The Kid from Texas

The Kid from Texas is a 1950 American film that was Audie Murphy's first Technicolor Western and the first feature film on Murphy's Universal-International Pictures contract. It was directed by Kurt Neumann and featured Gale Storm and Albert Dekker.[1]

The Kid from Texas
Directed byKurt Neumann
Produced byPaul Short
Written byRobert Hardy Andrews
Karl Kamb
Based ona story by Robert Hardy Andrews
StarringAudie Murphy
Gale Storm
CinematographyCharles Van Enger
Edited byFrank Gross
Production
company
Universal Pictures
Distributed byUniversal-International Pictures
Release date
  • March 1, 1950 (1950-03-01) (United States)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

The film starts 11 July 1879 in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. A group of men who work for Major Harper, led by gunslinger Minniger, attempt to arrest rancher Alexander Kain and his English partner Jameson. They are stopped by William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, who shoots and injures them.

Jameson offers Billy a job as a ranch hand. A drunken group of Harper's men attack the ranch and kill Jameson. Billy goes on a killing rampage, encouraged by the manipulative Kain, who publicly decries Billy's efforts. Governor Lew Wallace offers Billy a pardon which he turns down. Pat Garrett is sent to catch Billy.

Cast

Production notes

The film fictionalises the true events of the Lincoln County War but follows the basic facts. Jameson (Shepperd Strudwick) is based on John Tunstall and Alexander Kain (Albert Dekker) on Alexander McSween.

Murphy was cast after his performance as a juvenile delinquent in Bad Boy, with Billy the Kid being depicted as a 19th-century juvenile delinquent. J. Edgar Hoover offered to narrate the film.[2] However, Parley Baer was chosen as the narrator.

References

  1. The Kid from Texas at the Audie Murphy Memorial Site
  2. Hedda Hopper (September 8, 1948). "Audie Murphy Set as 'Kid From Texas'". Los Angeles Times. p. A6.


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