Texas (1941)

Memorable, crazy movie

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is a very good western with two great up and coming actors at that time. Glen Ford and William Holden really shined in this movie and it paid off good for both of them.This was Fords 9th film and Holden's 6th, but you could never tell it by their acting. These two men played well off each other. It didn't hurt that they had Claire Trevor as their love interest either. The cast is rounded out with the great actor Edgar Buchanan playing the bad guy, I know it's hard to hate a man like Buchanan.This is NOT a B cowboy movie, far from it. The scrip and acting is very good, and the movie has a good plot as it moves alone and never leaves you bogged down. Ford and Holden play well off each other, so well in fact it wasn't long before Hollywood teamed them up again in another western "The Man From Colorado".So if your looking for a very good western with a great cast that has plenty of action along with some humor and love, you can't go wrong with this movie.

William Holden and Glenn Ford were soon to become stars at Columbia. However, in 1941 they were still on their way towards stardom and as a result were begin given films that were okay but far from the better ones the studio was producing. So, this film is longer and with a slightly better cast than the huge crops of Bs the studio was churning out....but also not among their better films, that's for sure. The biggest problem is that the film doesn't seem to have much of a plot for almost half the film. Instead, it's played almost as a comedy or a buddy picture. It sure could have used a much tighter script and most of the first portion of the film removed or significantly trimmed. For example, there is a comic boxing sequence that went on and on and on but had absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the film! Following the unnecessary boxing scene and the first 25 minutes or so, the actual plot begins. Out of work Holden and Ford are friends headed to Texas after the end of the Civil War. They stumble upon a robbery of a stage coach and decide to then rob the crooks! But, the Sheriff and his posse incorrectly assume Ford and Holden committed the original robbery. Only due to the intervention of the Doc (Edgar Buchanan) did Holden avoid a hanging. Later, however, he would join up with the gang of robbers. As for Ford, after he made his getaway from the posse, he fell in with a female rancher (Claire Trevor) and her outfit--and becomes an upstanding citizen in the community. Now the two lifelong friends are on a collision course--as sooner or later they are bound to have a showdown. Unfortunately, this ultimate collision course is pretty much exactly as I'd anticipated. Overall, this is only an adequate western--even with the two future stars in the lead. Unless you are a HUGE fan of the genre, this one is easy to skip.

George Marshall's entertaining Western adventure - with some comedy elements - is lent an air of poignancy thanks to the pairing of enduring stars Glenn Ford and William Holden in the early years of their careers. Holden has the meatier role here, a good guy turned bad in love with the same woman as his friend (Ford) who follows a law-abiding life in the employ of cattle ranchers desperate to import their stock to the east but frustrated by marauding rustlers. Claire Trevor is the love interest, but she's fairly bland and it's difficult to see what a bad lad like Holden would see in her. That makes her a decent match for Ford, because there's not really that much to his character either. But then this is a product of the 40s Hollywood treadmill, so incident is more important than characterisation. Edgar Buchanan, with his laid back, scratchy drawl and permanent stubble makes the biggest impact playing a dentist in league with the cattle rustlers who is always keen to repair the bicuspids of anyone who sits in his chair, whether it's for treatment or just for a chat.The story starts out fairly carefree (despite Ford being the subject of an attempted lynching) before gradually evolving into something more serious, a little like the protagonist's respective situations and life in general. George Marshall directs with an assured hand, delivering a solid studio project that was never going to win any awards but was sure to satisfy filmgoers of the day.

Two young cowpokes played by William Holden and Glenn Ford in their youth are trying to make their way to Texas. As former Confederates they're not treated so well in Yankee country. When they spot some outlaws holding up a stage they decide to rob the outlaws. Of course when the sheriff finds Ford with the loot, Holden has to rescue him from a lynching. In eluding the posse the two go their separate ways and thereby hangs a tale.This was the first of two films Holden and Ford made together, the second being The Man from Colorado after World War II. Both of them had the same unusual contract situation. Holden came up through Paramount ranks, but was spotted there by Harry Cohn at Columbia and given the lead as an unknown in Golden Boy. So confident was Cohn in Holden's success that he took the highly unusual step of purchasing half of his contract from Paramount. So Holden was under contract to two major studios at the same time.Ironically enough Glenn Ford in the late Forties had half of his contract purchased by MGM when Harry Cohn sold it. These are the only two stars whoever had such an unusual arrangement.It is also the first time Glenn Ford worked with Director George Marshall although it would take another 17 years for them to reunite in The Sheepman. After that the two of them did a whole string of successful comedies together.There's is some humor in Texas, but the accent here is on action which comes pretty fast and furious. Holden falls in with the outlaws he and Ford held up and Ford becomes a big mover and shaker with the cattlemen. Ford persuades them all to get a big herd together and drive them to the railroad terminus in Kansas. He's also trying to impress Claire Trevor the rancher's daughter who Holden also is interested in.Texas has a trio of villains in George Bancroft, Addison Richards and Edgar Buchanan. This was the film where Edgar Buchanan got his first attention. His folksy demeanor masks some serious scheming in this film, the first of many reprobates he played in the movies although most of them were not as seriously villainous as here.Glenn Ford and Edgar Buchanan hit it off very well. They worked in about a dozen films together and in Ford's television series Cade's County.Texas is a good western and it's a pleasure to watch two young screen immortals in their beginning days.