El vicio y el poder

I would be lying through my teeth if I said I knew anything about Director Jack Starret. Never heard of him, but must admit that he does not do a bad job of A SMALL TOWN IN TEXAS.

To that end he is helped by a strong cast including Timothy Bottoms - then riding the tail end of his six-year stardom flash beginning with LAST PICTURE SHOW and JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN in 1971, and continuing with THE PAPER CHASE in 1973 - the stunningly sexy British actress Susan George entering her own decline, and Bo Hopkins with yet another striking support part, after THE WILD BUNCH seven years earlier. This time he is not loud, he is just a quietly corrupt copper.

The script by William Norton is this film's weakness. The characters fall well shy of fleshed, dialogue is uneven.

Strong, competent cinematography and editing, by Jessup and Horger respectively.

A Small Town In Texas is a film that I put high on the list of genre action films that were a staple at drive-in's during the '1970's and '80's. The car action is great with real stunts. A great cast of film supporting actors and the always cool directing of the late Jack Starrett. Bo Hopkins is great as the sheriff, Morgan Woodward as the corrupt rich local, John Karlen and Clay Tanner as deputies, Susan George as the girlfriend is '70's hot!,Art Hindle is always good and Buck Flower steals the show as a cussin', spittin', tough-as-nails hick who helps Timothy Bottoms against the crooked law man. I hope a DVD release will be in the near future.

Folks who dig car chases and car crashes will find a fair bit to enjoy here; "A Small Town in Texas" is particularly enjoyable when it gets down to the vehicular stunt aspect. As for the rest, well, it's definitely a formula script (by William W. Norton), with engaging but familiar types of characters. Actor / director Jack Starrett ("Slaughter", "Cleopatra Jones") guides it with his customary efficiency, and does the expectedly solid job of capturing life in the South. Our hero is likable enough (although, after a while, you wish he'd shut up about going to California) and our villain is very much a heel.

Timothy Bottoms stars as Poke Jackson, who tangles with his sheriff nemesis Duke Calley (Bo Hopkins), the man who set him up (resulting in Poke spending five years in jail) and stole Pokes' girl Mary Lee (Susan George) in the process. Poke, who reconnects with Mary Lee and the son (Mark Silva) that they had together, ends up witnessing a crime in which the crooked Duke is involved. So now Poke is obliged to take it on the lam and evade Duke (who now wants Poke dead) and his deputies.

Nicely shot in Panavision by Robert C. Jessup, this features a wonderful score by Charles Bernstein, is sufficiently rousing when it gets to its more action oriented scenes, and has some poignant moments as well as some humorous ones. The capable supporting cast includes Morgan Woodward as local fat cat C.J. Crane, John Karlen and Clay Tanner as deputies, Art Hindle and Hank Rolike as Pokes' good friends Boogie and Cleotus, and the always very amusing George 'Buck' Flower (who doesn't appear until late into the movie) as Pokes' ornery old uncle. Bottoms and Hopkins make for fun adversaries, and George is of course lovely to look at. Director Starrett has a cameo as the drunken Buford Tyler.

Nothing special but still a good example of this type of "hicksploitation" entertainment.

Seven out of 10.

These cool seventies movies, courtesy of Mr Arkoff, set a cool trend in the movie world for me. If you expect a lot of gore in this, you'll be plenty disappointed. What we have is a fatal love triangle. I like any Bottoms actor, they're all good. Timothy my favourite, makes a meal of the role, throwing in a naturalistic and lovable performance, as an ex con, Poke Jackson, framed, who's just got out of prison, now about to rub the same guy up the wrong way, small town local sheriff, the corrupt Duke (Hopkins in another nasty piece of work). Duke has been makin' it with Bottom's old lady, Mary Lee (the versatile Susan George) who you kind of get the feeling, she's wasted in this. Duke is about to give Poke a second serving of misjustice by setting him up again for a murder of important figure at a country fair, and this time properly doing the job. So the other half has Bottoms fleeing the cops, which culminates in a couple of cool car and bike chases, and god, can Bottoms ride. Bottoms is funny too: Helium voice scene, and we take guilty delight seeing both nemesis go at each other, where in the end, only one can walk away. Great action, and revenge that never gets old, plus sincere performances, make this a gem of a seventies movie, though it's not great, but definitely a golden 70's find.

Haven't seen this movie for well over 20 years, when I was only about 12. Even at such a young age, I picked up on the fact that the realism of the town depicted is extremely far-fetched; the police department in a town of this size (remember, this is a "Small" Town in Texas) would have a fleet of 6 or 8 vehicles at the most, yet in the big chase scene there are local police cars by the score, probably a hundred plus. That is my #1 memory of the film. A much better flick is "The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia" with Dennis Quaid. Although the protagonist in "Georgia" is not a native of the town in which the story takes place, the basic plot of "bad-guy lawman tries to bully damsel away from our hero" is very similar to "Small Town in Texas." I recall the Dennis Quaid movie as the better of the two, and that doesn't say much!*!