Audie Murphy plays Clay Santell, a horse trader who has the misfortune of running into a notorious bandit known as Travers (Jan Merlin) who robs him of his horse. Travers is a man on the run and known to carry a distinctive shotgun as his weapon of choice. Santell wounds Travers fleeing and causes him to drop his trademark shotgun with some fancy carving on the stock. This is enough to give the townspeople the idea that Santell is actually Travers! Marshal Deckett (Stephen McNally) has been hunting Travers without success for ages and knows Santell is innocent, but he doesn't care as he figures that as long as everyone believes he's killed the notorious outlaw, it will earn him glory. Santell barely escapes, but has an enraged posse on his tail headed up by the crooked Marshal. Beautiful local outcast Janet Gifford (Felicia Farr) winds up being dragged into the mess as she learns the truth and thus is forced to also flee for her life along with Santell. As the two fugitives flee up a mountainside, the stage is set for a final showdown!

Hell Bent for Leather is directed by George Sherman and adapted to screenplay by Christopher Knopf from the novel Outlaw Marshal written by Ray Hogan. It stars Audie Murphy, Felicia Farr, Stephen McNally and Robert Middleton. A CinemaScope production in Eastman Color, it features music jointly scored by William Lava and Irving Gertz (Joseph Gershenson supervising) and cinematography by Clifford Stine. Stephen McNally, Robert Middleton, James Westmoreland, and veteran actor Bob Steele all give adequate performances in this vigorous and picturesque film. A must see for fans of Audie Murphy and western movie devotees.