Rest In Peace Mr. Murphy

One pretty good movie. Audie Murphy would only get to make four more movies after this one. Universal had gotten rid of their contract players and his luck as an independent did not work out. I read yesterday that he was trying to raise more money to finish as he intended "A Time For Dying" for which he was a producer when he died in the plane crash. A lot of actors' careers were disrupted when the studio system ended.

I wish the spaghetti western craze had opened more doors for him but I guess he got there about three years too late. The spaghetti westerns revived the career of Lee Van Cleef and it could have done the same for Audie Murphy. They were still making them when Audie Murphy died in 1971. Another one like Eric Fleming that we lost too soon.

He tried to break out of the mold that he had been in but did not get the right projects to do so. From what I have read, he would have been able to completely break the mold if he had done the villain part it Dirty Harry. It would have been interesting to see him and Clint Eastwood work together. I don't know if he turned down the part, did not get it, or if he died before getting to proceed. We will never know. He played a not so nice character in "The Unforgiven" with Burt Lancaster so it looks like he had the talent to branch out. Rest in peace Mr. Murphy.