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.
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.