Texas

Other reviewers have spoken of the pleasures of seeing William Holden and Glenn Ford at age 23, both so young as to be almost unrecognizable; and Claire Trevor, too and Edgar Buchanan as a dentist -- he was one in real life, before he turned to acting.

But I think a lot of credit is due to the director, George Marshall. Today, almost the only Marshall movie anyone knows is the justly famous 1939 version of DESTRY RIDES AGAIN. But he was primarily a comedy director, back to the 1920s when he directed Fox Sunshine comedies, to the 1930s, when he worked at Roach on Laurel and Hardy, through the early 1970s. And this movie was directed during his peak period and it shows it. The comedy sequences are wonderfully directed, especially the boxing match.

So, while you're enjoying the acting, remember that the funny broad comedy comes from the mind of the director.

This is a decent if largely routine western from director George Marshall. Dan (William Holden) and Tod (Glenn Ford) are two aimless friends wandering the American west shortly after the Civil War. They both end up in Texas where they get separated. Dan ends up working with a gang of bandits and cattle rustlers, while Tod finds work at a cattle ranch. They both fall for the same girl, ranch heiress "Mike" King (Claire Trevor). But other developments may see them pointing guns at each other.

There's nothing remarkable about this western, but it's generally agreeable, and the young Holden and Ford are pretty good. Trevor is okay, especially when she shouts lines like, "You blankety-blank hamstrung jerky piece of beef!" The best performance in the movie, to my mind, is from Edgar Buchanan as an amiable dentist. I could have done without a lengthy boxing match done for comic effect. George Bancroft had seen better days over at Paramount, not really a victim of the transition to sound as much as he was his own inflated view of himself. Recommended.

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.

It's a bit surprising that no one's commented on this movie till now. After all, it isn't some obscure B-western but rather an almost "A" production with two rising young stars, (William Holden and Glenn Ford, plus Claire Trevor), and a respected director, George Marshall. Perhaps the fact that it's in b&w has unjustly relegated it to near-obscurity.

Those who seek it out, however, will be rewarded by an engaging plot which has some interesting twists and turns, by some snappy dialog -- particularly in the first meeting between Holden and Trevor -- and by a host of good supporting players, such as Edgar Buchanan who plays a devious dentist.

For fans of "beefcake," there's an early prizefight sequence in which a shirtless Holden battles the local champ in a bare-knuckle marathon. Only about 22 or 23 years old at the time, Holden's physique hadn't yet reached the maturity displayed in his later films, (most notably "Picnic"), but his bare chest, (shaved of the hair displayed earlier in "Golden Boy"),is still quite pleasing to the eye. If only the scene could be re-written so that Holden would have been matched against a stripped-to-the-waist Glenn Ford. Now, that would have been a beefcake bonanza!

It's 1866, Abilene, Kansas and we are in the company of Dan Thomas {William Holden} and Tod Ramsey {Glen Ford}, two pals who served in the Confederacy together. They want to get to Texas to earn their living but have no cash ready to hand. But a lifeline is thrown by way of a stagecoach robbery they witness as they decide to relieve the robbers of their ill gotten gains. This puts the friends in serious peril so they agree to split up and head in different directions. Finally meeting up some time down the line in town, both men are operating from different social standings. And both men have fallen for the same gal, Mike King {Claire Trevor}. So along with the arrival in town of shady railroad magnate Windy Miller {George Bancroft} and the crooked dealings of dentist Buford Ford {Edgar Buchanan} starting to influence matters; the boys will do well to come out of it all still as friends.

Texas is directed by George Marshall {with Norman Deming assisting} and the three writing credits go to Michael Blankfort, Lewis Meltzer & Horace McCoy. It's a briskly paced black & white action Western that's not short on laughs either. In Holden and Ford it showcases two Hollywood big hitters in their fresh faced early days, with Holden pretty much unrecognisable. From a quite hilarious pugilist rules boxing match in the first quarter, to the number of machismo exchanges that drop in from time time, it's one of those film's that's hard to criticise. So I'm not going too. A small bother comes with the ending being rushed a touch, but even that is in keeping with how Marshall has directed it. So really it's a hearty recommend to anyone after some early 40s Oater enjoyment. Undemanding for sure, but executed with gusto and no little amount of class. 6.5/10