Sierra (1950) User Reviews

Outstanding Color Western

[cacorbett · 7/10 · 3 February 2015]

This lesser known Western film features WWII hero Audie Murphy as a young Mountain dweller on the hideout for years with his Dad , played by the great Dean Jagger. As Murphy is forced to confront Horse Thieves and Town crooks, he demonstrates once again that fierce toughness we so often see in all his roles.

The great Burl Ives is terrific as a singing troubadour friend of Murphy. The outdoor cinematography is stunningly beautiful and we are also treated to early screen appearances by young Tony Curtis and James Arness as two rough and tumble bad guys. Lotsa action and cool dialogue.

The storyline is solid, though a little familiar. An enjoyable film and a treat for those fortunate enough to see this rarely shown film !!

Fugitive mustangers

[bkoganbing · 5/10 · 12 November 2015]

Sierra is an unpretentious little western that paired Mr.&Mrs. Audie Murphy at the time, Audie and his leading lady Wanda Hendrix. Audie is cast in the first of many roles as a callow western youth who was raised by his father Dean Jagger who is a fugitive from the law.

Way back when Jagger was charged with the murder of Sara Allgood's husband and fled to the high Sierra country where he raised his son and now both make a living catching young wild mustangs of which there are plentiful in the Sierra foothills.

Hendrix is a rarity for the time, a female attorney who might gain acceptance back east, but in the rough and testosterone driven west is finding it hard to get clients. Audie and Dean might be the way to break into the man's world of the court, but both them are fighting their own sexist nature and don't take her advice.

There's a nice part in Sierra for Richard Robert who would die two years later in an automobile crash cutting short a promising career as a film villain. Tony Curtis has a small role as the son of another fugitive whose family teams up with Murphy and Jagger.

In his memoirs Tony Curtis says that soon afterward the tempestuous two year marriage of Murphy and Hendrix broke up. He tried to date Hendrix but Murphy was a jealous man with a bad case of post traumatic stress courtesy of the late World War and all the action where Audie Murphy became our most decorated soldier. Curtis describes himself as young and stupid and thinking not with his brain. He made it a point to avoid Audie for years afterward.

Best of all is Burl Ives, a hermit who lives close to Murphy and Jagger and who has some nice ballads to sing in Sierra.

Sierra is a nice western, made better with Burl Ives and his singing.

It will be like bedding down in a nest of rattlers!

[hitchcockthelegend · 6/10 · 10 September 2019]

Sierra is directed by Alfred E. Green and adapted to screenplay by Edna Anhalt from the novel "Mountains Are My Kingdom" written by Stuart Hardy. It stars Audie Murphy, Wanda Hendrix, Burl Ives, Dean Jagger and Richard Rober. Music is by Walter Scharf and the Technicolor cinematography is by Russell Metty.

1950 is right at the beginning of Audie Murphy's film career and it's a big indicator of where his genre staples were laid. Of the three Westerns he made in 1950, Sierra is the weakest, but even then it's above average and shows enough of why Murphy was such an engaging star to his fans.

Plot has Murphy and Jagger as a Son and Father living in the mountains due to Pops being on the run from the law. They survive by trapping and breaking wild horses and then use Burl Ives' prospecting troubadour type as an intermediate salesman. One day a lost lawyer from town in the form of Hendrix gets involved in the lives of the mountain duo, where a series of events then lead to Murphy having to go into town and from there things become dangerously interesting for all involved.

The location photography is outstanding, with Metty bringing visual joys from Cedar City and Cedar Breaks in Utah. The costuming (Yvonne Wood) is top draw, and how nice to see Ives in a jolly role where he warbles and strums at various junctures in the play. Murphy and Hendrix have the chemistry, even though their ill fated marriage would end this same year, and the legal axis of the narrative (intriguing court sequences with Hendrix as the defence) adds some thought into proceedings.

Unfortunately for action junkies this is not the one for you, there's some nifty horse play and stampedes, and of course some macho posturing in sync, but it's with the smart story (greenhorn young man meets city life for the first time/lady lawyer trying to make it in the male dominated West) where the pic gets its strength. In the support slots you find Tony Curtis (billed as Anthony) and James Arness, who add a bit of colour to an already lively frontline cast. 6/10

An Early Murphy Western

[dougdoepke · 19 April 2013]

Until they take in a fugitive girl, a father and son hide out in the mountains to elude a bogus murder charge.

Pretty good Murphy western, one of his earliest. When you think about it, his transition from Texas sharecropper to WW II hero to Hollywood actor is remarkable. True, it was hard for him to loosen up on screen, still he delivered his lines well enough, while nobody could do a hard-eyed stare better.

Here Murphy does well enough, carrying most of the movie. The role of a hard eyed loner (Ring Hassard) appears tailor made for him. At the same time, diminutive, girlish Hendrix (Riley) manages her courtroom lawyer sequence in pretty convincing fashion. Ironic to think the two were married at the time, but in the process of getting divorced. So there's something poignant about their riding into the sunset at movie's end.

Universal popped for a pretty big budget, unlike many of Murphy's later westerns. The red rock Kanab (Utah) locations are really eye-catching. Then too, those wild horse herds are anything but skimpy. And nobody could strum a guitar more soothingly than the rotund Burl Ives. Together they add a lot of color and mood to the dramatics. At the same time, there's not much gunplay, yet quite a bit of suspense to the rather complex story.

All in all, it's a picturesque, entertaining Murphy western.

Hassard County

[richardchatten · 7/10 · 16 March 2021]

Handsomely photographed on location under blue Technicolor skies by Russell Metty shortly before he brought high contrast gloss to his work with Douglas Sirk. The presence of Burl Ives sauntering in and out of the action (occasionally resembling Sancho Panza straddling a mule) singing and strumming a guitar marks this out as a piece of Americana rather than a conventional Audie Murphy western. Centre stage are baby-faced newlyweds Murphy and Wanda Hendrix (both of whom died young), while sixth-billed 'Anthony' Curtis gets a few lines but no close-ups.

" Audie And Wanda In Sierra "

[PamelaShort · 7/10 · 2 November 2013]

Sierra is an enjoyable early Audie Murphy western, based on the novel The Mountains Are My Kingdom by Stuart Hardy. It co-stars his first wife Wanda Hendrix, and features an excellent cast, with an amusing performance by Burl Ives, who cleverly sings Murphy out of jail. Beautifully filmed against the most stunning landscapes in Utah, this story revolves around Audie Murphy and his father, fugitives from the law, as the father has been falsely accused of a murder he did not commit. They live a secluded life in the mountains, spending there time trapping and breaking wild horses. Burl Ives is their only trusted friend who helps them in the selling of the horses. Trouble is unleashed while out trapping one day, Murphy discovers a lost Wanda Hendrix close to their hide-out. The story progresses at a good pace and has plenty of action and moves toward an adequate ending.

Audie Murphy's performance is very good and he displays an awkwardness that very much suits the character he plays. Wanda Hendrix is equally good and the chemistry between Murphy and Hendrix displays well on film. This interesting western offers sightings of James Arness and a young Tony Curtis in the cast of hired outlaws. Fans of Audie Murphy should find the stars fifth film entertaining.

If I could find this movie on VHS, I would buy it if reasonable.

[Ice-15 · 7/10 · 19 September 1998]

This is not one of Audie Murphy's better known movies. In fact, hardly anyone has heard of it. I saw it once many years ago, and fell in love with it. I really enjoyed Burl Ives performance also. I have wanted a copy of this movie for my colldection for a long time.

MURPHY & DAD COME OUT OF HIDING...!

[masonfisk · 6/10 · 26 December 2019]

An Audie Murphy Western from 1950. A woman (Wanda Hendrix) gets lost in the mountains & found by Murphy who escorts her back to his cabin blindfolded which he shares w/his father (Dean Jagger). It turns out Jagger was accused of murder years before & rather than face an unjust punishment, he hightailed into the hills w/Murphy where they ply their trade as bronco busters as they scoop up mustangs from the wild. During a taming session, Jagger gets hurt prompting Murphy & Hendrix (who was bitten by a snake) to go into town (using an alias so he can keep his identity safe) for medical help. Returning to the cabin, Murphy comes across some rustlers w/his wares who give him a beat-down setting up a final confrontation where Murphy (now running w/other accused desperadoes which include Tony Curtis) & the villains vie for a large passel of mustangs. Running a scant 90 minutes (typical of Murphy fare), this film suffers from a surfeit of back story & incident which is given short shrift but as a time filler it gets the job done. Burl Ives (most people will know him as the narrator of the perennial Christmas classic Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer) plays Murphy's town contact & gets ample opportunity to get his song on.

Solid Murphy film with great supporting cast

[fleurfairy · 8/10 · 3 October 2011]

I'm always fascinated by a movie star's early work and even more so with Audie Murphy because this was just 5 years after his heroics in WWII. It's amazing to think how much transition this young man went through in only a handful of years. Murphy is a natural fit for Westerns with his quiet manner and brooding looks. Sierra is not often shown on television, but if you have the chance to catch it, you won't be disappointed. I'd say watch for Burl Ives alone, because his voice was timeless. Such beautiful simple little Western melodies are peppered throughout the film. What's also unique about Sierra is that Murphy is costarred by his then-wife Wanda Hendrix. Their marriage didn't last long, but their chemistry is very obvious. And keep your eyes peeled for a young Anthony "Tony" Curtis as a Coulter gang member.

Baby Face Audie in an Early Western!

[bsmith5552 · 7/10 · 12 March 2019]

Audie Murphy, the baby faced WWII hero, was quickly snapped up by the movies. In this his second starring role for Universal, he plays Ring Haasard the son of a fugitive father Jeff Hassard (Dean Jagger) who has been accused of murder 15 years ago. They have been hiding out on an isolated mountain while capturing and selling wild horses in order to survive.

Ring comes upon a lost young woman, Riley Martin (Wanda Hendrix) and brings her back to the Hassard cabin. They plan to return her to her home but Jeff is seriously injured in a horse fall. Ring sends for neighbor Lonesome, a guitar strumming troubadour (Burl Ives) but he is unable to help. Ring goes for a doctor taking Riley and six horses with him. When Riley is snake bitten, Riley is forced to leave his horses behind and bring Riley to town for treatment. There he meets Riley's fiancé Duke Lafferty (Elliott Reid) a big rancher and learns that Riley is in actuality, a lawyer.

When ring returns for his horses, he discovers them taken by Lafferty's ranch foreman Matt Rango (Richard Rober) and his gang. Ring goes to Sheriff Knudsen (Roy Roberts) but he informs Ring that since the mustangs were not branded, there is nothing he can do. When the townsfolk discover who Ring is they want to lynch him. Ring is put on trial with Riley trying to defend him, but is found guilty of concealing his father's whereabouts.

Lonesome helps Ring escape and he flees to the mountains where he recruits a gang of fugitives to help him round up wild horses while evading the pursuing posse. The Coulters, Sam (Houseley Stevenson), Brent (Tony Curtis), Little Sam (James Arness), Jed (John Doucette) and Jim (Ted Jordan) along with Snake Willens (I. Stanford Jolley) join up with Ring.

They manage to capture a large number of horses and pen them up in a large corral. Lafferty and Rango stampede the horses but when Riley is caught in the open the horses are turned and.................................................................

Hendrix who was married to Murphy at the time receives top billing over him. Apparently Murphy was suffering from PTSD from his war experiences and the marriage collapsed. Hendrix career quickly faded thereafter while Murphy went on to a lengthy career in "B" plus western over the next 15 years.

It's interesting to see Anthony (aka Tony) Curtis and Jim (aka James) Arness in early roles. Other notables in the cast include veteran actresses Elisabeth Risdon and Sara Allgood as well as veteran bad guy Jack Ingram as a Deputy Sheriff.

Boy, did Audie ever look young in this one.

A Lame Horse Opera with Audie Murphy

[zardoz-13 · 5/10 · 21 April 2013]

"Baby Face" director Alfred E. Green helmed this beautifully lensed but lame oater. This early Audie Murphy western isn't one to remember. Wanda Hendrix is spunky enough as the heroine, and Robert Rober makes an acceptably obnoxious villain. Murphy plays a callow young cowboy named Ring Hassard who dwells with his dad way back in the mountains. Murphy's father Jeff (Dean Jagger of "Bad Day at Black Rock") was wrongly accused of a homicide that he didn't commit years ago. Now, Jeff lives in a sort of self-imposed exile with his fast-drawing son. Nobody can find the Hassard camp tucked as it is far back in the mountains with only a stream threading through the towering rocks to follow. One day, an impetuous young girl, Riley (Wanda Hendrix), sets out to find a quaint character nick-named Lonesome (Burl Ives) who warbles songs on horseback while he strums his guitar. Riley loses her horse, and Ring finds her. He takes her back to his camp. Later, after she loses another horse, Riley realizes she maybe stuck with Ring and his father longer than she wants. She has been gone for about three days. The Hassards are short a horse so the elder Hassard decides to break a bronc for her to ride. The steed throws Jeff and drags the poor guy around the corral before Ring can rescue him. Once Ring has his father back to their camp and in a bed, Lonesome rides up and recommends that Ring fetch a doctor. Ring plans to pay for the doctor with his maverick hores, but Big Matt Rango (Robert Rober of "Port of New York") steals Ring's horses. Eventually, Ring takes Riley back to Sierra. Along the way, Riley is bitten by a rattlesnake. Since he doesn't have a sharp enough knife, Ring shoots Riley. Everybody is overjoyed when Ring arrives in town with Riley. Meantime, Ring and Lonesome try to recover the horses that Big Matt appropriated from them. Big Matt and his gunmen capture Ring and put him in jail. The punishment for rustling horses is hanging. Ring has nobody to represent him. Riley steps in to defend Ring. Incredibly, Lonesome serenades the town marshal's deputy and gets the keys to open Ring's jail. As it turns out, Jeff Hassard was actually innocent of the crime. "Sierra" is nothing special.

Audie Murphy Defiant

[FightingWesterner · 8/10 · 26 May 2014]

Audie Murphy and his aging, fugitive father Dean Jagger, live deep in the mountains, away from trouble. A chance encounter with lost lady lawyer Wanda Hendrix and a serious injury to Jagger sends Audie to town for the first time since he was a small boy, where he finds trouble with the law.

Striking locations, good photography, and a well-plotted story combine to make a fairly entertaining movie. Action scenes are handled quite nicely as well, especially the climax, involving a stampeding of hundreds of horses, back and forth between the good guys and the bad! The only problem with the movie is that the ending (satisfying as it was) is just a little too convenient.

An interesting cast includes Burl Ives as a singing mountain man and early performances from Tony Curtis and James Arness as brothers and part of an outlaw family hiding on Audie and Jagger's mountain

Meanwhile, Audie plays pretty much the same type of character you always see (and love to see) him playing, that of a young, angry, brooding, misunderstood young man, real-life traits, shaped by his service in World War II, that Hollywood seized upon and interestingly enough, inspired writer David Morrell to create the character of Rambo, a piece of trivia that makes seeing Audie elude a posse in the mountains all the more interesting.

2 out of 5 action rating

[scheelj · 6/10 · 19 November 2012]

Skip it – While this ranks among Audie Murphy's best westerns, it's far from spectacular. The plot, however, is unique. It is the story of an innocent young man who was raised in the mountains by his outlaw father. When his father gets injured, he is forced to go for help, and in doing so enters society for the first time. The naïve young man gets in to trouble, and it doesn't help matters any when the townspeople find out his true identity. While the plot is original enough, nothing else really stands out about this film. It co-stars a very young Tony Curtis and a very old Burl Ives, who starts getting annoying after he sings his fourth song. There is not very much action, and there are twice as many songs as gunfights. 2 action rating

"watch my make up"!

[davyd-02237 · 4/10 · 21 December 2020]

And sadly, despite a great write up, it didnt, for this household, at least, get any better. A young woman riding alone in them there hills comes across a young man, shes lost and he takes her home, without any change of clothing and no make up bag the next few scenes her lipstick is bright RED!. Then, to add a spot of light relief Burl Ives turns up singing. In the final few minutes the truth does come out that "dad" didnt shoot a chap in the back 15 years earlier. Theres a whole load of dialogue, lots of chasing after the horses, some good photography, but not much of a script, even the presence of Curtis and Arness dont improve things. You wont miss much if you choose to watch this - i caught it on a rainy day when I had hoped for a better movie!

Russell Metty

[boblipton · 8/10 · 2 September 2021]

This early Audie Murphy western for Universal has Murphy as the feral son of Dean Jagger, a man "everyone knows" committed murder and then fled. No one believes in his innocence except for lawyer Wanda Hendrix (they were married at the time, but broke up soon after production ended).

Directed by Alfred Green, this movie is a master class in Technicolor camerawork by DP Russell Metty. The opening sequence in Cedar Breaks National Monument looks like an oil painting; the night scenes look like Rembrandt, and the entire movie has the rich, black undertoning that disappeared from the Technicolor lexicon soon after. Metty's reputation as an artist with the camera would continue to rise until he won an Oscar for SPARTACUS; his later work was mostly on undistinguished movies and distinguished TV specials. He died in 1978 at the age of 71.

There is quite a supporting cast, including Burl Ives -- who sings a few songs -- Tony Curtis, Sarah Allgood and James Arness. Mostly, though, I just enjoyed Metty's work.

A B picture improved by Mr. Ives.

[dieseldemon85 · 5/10 · 30 June 2023]

This film for the first half wanders as slow as Burl's mule. Your introduced to Hendrix character a woman lawyer lost in the Sierras while taking a shot a Murphy while passing a horse, she's apparently lost with no dirt, smudged make up or a hair out of place. Murphy and his Dad are hiding in the Mountains for a murder charge. The story begins to improve when Hendrix is digging to find the Hazards back story of the murder. The ending is decent albeit predictable. The singing Ives added a bit of light charm while balladeering on the back of his mule Sara. I have seen better westerns but it's not terrible either. 2/5.

Another Audie Murphy early western

[searchanddestroy-1 · 8/10 · 28 November 2022]

The same comment that I have previously made about GUNSMOKE. Audie Murphy was really young, not even chubby. It is also a pretty good little western, made by a Hollywood veteran Alfred Green, who was not that used to western, prefering dramas, musicals, light hearted comedies, and this since the mid 1910's...He also gave us INVASION USA, a couple of years after this western, an anti red war film. So here, watch it as a time waster, agreeable, colorful but without any surprise. Universal studios were a good grade B western provider; and I mean B, not Z, not one hour movies. The later Murphy's films will be directed by Nathan Juran, Jesse Hibbs, George Sherman. Not Alfred Green.

5 stars just for trying

[gordonb-59587 · 5/10 · 31 December 2019]

Like I have said before in my previous reviews of westerns, I always wonder why directors don't try to be a little more realistic in their films. Example - chaps are worn as an extra layer of protection for a riders legs, both on and off a horse. Made of leather, they can be heavy and not particularly comfortable to wear walking around. Yet the hero in this movie NEVER takes them off. Even in the cabin at night having dinner by the fire. Terrible costuming, right along with the standard 50's trip to the studio wardrobe warehouse for all the other actor's "cowboy" outfits. And here's a thought. These had to be the bravest men in the west who thought nothing of charging, without hesitation, right into the middle of a gun fight with real bullets flying all around their heads. Brave, but not particularly smart, or again, realistic.

An average Audie Murphy western with Burl Ives' music

[gsmith-22151 · 8/10 · 5 February 2019]

It has been a number of years since I have seen this film, but it contained a number of songs by Burl Ives I have never heard elsewhere. For me Burl Ives' music made an average film quite memorable. I would really like to buy a DVD, or even a VHS of it. The first concert I ever attended was a Burl Ives concert in Ames Iowa about 1958. the last was one of his last, in Lubbock Texas, about a year before his death.

Bad Story, mediocre acting = not quite a B Western!

[f234589 · 4/10 · 20 December 2019]

Audie Murphy would make better movies down the traiL. Your time would be better spent Night Passage.

Historical Interest More Than Anything!

[spookyrat1 · 5/10 · 22 December 2018]

This is ALMOST a western with a difference, but it just never really crosses that undefined line to enable it to really stand out amongst your typical 50's B grade oaters.

It has the sketchings of an interesting plot, great location cinematography in Utah and plenty of horseflesh on show. (I especially admired the piebald horse that Audie Murphy got to ride around.)

Unusually, there is very little gun-play in the movie. In fact I don't think any character is ever shot and killed during the entire film. Mind you that didn't stop me gasping in mock amazement, when a character is shot in the arm to save them (LOL!) from snakebite!

Wanda Hendrix's character had the chance to feature strongly as an independent woman carving out a legal career in the Wild West. But the script never allows a full exploration of the concept and she essentially ends up, as another typical damsel in distress, content to sink into the arms of Audie Murphy's Ring Hassard, seeking salvation from various encountered dangers.

Burl Ives's Lonesome is a welcome character to the story ... except when he continually breaks into song, or is seen singing and playing guitar, whilst riding his mule through the mountains! Such (fairly frequent) episodes dissipate any real sense of building drama in the story. Things reach their most absurd in this regard when Lonesome sings a compliant sheriff asleep, facilitating a jail break!

The characters themselves are pretty bland in what ends up being a rather routine affair. Murphy himself doesn't speak that much in the first act of this, his fifth film. We don't see enough of Dean Jagger's Jeff for him to make much impact. The villains are a pretty nondescript, non-threatening mob, when they raise their heads. However I did appreciate seeing "Anthony" Curtis and James Arness get an opportunity to show their respective spurs in fairly minor support roles in the second half of the movie.