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.

"Trouble in Texas" is arguably the best of the 12 westerns that Tex Ritter turned out for Grand National in the late 1930s. It is notable for the appearance of Rita Hayworth (as Rita Cansino) and the showcasing the many talents (excluding acting) of Yakima Canutt.

The story has the bad guys headed by Earl Dwire and henchmen Canutt and Charlie King rigging rodeo results to favor them by eliminating competitors. Hayworth is a federal agent sent to infiltrate the gang. Along comes Ritter and his sidekick Horace Murphy. Tex plans to compete in the next rodeo. He enters and beats Canutt in every event despite the gang's efforts to eliminate him. Finally, Tex and sheriff Glenn Strange settle things with the gang.

This film is memorable for the stunts performed by the legendary Canutt. He performs several dangerous stunts on the backs of a team of runaway horses and on the speeding wagon. Having been a champion Rodeo rider in his youth, Canutt had no difficulty in the rodeo scenes in spite of the extensive usage of stock footage.

Hayworth was about to adopt that name and move over to Columbia as one of its greatest stars. She gets to perform a dance sequence in which her considerable talent is displayed. Ritter sings a few forgettable songs as well. And the casting of veterans Dwire, King and Strange didn't hurt either.

Not a bad little programmer.

"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.

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.

If you like your villains straightforward and straight-faced, then this is a fun little B western. Tex Ritter is given the unenviable task of taking on the baddie trio of Earl Dwire, Yakima Canutt and Charles King. (If you're familiar with these fellows, you will have no trouble guessing who is the brains of the gang and who is simply brawn.)

Luckily, Tex's character is not named "Tex Masters" for nothing. Besides competing for rodeo prizes and singing a handful of catchy tunes, he suspects that the crooks in town are indeed the villains who killed his brother years ago, and are thus the gang he has been seeking all this time on the rodeo circuit. He also annoys Yakima to the point of uttering a classic threat: "All right, you guitar-playin' songbird, if you got anything to say, say it fast!"

Rita Cansino (Hayworth) is fine as an undercover government agent also after the same gang. And Horace Murphy is mildly amusing as Lucky, Tex's sidekick. I am not familiar with his work, but if IMDb's filmography is to be believed, he was busy in 1937--this was one of over 30 movies he appeared in that year!