BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

Kaydan Christian A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Abegail Noëlle While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

classicsoncall In most of my reviews of Audie Murphy pictures I'll comment on how his youthful appearance worked against him, particularly in films where he's a villain or operating on the wrong side of the law. But as Billy the Kid, his real of age twenty six closely approximated that of William H. Bonney at twenty one, and on that score his casting here worked about the best I've seen in slightly more than a dozen pictures I've had a chance to watch.I'm curious why the film makers chose to change the names of most of the principals except for Billy, Pat Garrett (Frank Wilcox) and acting New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace (Robert Barrat). William Bonney's real life mentor and employer was William Tunstall, here called Roger Jameson (Shepperd Strudwick). Jameson's business partner and attorney is Alexander Kain (Albert Dekker), whereas Tunstall's partner was Alexander McSween. Major Harper (Dennis Hoey) would have been Jimmy Dolan, and Sheriff Rand (Ray Teal) would have been Sheriff William Brady, who's murder by Billy the Kid's band of Regulators escalated the Lincoln County War, and wound up turning public sentiment against The Kid. In this story, Rand isn't killed.For one of his first starring roles, Audie Murphy doesn't appear very charismatic, some would go so far as to say his acting here is wooden. Fair enough, though the reason he went into pictures was for film makers to capitalize on his record as a genuine hero in World War II. Probably his best regarded movie is the one telling his real life story in 1955's "To Hell and Back".As for the picture itself, it's passable enough as an entertaining Western if the license taken with the characters doesn't bother you too much. The opening of the film states that liberty was taken with the characters and chronology of events depicted, so with that in mind, you can settle back and enjoy it, especially if you're an Audie Murphy fan.

Spikeopath The Kid from Texas (AKA: Texas Kid, Outlaw) is directed by Kurt Neumann and written by Robert Hardy Andrews and Karl Kamb. It stars Audie Murphy, Gale Storm, Albert Dekker, Shepperd Strudwick and Will Geer. Music is by Milton Schwarzwald and cinematography by Charles Van Enger. 11th July 1879, Lincoln County, and a young man born of the name William Henry McCarty Junior is about to write his name into the annals of infamy... "I'll get every man who had a hand in this killing if it's the last thing I do" It's a "B" feature in production terms and it's a hodge-podge of historical facts, but in the trajectory of Western movies it's a rather important piece. It also happens to be great entertainment for the Western fan. It would be the film to launch Audie Murphy on the road to Western iconography, whilst simultaneously becoming a valid early addition for cinematic representations of the Billy the Kid legend. Historically the core basis of the film is accurate, though the chronology is all over the place. There's also a bizarre decision to use different character names for McSween, Tunstall and Dolan, three of the major players in the Lincoln County War. However, the portrayals of the principal real life people is surprisingly well balanced, there's no attempts at romanticising the issues, no side picking, because both sides are equally driven and culpable for the carnage and misery that would play out during this time in Western history. As an Oater on entertainment terms it delivers wholesale, there's some staid acting, not least from Murphy, who you can see is feeling his way into how he should react in front of a camera. Yet there's a magnetic charm to Murphy that would serve him well in this specialist genre field. It also helps to have a very reliable supporting cast backing him up, be it the wonderfully named Gale Storm's beauty, or Dekker and Geer being acting professionalism personified, there's a lot to enjoy here on the thespian production front. The requisite amount of action is in full effect, as are key moments in the real story that provide some great scenes; such as the infamous jail break, while the colour photography is most pleasant. Ultimately it's a revenge story for the "B" Western loving crowd, where the villains are slippery and the anti-hero a damaged dandy. Sometimes you gotta peer through the gloss to get the facts, but what fun that proves to be. Yee- haw. 7/10

maddog-42 I had forgotten this movie and how much I enjoyed it back in the 50's. I enjoyed most of Audie Murphy's westerns , but do not have a copy of "The Kid From Texas" (hope to get one soon). The only trouble with some of these movies is that when I see them as an adult, they are not the way I remembered them.

Wrangler An excellent but non-too-accurate story, given strong production, and featuring Audie Murphy, in his first starring role. Murphy's a bit wooden, but he delivers. Entertaining.