Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

Sameer Callahan It really made me laugh, but for some moments I was tearing up because I could relate so much.

Brennan Camacho Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

Sarita Rafferty There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

PamelaShort This is a satisfactory western with an interesting plot. Audie Murphy plays a man wrongly accused of murder, and must run for his life from a antagonistic Marshall. He wants the glory and recognition for the capture of an outlaw he has been hunting for, he knows Murphy is innocent but he does not care, because his posse doesn't know the difference, so he decides killing the innocent Murphy will make him a respected hero. Murphy is on the run with a woman, actress Felicia Farr and the two have a very harrowing time keeping ahead of their pursuers. This story is well executed, and the action is nonstop until the end. Stephen McNally, Robert Middleton, James Westmoreland, and veteran actor Bob Steele all give adequate performances in this vigorous and picturesque film. A must see for fans of Audie Murphy and western movie devotees.

Spikeopath Hell Bent for Leather is directed by George Sherman and adapted to screenplay by Christopher Knopf from the novel Outlaw Marshal written by Ray Hogan. It stars Audie Murphy, Felicia Farr, Stephen McNally and Robert Middleton. A CinemaScope production in Eastman Color, it features music jointly scored by William Lava and Irving Gertz (Joseph Gershenson supervising) and cinematography by Clifford Stine.Audie Murphy plays Clay Santell, a horse trader who is wrongly accused of murder and goes on the run pursued by a vengeful Marshal. The Marshal (McNally), knows Santell is innocent, but he doesn't care and figures that killing a wanted man that nobody has seen before can only earn him glory.There is often a tendency from Western film critics to undersell a "B" Western, it's like you are not allowed to rave about or rate a "B" the same as an Oater from the well regarded and well known movers and shakers in the genre. This happens to be more the case where Audie Murphy's output is concerned. Not blessed with great acting talent, Murphy none the less knew how to make a scene work, to imbue a passage of play with great presence, never once trying to hog the limelight from co-stars, he remains more so today a Western star whose values should not be easily dismissed. His CV contains quite a few bad or ordinary films, but he was in some very good ones as well, and one such film is Hell Bent for Leather. Plot is essentially standard fare, a wronged man is on the run and he is saddled with a pretty gal for the journey. Posse are in pursuit and wronged man has to prove his innocence before he is killed by a sadistic sheriff out to feather his own nest. Yet the locale and well written characters mark this out as a tough little Oater. Sure there's little action to pump the blood of those who need such passages, though some good chase scenes are here and one finishes with a great bit of stuntery, but the neat trick here is having Murphy and Farr's characters run off/up into the rocky terrain; the magnificent Alabama Hills rocky terrain. As Anthony Mann had a knack of marrying up surroundings to psychological aspects of his protagonists, so it be here with Sherman, but of course this is a "Audie Murphy B Western", so such things aren't possible...Hey, it's no Naked Spur et al, far from it, but it is far better and grittier than some think it is purely because of the director and star who made it. It also has a great finale, where up in the jutted rocks we get a tense situation that sees the wronged man, the guilty man, the spunky girl with a substantial back story and the unhinged glory seeking Marshal, all brought together in a moment of reckoning. You will not die of shock with the outcome, but it's a finale rewarding us for having spent the time with these deftly etched characters. Acting is safe and sound, with Middleton the stand out performer, and the music score is "B Western" 101 stuff. But if only for Stine's CinemaScope photography then the Western fan should see this, the Alabama Hills, so prominent in many a great and classic genre offering, are beautifully captured and very much a critical character in the story. 7.5/10

milwhitt702 Since I watch Westerns very closely, taping them and watching them over, sometimes I see things I missed earlier. This movie kept you at the edge of your seat much of the time, especially when Santee did not have a gun or any money. One part of special interest was when he and the girl went into a saloon and asked for a glass of water because he had lost his money in a scramble to get away from R. Middleton and his boys earlier. At the bar was a rifle that Santee had his eye on. Next to the rifle, standing, was an old timer I recognized to be Kermit Maynard. In the list of actors, he was not even credited as being in the movie. I watched it over and over, and I am pretty sure K. Maynard was the guy at the bar, who picked up the rifle and left. Anybody see it that way??? Thanks.

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) Hell Bent for Leather, from what I gathered was used, in the 19th Century to mean breakaway speed or great determination. This is not an Audie Murphy western, with great action scenes like "The Cimarron Kid" or "Duel at Silver Creek", but it is one of his best. It has a very good plot and two remarkable actors, Felicia Farr and Stephen McNally. Felicia is very attractive as Janet, a tough woman, who ends up helping Clay Santell (Murphy) who gets mistaken for a killer. But it is the Marshal Deckett (McNally) who makes the strongest impression, a man driven by his need for a false glory, which will compensate the humiliation of his past. Old timers Allan Lane and Bob Steele show up on the film.