The Kid from Texas

For the 1939 film directed by S. Sylvan Simon, see The Kid from Texas (1939 film).

The Kid from Texas
Directed by	Kurt Neumann
Produced by	Paul Short
Written by	Robert Hardy Andrews Karl Kamb
Based on	a story by Robert Hardy Andrews
Starring	Audie Murphy Gale Storm
Music by	Milton Schwarzwald
Cinematography	Charles Van Enger
Edited by	Frank Gross
Production company	Universal International
Release dates	1950 (1950)
Running time	78 mins
Country	United States
Language	English

The Kid from Texas is a 1950 Western starring Audie Murphy as Billy the Kid and details his involvement in the Lincoln County War. It was Murphy's first Western.

Plot

The film starts 11 July 1879 in Lincoln County, New Mexico Territory. A group of men who work for Major Harper, led by gunslinger Minniger, attempt to arrest rancher Alexander Kain and his English partner Jameson. They are stopped by William Bonney, aka Billy the Kid, who shoots and injures them.

Jameson offers Billy a job as a ranch hand. A drunken group of Harper's men attack the ranch and kill Jameson. Billy goes on a killing rampage, encouraged by the manipulative Kain, who publicly decries Billy's efforts. Governor Lew Wallace offers Billy a pardon which he turns down. Pat Garrett is sent to catch Billy.

Cast

• Audie Murphy as Billy the Kid
• Gale Storm as Irene Kain
• Albert Dekker as Alexander Kain
• Shepperd Strudwick as Jameson
• Will Geer as O'Fallon
• William Talman as Minniger
• Martin Garralaga as Morales
• Robert H. Barrat as General Lew Wallace
• Walter Sande as Crowe
• Frank Wilcox as Pat Garrett
• Dennis Hoey as Major Harper

Production notes

The film fictionalises the true events of the Lincoln County War but follows the basic facts. Jameson (Shepperd Strudwick) is based on John Tunstall and Alexander Kain (Albert Dekker) on Alexander McSween.

Murphy was cast after his performance as a juvenile delinquent in Bad Boy, with Billy the Kid being depicted as a 19th-century juvenile delinquent. J. Edgar Hoover offered to narrate the film.

External links

• The Kid from Texas at IMDB
• The Kid from Texas at Audie Murphy Memorial Site
• The Kid from Texas at TCMDB