The Western Audie Murphy

An overlooked western star is Audie Murphy and it is understandable since he is best remembered as the most decorated soldier of World War II and starring in his autobiographical movie "To Hell and Back" (1955) rather than being associated with westerns. From 1950 to 1967, Murphy starred in 32 westerns that were almost all produced by Universal-International Studios thus establishing Murphy as a busy and major western figure from Hollywood's western heyday of the 1950s to the genre's last gasp of the mid-1960s.

Murphy's westerns were routine predictable B western programmers and while lacking the showy charisma of Roy Rogers, singing voice of Gene Autry or tall in the saddle presence of Randolph Scott, Murphy could ride and get the job done in competent fashion. He still made features while Rogers and Autry retreated to television. His best known western is probably "Destry" (1955) in which Murphy stepped into James Stewart's boots in a remake of 1939's "Destry Rides Again" and co-starring with Stewart resulted in his best western, "Night Passage" (1957). Filmed primarily on location in Colorado, "Night Passage" cast Stewart and Murphy as brothers with Murphy turning bad and running with Dan Duryea's outlaw gang. They rob a train under Stewart's protection and the chase is on building up to a blazing gun battle.