In El Paso, lawyer and ex-Confederate captain Clay Fletcher forms a vigilante group to bring law and order to a town where the judge is a drunk, the sheriff is corrupt and the town is run by... Read allIn El Paso, lawyer and ex-Confederate captain Clay Fletcher forms a vigilante group to bring law and order to a town where the judge is a drunk, the sheriff is corrupt and the town is run by a crooked landowner.In El Paso, lawyer and ex-Confederate captain Clay Fletcher forms a vigilante group to bring law and order to a town where the judge is a drunk, the sheriff is corrupt and the town is run by a crooked landowner.
- Jack Elkins
- (as Bobby Ellis)
- Townswoman
- (uncredited)
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Townsman
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaEl Paso (1949) was the first high-budget feature made by the producing team of William H. Pine and William C. Thomas, who were popularly known as "The Dollar Bills" because of their ability to produce quality low-budget films. The picture was also their first color feature, and cost approximately $1,000,000 to make.
"We've got people working in this one who two years ago wouldn't have been caught dead in a Pine-Thomas picture," said producer William C. Thomas. He added, "in the old days, all we had to do was get a guy blown up in an oil well explosion and go from there, but now, when we want to kill someone, we've got to have a good reason."
- Quotes
Bert Donner: I see you found yourself a new coat.
Clayton Fletcher: Yes. A coat of a brave man who died defending the rights of his people. There were two bullet holes in the back of it. You heard of Señor Montez?
Bert Donner: Montez made the mistake of interfering with the law. If you're smart, you won't make the same mistake.
Clayton Fletcher: If I do, Donner, I'll remember to not turn my back on you.
Except for a short subject he did at Warner Brothers in 1939 El Paso was the first western that John Payne did and he definitely seemed comfortable in the genre. He plays a lawyer and former Confederate veteran who goes west to El Paso from Charleston, South Carolina in search of an old friend of Payne's grandfather H.B. Warner.
That friend is Henry Hull who went west with his daughter Gail Russell for health reasons and is now a drunken pawn of town boss Sterling Hayden. With Hull as judge and sheriff Dick Foran to enforce some trumped up foreclosures, Hayden's grabbing all the real estate he can in and around El Paso from veterans who were not paying taxes while they were fighting in the Civil War.
Payne tries it the legal way, but he's learned a few things as well in those war years. When it doesn't work he finds himself leader of a guerrilla band who are exacting justice after a couple of murders of cast members sympathetic to Payne.
Editing was pretty botched in El Paso. There are references during the film to scenes that were obviously cut out. The film also seemed to be building to a terrific climax and the end was quite a let down. You'll see what I mean if you view the film.
El Paso was produced by Pine-Thomas Productions, two guys with the first name of William. William Pine was Cecil B. DeMille's associate producer on several of his earlier epics from the Thirties and I think he was expecting a DeMille like budget and didn't get it. So cuts were made that I think spoiled the overall quality of the film.
Still fans of the western and of John Payne will like it. Note the comic relief performances of Mary Beth Hughes as Stagecoach Nell and Gabby Hayes for once an Easterner in a western.
- bkoganbing
- Nov 6, 2008
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Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- Also known as
- El Paso - Die Stadt der Rechtlosen
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $1,000,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 43 minutes
- Aspect ratio
- 1.37 : 1
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