Just perfect...

Good movie but grossly overrated

best movie i've ever seen.

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

In the late 1960s, I saw this on TV and have remembered it fondly all these years -- correctly, as it turns out."Wild Bill" Elliott has been one of my favorite cowboy movie performers since my childhood, and Marie Windsor became one of my favorite actresses for this very movie.Since seeing her in this, I have marveled at her in such other classic roles as the ex-wife in "Trouble Along the Way" and the gossip-target in "Paradise Alley."She doesn't do her own singing in "Hellfire" but she sure does her own wearing of the dance-hall costume and reminds us that she was a great beauty.As a gun-toting outlaw, she also made one superlative Westerner.She looked very at home on horseback, and was thoroughly believable in this different role, probably my favorite of all her performances.She and Elliott were very ably backed by Forrest Tucker, who, except for one scene, a type very few actors play well, probably wins the acting award in this movie. He was so cool, so at home, so confident, I was reminded that he was really a fine actor, not just a type, but a very capable actor (even when unfortunately cast in some terribly scripted movies or TV shows).As was often true, a fellow cast member was the great Jim Davis. For several reasons, Jim Davis has long been one of my favorites. He had a memorable voice and his presence always provided quality.Veteran Paul Fix has a small part, but he was another who always came across believably.Veterans Grant Withers and Emory Parnell are sheriffs, and likable characters, and the great Harry Woods appears briefly but memorably.Look for the great Trevor Bardette, Dewey Robinson, and Denver Pyle, with veteran Herman Hack going unbilled, as well as the iconic Olin Howland and Hank Worden.This is a script I love and have loved for nigh onto 50 years, written by brothers Dorrell and Stuart McGowan. It's not corny or sappy like so many religiously oriented movies have been, but pretty much follows logically and reasonably (with only a couple small holes we can ignore) to its conclusion.But even a bad script with this outstanding cast, and so superbly directed by a man I consider shockingly under-rated, R.G. Springsteen, would earn a high rating from me."Hellfire" I can give a 10, but only because that is the highest IMDb allows. It is one of the greatest minor-A Westerns I have ever seen and I highly recommend you go to YouTube and watch it.

In Hellfire, Wild Bill Elliott in one of the few times in his career does something less than heroic. When we first meet him he's a no good tinhorn gambler who gets caught with some cards up his sleeve. Just as he's about to get some frontier justice an itinerant preacher H.B. Warner steps in front of a bullet meant for Elliott. As he's dying he makes Elliott promise to build the church he was collecting funds for. But he has to do it by the rules as laid down in the Good Book.History is full of folks who do an about face in belief and character, the most well known is from the Bible with Paul struck down on the road to Damascus and turning from a Sanhedrin persecutor to a full fledged believer in Christianity. But Elliott's about face was really a bit much to swallow.Even more so is his idea that he can get all the money he needs if lady outlaw Marie Windsor will turn to the Lord and turn herself in. This woman makes Sharon Stone in The Quick Gun and Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge in Johnny Guitar and Barbara Stanwyck in any number of westerns look like a Sunday schoolteacher is not about to do that. Windsor gives a great performance that is completely wasted in an unreal film.Besides she's also got outlaw brothers Jim Davis, Paul Fix, and Lewis Faust after her. And sheriff Forrest Tucker whose agenda isn't all about law and order.Hellfire is one of those films that Elliott hoped would break him out of the B picture cowboy ranks into something better. But instead of breakout, he got one weird film.

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.

This is one of the best "B" westerns ever made. It stars the queen of the "B"s herself -- Marie Windsor, along with those two other great "B" stars, "Wild Bill" Elliott and Forrest Tucker.It has an unusual twist which sets it apart from other westerns; Bill Elliot plays a card sharp and all-around bad dude whose life is saved by a preacher who takes a bullet meant for Wild Bill (all this takes place in the first five minutes of the movie so the plot is not ruined for you).Bill promises the dying preacher that he will complete the preacher's mission and collect the money needed to build a church. He also promised to "follow the rules" i.e., raise the money without resorting to crime.Bill Elliott's efforts to change his ways and avoid temptation make for a great movie.