What a beautiful movie!

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

This is a message post-Civil War western. Unfortunately, it espouses 2 conflicting messages: (1)When the local judicial system is inadequately present, or present in a corrupt or prejudicial form, it is a natural right of the injured and threatened to defend themselves or extract equal revenge against the perpetrator(s).(2) No matter how inadequate, corrupt or prejudicial the local judicial system is, it is the duty of individuals harmed by it or by others to submit to the existing judicial system. Those who attempt to take the law into their own hands are subject to prosecution no matter how seemingly valid their reason. After exercising the first of these messages, the film ends upholding the second message. I suspect the production code people weren't about to pass a film which glorified rebellion and vigilantism as sometimes necessary to achieve real justice........John Payne, in his first western, is the main protagonist. He's a lawyer, newly arrived from Charleston, S.C., who objects to the methodology of the first trial he sees here. After several killings of his friends and the judge for thumbing their noses at the corrupt Sheriff Lafarge(Dick Fortran), he becomes the leader of a sizable group of rebels who go about searching for, killing and perhaps burning the houses of the friends of the Sheriff(whom I will refer to as loyalists). The climax of the film consists of an all out gun battle in the middle of El Paso between the rebels and loyalists. This is complicated by the occurrence of a very violent dust storm that made visibility and walking difficult. After a number of each are killed, the two groups ride out of town, meeting at a river, where the loyalists, outnumbered, surrender. Several are about to be strung up when Clay arrives with the demand that the ropes be taken off their necks. He's a born again legalist, advocating that the sheriff and other loyalists be tried for real or suspected crimes. Thus, from the viewer's viewpoint, the film ends on a rather unsatisfactory note, as the sheriff is neither dead nor visibly in jail, while the victors march down the street in parade formation. ........Gail Russell, the female lead, plays Susan Jeffers, daughter of the usually inebriated judge. She's Clay's girlfriend, a relationship threatened by his sojourn into vigilantism. She is a major voice warning him that this is not the solution...... One of the victims of the loyalists is Clay's grandfather: a judge from Charleston. Just why he came to El Paso is not discussed. Perhaps this was detailed in some discarded footage? Edwardo Noriega played Nacho Vazquez, who saved Clay from a tormenting saloon crowd, and taught him how to be an effective gunslinger..... Much bewhiskered Gabby Hayes generates some amusement playing a simpleton trader, who's always getting cheated by Mexican Joe......Stagecoach Nellie(Mary Beth Hughes) is another clownish character. She devised an inventive way to practice pickpocketing. While riding in a stage, she emphasizes that Indians or bandits often attack the stage, then offers to hide the men's wallet in her things. If the man forgets to retrieve his wallet at the end of the run, she takes it to her room and divests it of currency. If the man complains, she pleads that there was no money in it. Of course, this only works under ideal conditions of a novice, no tattletale in the stage, and forgetful victims.

In the immediate aftermath of the Civil War a Confederate officer by the name of "Clay Fletcher" (John Payne) returns to his home in Charleston, South Carolina, to restart his law profession. Upon hearing that a former sweetheart named "Susan Jeffers" (Gail Russell) and her father "Judge Henry Jeffers" (Henry Hull) have moved to El Paso, Texas, he volunteers to take some important legal papers to him. When he gets to El Paso he finds that a group of thugs have taken control of the small town and are manipulating the alcoholic judge to enforce their corrupt interests. Now, rather than detailing the entire story, I will just say that this film had a "Grade B" feel from start to finish. None of the actors distinguished themselves, the plot was shaky and some of the scenes seemed a bit corny at times. To be fair though, some of these criticisms can be attributed to the time-period in which this film was made. Even so, I thought it could have been better and so I have scored it as slightly below average.

I decided to see this film, after reading that it was part of Martin Scorsese's list of top westerns. John Payne is Clay Fletcher, a lawyer that goes to El Paso where he meets his former sweetheart Susan (Gail Russel) and her father Henry (Henry Hull) who is a judge, but became a drunkard and is subservient to Bert Donner (Sterling Hayden) who is trying to get for free all the nearby land of the ex confederate soldiers that fought in the civil war which has just finished.. Fletcher tries all he can in a peaceful way, but when he realizes he will not win against the dirty tactics of Donner, forms and leads a guerrilla group. The film tries to show that he is wrong, that he must respect the law, but does so in a hurried manner in the last part and that spoils the film which could have been a good western. The unconvincing, not elaborated rapid change of attitude of Payne and the members of the guerrilla group just makes you think they had to finish the film in a set time , and got carried away and let it go on too long, and then had to hurry to end it. The presence of Gail Russel who was an excellent actress and a great beauty is a positive factor.

"El Paso" is an ugly looking film. I assume it looked a lot better when it first debuted, but the print from Netflix is yucky looking. Part of this might be because it used Cinecolor (a very inexpensive but far from perfect color system) and part of it surely is due to the effects of degradation over time. All I know for sure is that the film is full of sepia tones and green-grays but many other colors are absent.The film begins just after the Civil War. A lawyer (John Payne) is sent from Charleston to El Paso to get some papers signed by a judge who used to live in South Carolina. Unfortunately, when Payne arrives, he finds that the judge (Henry Hull) is a drunk and the town is run by an evil boss (Sterling Hayden) whose aim is to steal away everyone's land. Can Payne use the law to his advantage or will he and his new friends have to take the law into their own hands? The evil boss-man theme is a very, very familiar one in American films of this era--perhaps THE most familiar. I am pretty sure it was used long before it was in "Birth of a Nation" (this was an evil boss film despite its sick racist message). Because it's become a bit of a cliché, "El Paso" certainly lacks originality. But, despite the familiar, the film is handled well on several levels. While the boss-man story is overused, using an alcoholic judge to help make the land-grab 'legal' was an inspired change to the standard story. Additionally, Payne and Hayden are both good actors and make the most of the material. In addition, it was nice to see the way Mexicans were handled in the film. Too often, they are simpletons in westerns, but here they are both noble AND manly--with Eduardo Noriega's character being one of the better ones in this era. Along for the ride is old reliable Gabby Hayes for a nice bit of comic relief. In addition, while the film might be a bit blood-thirsty, it sure did make it exciting and better than the usually over-sanitized western of the day. The overall package manages to breath life into an ancient sort of story and makes the film a lot better than it should be. Worth seeing--particularly if you like westerns.