Kain, Jameson’s attorney and the man who takes over his ranch in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Review:

This marked the first starring Western role for Murphy and, considering his lack of acting experience, he acquits himself quite well even if there isn’t anything very special about this version of an oft-told story.

To their credit, producers stuck pretty close to the real story of Billy the Kid, though they portray him as a sympathetic character, Kain as the villain of the piece, change lots of other names and inflate the notches on his gun and the reward on his head.

Murphy returned from WWII as the nation’s most decorated combat soldier. Yet, oddly, Universal had him play notorious outlaws in three of his first five Westerns — Billy the Kid here, Jesse James in “Kansas Raiders” (1950) and Bill Doolin in “The Cimarron Kid” (1952).

Will Greer plays one of Murphy’s sidekicks; Ray Teal is a sheriff working on behalf of Maj. Harper.

Gale Storm as Irene Kain, getting to know the mysterious young man named Billy the Kid (Audie Murphy) in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Frank Wilcox as Pat Garrett, the lawman sent to Lincoln County to establish law and order in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Directed by:
Kurt Neumann

Cast:
Audie Murphy … Billy the Kid
Gale Storm … Irene Kain
Albert Dekker … Alexander Kain
Shepperd Strudwick … Roger Jameson
Will Greer … O’Fallon
William Talman … Minninger
Robet Barrat … Gen. Lew Wallace
Frank Wilcox … Pat Garrett
Martin Garralaga …. Morales
Walter Sande … Crowe
Ray Teal … Sheriff Rand
Dennis Hoey … Maj. Harper
Don Haggerty … Morgan
Paul Ford … Sheriff Copeland
John Phillips … Sid Curtis
Harold Goodwin … Matt Curtis
Zon Murray … Lucas
Tom Trout … Denby
Rose Turich … Maria
Dorita Pallais … Lupita
Pilar Del Rey … Marguarita

Runtime: 78 min.

Dennis Hoey as Maj. Harper, the rival rancher of Roger Jameson in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Ray Teal as Sheriff Rand, the lawman who sides with Jameson in the Lincoln County War in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Memorable lines:

Roger Jameson: “You’ve changed, Billy, since we put those guns away. Let’s leave them there, shall we? … It’s a queer thing about wearing guns — a gun draws trouble to you.”

Billy the Kid, after Jameson’s death: “He was the only man who treated me like I was good enough to shake hands with. He took me in while I was on the run. And when they tried to put me on the run again, he said no.”

Sheriff Rand, of Billy: “You don’t judge a rattlesnake by his age. He’s a rattler whether he’s got one rattle or a dozen.”

Audie Murphy as Billy the Kid, torn between a quest to revenge and his pledge to Jameson in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Shepperd Strudwick as Roger Jameson, the rancher who takes Billy under his wings in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Robert Barrat as Gov. Lew Wallace, trying to stop the Lincoln County War in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Will Greer as O’Fallon with Audie Murphy as Billy the Kid in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Martin Garralaga as Morales, one of Billy’s sidekicks in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Audie Murphy as Billy the Kid with Gale Storm as Irene Kain, a discontent young wife in The Kid from Texas (1950)

William Talman as Minninger, one of the men out to get Billy in The Kid from Texas (1950)

Audie Murphy as Billy the Kid, using his six-guns to get out of a jam in The Kid from Texas (1950)