Gloriosa Vingança

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!

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.

The other reviewers are right. I would never have rented this when I saw it at the video store if not that I could not resist the temptation of seeing BOTH William Holden and Glenn Ford at only about 23 years old (you almost can't recognize them at first) rounded out by Claire Trevor, and even then I actually put it back on the shelf before changing my mind. Surely, if it were any good, I thought, I would have heard of it before. No doubt it was an early, typically cheesy B-western whose only merit was that it happened to include together two young actors who would eventually become quite famous. Even John Wayne had a dog or two among his early pictures, I thought - it happens to all kinds of great performers. But ignoring my more conservative judgment, I took a risk.

Now I wish I had my own copy - I have to wonder if it's still available anywhere. A quintessential "buddy picture" of the first order, not only is there terrific chemistry between the characters, but it's mostly fast-paced with enough clever plot developments and deviousness to oftentimes seem quite contemporary in 2003! Any film maker looking to do a western revival which would entertain audiences today would do well to remake this picture. One hopes he would stick as close to the original as possible, because there's enough good stuff there already to get him most of the way through. Four stars on a conventional scale would be well-deserved.

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.