Powerful

Good movie, but best of all time? Hardly . . .

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

Interesting and enjoyable Western with a deep meaning upon the power of forgiveness and an attractive ending . This cultured actioner Western contains noisy action , dashingly violent scenes , rider pursuits , impressive Indians attacks and loads of crossfire .This splendid motion picture was professional and convincingly directed by Henry Hathaway , doing an useful job and being well starred by top-notch actors . When ranch hand Tod Lohman (Don Murray who recently passed away) accidentally kills the son of a powerful rancher (R.G. Armstrong) , he panics and flees , as he on the run with posse on his trail . As the rancher carries out his vengeful crew hunt Tod down , being accompanied by his another wild son (Dennis Hooper) and crafty Mexican underling (Rodolfo Acosta) . Meantime , innocent Tod finds refuge with kindly as well as wealthy farmer (Chill Wills) . At the farm Tod falls for his daughter (Diane Varsi) but trouble won't remain far away for long time . Exciting Western also titled ¨Manhunt¨ packs thrills , emotion , shootouts , go riding , a love story and including timeless resonance about a merciless as well as useless vengeance . Acceptable Western realized in the tradition of "StageCoach" "High Noon" and "Shane" . The screenplay achieved an important message by focusing on the morality of revenge . Striking interpretations by a good cast , particularly R.G. Armstrong as vengeful father in typical fire-eating form and Dennis Hopper who worked steadily in Western genre through the 1960s including twice more with Hathaway: "The Sons of Katie Elder" in 1965 and "True Grit" in 1969. Support cast is frankly well , plenty of familiar faces such as Chill Wills , Dennis Hopper , Jay C. Flippen , John Larch , Malcolm Atterbury , James Philbrook , Ken Scott , Margo and Rodolfo Acosta . Furthermore , Diane Varsi bringing his own brand of sweet charm to the role of beautiful heroine . Colorful cinematography in CinemaScope by Wilfred Cline , though a right remastering being necessary . Atmospheric and evocative musical score by Daniel Amfitheatroph .This well-paced in cracking style flick was stunningly directed by Henry Hathaway and usually works very well , being capable handled in spectacular photography , adding gorgeous outdoors from Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, Iverson Ranch , Chatsworth, Los Angeles, Bishop, and Death Valley, California . Henry Hathaway does the human touch and full of insight that accompanied him during most of his films and the story develops pleasantly in large frames with an interesting plot and fully adjusted to the requirements of the action . His fetish actor was John Wayne , both of whom collaborated in various sincere Westerns , they included ¨North to Alaska¨ , ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨ and Wayne's Academy Award-winning ¨True grit¨, among others . Hathaway himself was only even nominated for an Oscar , but his movies themselves are testimony to his skills to heighten narrative tension and shoot action so exhilarating it made adrenalin run . Henry was a craftsman who had a long career from the 30s with successful films , and especially Westerns , as ¨Brigham Young¨ and ¨Raw Hide¨ . In his 60s Hathaway still got the vigour to make some fiery movies as ¨How the West was won¨, ¨Nevada Smith¨, and ¨Shoot out¨ . He was an expert on Western genre as he proved in ¨True grit¨ , ¨Five card stud¨ , ¨Nevada Smith¨ , ¨How the West was won¨ , ¨Rawhide¨ , ¨Brigham Young¨ , ¨Buffalo Stampede¨, ¨Garden of evil¨ , ¨The sons of Katie Elder¨ and , of course this , ¨From Hell to Texas¨ . Rating : nice Western , 6.5/10 .

It is very hard to define when somebody is a good person, and Tod Lohman (Don Murray) in this western is certainly one. He does not kill Tom Boyd (Dennis Hopper) when in the reverse situation Tom Boyd would have killed him and he also does not kill a horse which would incriminate him, but on the contrary, feeling sorry for the horse, takes him along. Three people who are strangers to him are willing to help him even though this would put them in trouble. At a certain moment R.G.Armstrong (Hunter Boyd) asks the priest: Why are people so willing to help this man who they hardly know? And the priest answers him that this is a matter of the heart. And this excellent western takes us on the journey of a man hunted because he unwillingly was responsible for the death of someone who wanted to kill him. His survival is against all odds, but then if it would be just odds, life would be very predictable… William K. Everson one of the great authorities in Westerns considers this film the best western from 1950 to 1962, between "Wagon Master" and "Ride the High Country". "But in "From Hell to Texas" he (Hathaway) seems to have combined the sentiment and austerity of Hart and the slickness and spectacle of Ford" (A Pictorial History of the Western Film, page 221). Great action scenes, great cinematography, great Henry Hathaway... great film.

The stars, Murray & Varsi, are good if a little bland. The old-timers, Wills & Armstrong, steal the show & give the movie some extra flavor. Hopper plays the role of "the youngest son" with the usual angst we have come to expect from him. Nice scenery, simple plot, well-directed. Overall, an enjoyable adult western with lots of shooting. I rate it 8/10.

This is a very decent film. For some reason, it doesn't seem to be available on videotape and I think it's a shame given how much stuff out there doesn't deserve to be on VHS.I didn't think it was neither great nor terrible, rather average in my opinion but with a nice continuity and good editing. Some of it was a bit cliché but as I said, it remains decent and enjoyable.7 / 10