Posse from Hell (Universal Pictures) (1961)

billing Universal-International Presents AUDIE MURPHY JOHN SAXON in “POSSE FROM HELL” In Eastman Color Co-starring ZOHRA LAMPERT WARD RAMSEY VIC MORROW ROBERT KEITH With FRANK OVERTON RUDOLPH ACOSTA ROYAL DANO LEE VAN CLEEF RAY TEAL JAMES BELL PAUL CARR FORREST LEWIS Sereenplay by CLAIRE HUFFAKER Based on his novel Directed by HERBERT COLEMAN Produced by GORDON KAY A Universal-International Picture Banner Cole...... AUDIE MURPHY Seymour Kern........ JOHN SAXON Helen Caldwell ZOHRA LAMPERT Marshal Webb...WARD RAMSEY Gripe ee es es VIC MORROW Captain Brown. ROBERT KEITH Uncle Billy Caldwell ROYAL DANO Johnny Caddo...... RUDY ACOSTA Jack Wiley..._.........: PAUL CARR Burt Hogan_..FRANK OVERTON te igen ena ee ee LEE VAN CLEEF Luke Gorman STUART RANDALL Hash.......-<. CHARLES HORVATH Cheat 53. ccc HENRY WILLS Benson 2 cee JAMES BELL the staff Director of Photography, Cliff Stine, A.S.C.; Unit Production Manager, Norman Deming; Art Direction, Alexander Golitzen and Al Sweeney; Film Editor, Fred Knudtson; Set Decorations, Oliver Emert; Sound, Joe Lapis, A.C.E.; Make-up, Bud Westmore; Hair Stylist, Larry Germain; Assistant Directors, Ray Gosnell and Douglas Green. the story (Not for Publication) Four convicted killers escape from their prison death cell. Ruthless, desperate men, they invade a peaceful frontier town ironically called Paradise. Armed with shotguns they take over the local saloon. In their crimsoned wake, when they depart, lie the bodies of four innocent victims, including Marshal Webb (WARD RAMSEY), each murdered in cold blood. They also kidnap pretty young Helen Caldwell (ZOHRA LAMPERT). Ex-gunfighter Banner Cole (AUDIE MURPHY), a soft-spoken man of blue-steel courage, pins on a deputy marshal’s badge to head a posse of seven after the homicidal quartet. A newcomer to the rugged territory, bank clerk Seymour Kern (JOHN SAXON), a city-born dude, volunteers to join the hunters. On the trail they find Miss Caldwell who has been left to die after having been savagely violated by her kill-crazed captors. In the first encounter with the escaped prisoners one desperado is killed. Banner also loses one of his men, Three other members of the posse turn back. Only Kern and Johnny Cado (RUDY ACOSTA) remain with him. The second of the murderers meets his death in a subsequent gun battle. Banner sends Johnny back to the town to warn the residents the other two killers are headed back for more vengeance, but Johnny is ambushed and fatally shot by them. A third member of the killer gang meets his death at the hands of Helen Caldwell after she has seen him gun down her protector. Only one of the four killers is now alive. But he, too, is slain in a gun duel in which Kern is shot. When Banner returns to Paradise he is persuaded to take over the post of marshal, with the lovely Miss Caldwell one of his staunchest supporters. Page 2 City dude John Saxon (right) pleads with deputy marshal Audie Murphy to let him join the outlaw-hunting posse in this scene from “Posse From Hell,”’ Universal-International’s outdoor color drama headlining the two stars. (Still 1909-5) Famed War Hero and Film Star Audie Murphy Showed Raw Courage As Youngster (Advance) Soft-spoken Audie Murphy, starring in “Posse From Hell,” Universal-International’s adventure in color which also stars John Saxon, and opening soon at the............---........... Theatre, is the last guy in the world who’d try to tell anyone what it is that makes a man courageous. But look into the background of the nation’s most decorated war hero and uncovered is a childhood incident which undoubtedly helped shape the adult-to-be. Audie vividly recalls when he was given his first pair of levi pants at the age of seven. As one of a family of nine children — the hungry brood of a share-cropper — most of his clothes were hand-me-downs. That’s why the store-purchased trousers loom so importantly in his memory. He wore them to school each day. And each night his mother dutifully washed and ironed them so they would appear freshly clean and neat. None of Audie’s classmates guessed that the pants were the only ones he had. Perhaps that is why a few snickerings were heard when, from the many washings, the pants began to shrink. One youngster, observing the way the cuffs separated more and more from ankle level, was so brash as to pin upon Audie the tag of ‘High Tops.” This proved a mistake. It didn’t matter to Audie that the boy poking fun at him, and thereby calling attention to a poverty he could not mistake, was at least a head taller and many pounds heavier. His indignation gave him a strength which more than made up for his slight stature, and not even Audie’s personal hero from Irish history, old Brian Boru himself, could have delivered a better account of hmiself in the fisticuffs which followed. The label didn’t stop with the originator. One youth after another, each doubtful of the pugilistic prowess of the undersized Audie, put him to the test. And one after another, in unbroken succession, they rued their audacity to the tune of discolored optics, loosened molars and other such souvenirs of the fray. The pants, too, suffered in the entanglements. But they were repaired—and washed anew. And, as the days progressed, they rode higher and higher on the boy’s legs. But long before the end of the semester not a single heckler in the entire school was so foolhardy as to venture even a critical glance. Audie, of course, went on in later years to win the coveted Congressional Medal of Honor, plus more than a score of other accolades—a war record he never talks about, but which his experience with the shrunken trousers helps explain. Audie Murphy stars as an ex-gunfighter who pins on a deputy marshal’s badge to lead a citizens’ posse hunt for four outlaw killers in Universal-International’s “Posse From Hell.” The famed young actor and war-time hero co-stars with John Saxon in the outdoor color adventure. (Still 1909-1AD ) Horse Just Doesn't Understand Actress (Advance) Zohra Lampert, pretty and dark-tressed Hollywood newcomer, who stars with Audie Murphy and John Saxon in ‘‘Posse From Vis Wells “Scroyehh vege tice. ed to the Sia eee eee Theatre, says method acting is fine as far as it goes— but it doesn’t go far enough. Everything she learned about such histrionic techniques — and she is a Broadway-trained actress —failed her at a critical moment during the filming of the Universal-International outdoor color adventure. A horse she was riding unexpectedly reared and tossed her to the ground, ruffied but unhurt. “The horse must not have been listening,’ said Zohra at the time of the incident, “when I kept telling myself—just like it says in the method book—that I was as good a rider as the rest of them!” Measurements Match (Current) Lissome Zohra Lampert and screen heavy Charles Horvath, appearing in Universal-International’s ‘“‘Posse From Hell,” costarring Audie Murphy and John Saxon “now Abe then 22. ae Theatre, discovered they have something in common during the filming of the outdoor color adventure. The young actress has an 18inch waistline—and character actor Horvath has the same size neck! Audie Murphy, John Saxon Star In ‘Posse From Hell” With Outstanding Cast (Review) A gun-scorching western, explosive with fury in every moment, burst upon the screen of the............-.. Theatre yester day with the showing of ‘‘Posse From Hell,” a most unusual adventure drama with its unique plot development. It is an outdoor saga that is certain to please all movie fans of frontier action. Filmed in color, the picture stars Audie Murphy and John Saxon, and co-stars Zohra Lampert, Ward Ramsey, Vic Morrow, Robert Keith and Royal Dano. The bold story of a _ steelnerved deputy marshal who teams with a tenderfoot companion to hunt down a gang of gunmad kilers who had spawned their deadly evil on a quiet little town, is skillfully interpreted on the vast motion picture screen by a highly-competent cast. Producer Gordon Kay and director Herbert Coleman have done a masterful job of film-making with their stellar performers and Clair Huffaker’s taut and intelligent screenplay. In “Posse From Hell,” a Universal-International release, Audie Murphy, the youthful and smooth veteran of many outdoor screen sagas, performs admirably as a tight-lipped ex-gunfighter who pins on a deputy-marshal’s badge to lead an avenging citizens’ posse in pursuit of four kill-crazed desperadoes. In the co-starring role, popular John Saxon is most successful and realistic as he plays an untried dude who volunteers to join the hunt to prove his valor to himself. It provides quite a casting departure for this young man from Brooklyn who customarily is seen in romantic assignments. The feminine lead in the film is capably played by Hollywood newcomer Zohra Lampert, a talented and lovely young actress from Broadway. She shines in her portrayal of a village girl who is kidnapped and molested by the brutal killers. Splendid acting performances are also given by Ward Ramsey, in a brief but powerful appearance as the marshal; Rudy Acosta, Robert Keith and Royal Dano. In addition, Vic Morrow, Charles Horvath, Lee Van Cleef and Henry Miles make up about as villainous and ruthless a quartet of killers as has ever been grouped on the screen. Filmed on location in the beautiful Lone Pine area of California, the scenic grandeur of that locale is artfully captured by head cameraman Clifford Stine and his crew, and blended to perfection as the background for the enormously fast action of ‘“‘Posse From Hell.” Beauty Likes Name (Current) Zohra Lampert, the raventressed charmer with Audie Murphy and John Saxon in UniversalInternational’s “Posse From Hell,” outdoor color adventure NOWSab the wes ae Theatre, turns a deaf ear to any suggestion that she consider changing her unusual-sounding given name. The actress explains that Zohra is of Greek derivation and means “break of dawn.” _ Zohra Lampert, a screen newcomer, plays a frightened village girl who is kidnapped and left to die on a desert by a quartet of killers in Universal-International’s ‘Posse From Hell.” She plays the feminine lead in the outdoor color adventure starring Audie Murphy and John Saxon. (Still 1909-13AD) New Western Drama Stars Audie Murphy And John Saxon (Advance) “Posse From Hell,” the big outdoor-color adventure drama, set Theatre, brings to the screen the talents of Audie Murphy, John Saxon and Zohra Lampert, supported by Vic Morrow, Rudy Acosta, Royal Dano, Charles Horvath, Robert Keith and Ward Ramsey. Filmed in the Lone Pine area of California — between the nation’s highest point at Mt. Whitney and its lowest level at Death Valley—‘‘Posse From Hell’ presents Audie Murphy, famed World War II hero, in the role of an exgunfighter who pins on a deputy marshal’s badge to lead a citizens’ posse in search of four kill-crazed desperadoes. Customarily seen in romantic assignments, popular young and handsome John Saxon is cast as an untried dude who volunteers to join the posse to prove his valor to himself. The picture marks the third screen appearance of darkhaired Hollywood newcomer, Zohra Lampert, Broadway stage beauty who is under personal contract to Elia Kazan, the distinguished stage and film director. The Universal-International production was produced by Gordon Kay, with Herbert Coleman directing Clair Huffaker’s screen play. co-star is John Saxon. (Still 1909-55) Copyright 1961 — Universal Pictures Co., Inc.