Hellfire

Real western addicts acknowledge that Republic Studios, despite their cost-cutting measures, turned out the absolute best horse operas in history. This fine and little known movie is exceptional even by Republic standards. No subtle stuff here....just an unusually tight and suspenseful script, committed performances from seasoned western stars and, of course, plenty of the usual gunfight action.

The writers and producers of "Hellfire" seem to have wanted to throw away the formulas and cliché's usually found in Westerns. They put an emphasis on character development to bring us vivid characters, performed very well by superior b-movie actors.

This movie marked the beginning of my long-time infatuation with Marie Windsor. View it and your own Marie love affair will begin. She brings us a rare combination of strength and beauty and her performance is to be admired by both men and women. About 15 years before Jane Fonda saddled up, Marie gives us a precursor to Fonda's "Cat Ballou" but in a more serious acting style with less emphasis on comedy.

Bill Elliott underplays as usual but his role calls for it, and this is probably his best film performance. His performance beautifully compliments the dynamic Windsor. Elliott is known for underplaying, but underplaying is not always a bad thing. Elliott proves that here.

Elliott, Windsor and a restrained Forrest Tucker form an effective 3-way acting ensemble that is fascinating to watch, as aided by some great screen writing.

In the 1940's or today you don't always need big names or budget to make a successful film. Just watch "Hellfire" straight through and let the characters and unusual plot twists grab your attention. You will be entertained.

The color filming is good and all the supporting actors are first-rate. Look for the great Harry Woods in a small part- I wish he could have had a bigger role because every performance by Woods is essentially a screen acting clinic.

I have heard of Marie Windsor, but never saw her in a film prior to this. Because she toiled at poverty-row studios I guess I had a prejudice against her without ever having seen her, but boy! She was terrific. Her character as Doll in this western with a religious twist was strongly written and strongly played. William Elliot seemed just right in his role as a bad boy trying to walk the straight-and-narrow. This really is a unique film in the history of westerns and the Trucolor makes this a time capsule of poverty-row color technology. Essentially a two-color process, it shows up in red-orange and green, although the skies appear as blue. The print streamed on Netflix was in excellent shape, with no excessive lines or dirt present, and the overall experience was one of gratitude that they have managed to save so many of these low-budget studio films. To the casual viewer who thinks only the majors could achieve quality, the modern-day viewing of some of these B films proves that they too could achieve quality if not consistently then at least occasionally.

The review by Filmaven tickled me. I feared I was alone in believing this movie is one of the greats.

Marie Windsor, a fine actress in any role, just outdid herself in this film.

Bill Elliott was even better than usual, and so were all the other actors.

Best of all, though, was an excellent script, one definitely worthy of A movie budgeting and distributing.

There is a quality in this movie that is sadly lacking in most modern films, and the emphasis on a story line is one aspect that elevates "Hellfire" above the mass of films.

You can't ask for more in a western than Wild Bill Elliott and Marie Windsor. Elliott was one of the manliest and most genuine western stars of the '40's, and no woman had more strong charactered parts in B westerns and film noirs than Marie Windsor.

This is a rousing movie about redemption and the hard road to reach it. Things don't come easy for the two stars, but they both just keep on a pluggin' away in true western style. What makes this movie more than just another formulaic oater is the fact that Doll Brown (Marie) is not your average swooning damsel in distress. One gets the feeling that the two stars had genuine affection for each other (notice that I said affection, not lust) and this shows through in the film.

Changes in the characters that take place during Hellfire seem like changes that would really happen if two people liked each other- it is not the usual surrender of one star (almost always the female lead) to the strength of the dominant one (almost always the male lead).

If you like Westerns (and here I mean not just Howard Hawkes or John Ford films and not just any weak programmer destined for a Saturday matinée second feature), you should enjoy this one.