Trouble in Texas

While Tex Ritter (as Tex Masters) sings "Down the Colorado Trail", accompanied by harmonica-playing sidekick Horace Murphy (as Lucky), pretty government agent Rita Hayworth (as Carmen Serano) is sent out to investigate a series of mysterious rodeo deaths. Ms. Hayworth and Mr. Ritter cross paths in Middletown Valley, where Ritter is looking for the gang that killed his brother.

Undercover girl Hayworth and singing cowboy Ritter are the main attractions. Hayworth and Hank Worden have a couple of smooth dance numbers. Ritter's "Down the Colorado Trail" and "I'm Bound to Leave Ol' Texas Now" are highlights; the latter ballad is especially nice. The "Trouble in Texas" is, most obviously, its poorly edited "rodeo footage". It might have, otherwise, been a better movie.

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.

"Trouble in Texas (1937) with Tex Ritter was a virtual remake of "The Man from Utah (1934)" with John Wayne and used again for "Mesquite Buckaroo(1939) with Bob Steele and again in "The Utah Kid (1944)with Bob Steele and Hoot Gibson essaying the roles of John Wayne and George Hayes from the 1934 film...and yet again in 1951 as "Lawless Cowboys" starring Whip Wilson. And Tex Ritter's 1938 "Frontier Town"was more that just a version of the origin film. And all the "rodeo footage" in the remakes came from the 1934 film.

You are welcome.

Trouble In Texas finds Tex Ritter and sidekick Horace Murphy on the trail of a gang that is killing rodeo champions. The mistake that this gang headed by Earl Dwire makes is in killing Ritter's brother. He and Murphy have been on the trail for five years.

Devotees of the B western will find that a lot of usual players like Glenn Strange and Yakima Canutt are there. But if Trouble In Texas has any reason to be saved it is because one Rita Cansino who was the leading lady. All of 19 Ms. Cansino was playing a government agent who was also on the trail of the outlaws.

Of course we all know her better as Rita Hayworth so fans of the eternal Cover Girl will have a great opportunity to see her cowgirl attire.

There was a John Wayne B film from the Thirties where the same gambit was used to kill the rodeo cowboys. I can't remember which one so I don't know who stole from who.