Trouble in Texas

If you've ever seen a Tex Ritter western you know what to expect from this one. Clunky situations broken up by a song or three from good ol' Tex. This one follows exactly to form.

The only reason to seek this out is the presence of a very young Rita Hayworth in the female lead. So early in fact that she is still billed by her given name, Rita Cansino. This was actually the last time she would be billed thus. It's painfully obvious she isn't completely at home before the cameras just yet since her line readings are still and lifeless. However there is one striking scene where she dances and suddenly there's the Rita Hayworth of legend, totally alive to the lens. As soon as the music stops though she's right back where she started, ill at ease and uncomfortable. She looks pretty, still brunette and slightly dowdy, the Columbia magic hasn't happened yet and she resembles a young Ann Sheridan more than herself. Ironic than that a few years after this she would get her big breakthrough stepping in to The Strawberry Blonde when Ann had a falling out with Warners.

As for this picture if you're a rodeo fan there are many, too many, scenes set in one but the acting is atrocious and the plot not very involving.

B western with singing Tex Ritter and Rita Hayworth using her given last name.

The songs will kill you.

Glenn Strange -- who paid Frankenstein's monster in the Abbott and Costello film is in it too!

It's just an OK B picture.

Synopsis: Tex is on the rodeo circuit looking for the men that killed his brother and he finds them in Middleton.

Barker expects his man Squint to win the prize money but when Tex starts winning all the events, they put the poisoned needle in his halter rope, planning to have him mysteriously die just as the others did.

TROUBLE IN Texas is an entertaining little B western with wider appeal than the norm due to the leading lady being the very young Rita Hayworth (billed under her real name, Cansino). The appealing Tex Ritter stars as a rodeo circuit cowboy/entertainer who remains on the circuit in hopes of tracking down the bad guys who killed his brother. As it happens, beautiful young government agent Carmen (Rita) is also after them although Tex suspects she may be part of their gang (she is, but is undercover for the government) though he also attempts to woo this gorgeous young woman, no fool he.

This little movie is clearly a quickie with is blatant stock footage (including quite a bit filmed at an actual rodeo which isn't exactly smoothly edited into the film and the scenes with the actors), threadbare sets, and the like but the cast is very appealing and 18-year-old Rita is stunningly beautiful and beams with unmistakable star quality (she has some absolutely gorgeous closeups in this low-budget effort that would rival those in an important studio film that are probably due more to her natural beauty than to the cinematography).

Tex Ritter is great as the always smiling, down-to-earth hero of the tale and while sidekick Horace Murphy (57 at the time, to modern eyes he seems a decade older) is fairly amusing in apparently one of the bigger roles of his career (according to IMDb, most of his parts were unbilled bits). Throw in some classic B western bad guys, excellent stunt work, a nice dance number by Rita, and some good western songs and you've got a pretty terrific if unambitious little B western.

Tex Ritter tours the rodeo circuit, looking for the murderous cowboys that he believed caused the death of his brother, killed by the gang for taking too much money from them by winning. Meanwhile, undercover agent Rita Hayworth (who's beautiful and very brunette) is also on the case.

A remake of the John Wayne vehicle The Man From Utah (with Yakima Canutt playing virtually the same role), this is actually the better of the two with the usual winning performance by Tex, some great songs to pass the time, and a load of exciting stock footage of the real rodeo.

There's also some good villainy by eternal heavies Earl Dwire and Charles King, while the usually villainous Glenn Strange (the future Frankenstein monster) gets to be a good guy.

An exciting climax features some excellent stunt work and an explosive finale.

Bkoganbing mentioned in his review that there was a B movie with John Wayne and wasn't sure which came first. That movie was The Man from Utah and it was 1934, so I find it weird that they'd make essentially the same movie 3 years later. Not sure the point, except maybe they felt they could do it better.

Oddly, guys like Yakima Canutt and Earl Dwire were in both movies. John Wayne was replaced with Tex Ritter, and Lucky played Gabby's role. I suppose the selling point was maybe having Tex actually sing, instead of dubbing in a singer for John Wayne. Besides, Wayne didn't really become a star until Stagecoach (2 years after this in '39).

In any case, it's essentially the same movie, which is about a gang of guys trying to rig a rodeo to win all the prize money.

The quality of this is a shade better (than The Man from Utah), but they do the same rodeo stuff, dub in what looks to be some of the same footage, only they have more of it in this movie.

They do give writing credits to Lindsley Parsons - he wrote The Man from Utah - but I don't really see the point in making this movie. They get 0 points for originality.

The only reason I give this 3 stars (instead of 1) is that this it a little newer and they don't look to have dubbed (as much) as The Man from Utah. Also, Rita Cansino (before she was known as Rita Hayworth) is in this and I do think she does a good acting job, so maybe this was her break. Also, there was one funny part where Lucky put a stick against a guy's back, so the bad guy would think it was his gun, and not turn around. This might be worth more than 3 stars from me if this weren't ripped off. It's not like this is Hitchcock's Psycho getting remade, but maybe they could have come up with something original for Tex and Rita.