La ruée sauvage

THE TEXANS (1938) offers some great second unit action scenes in its simple tale of a cattle drive from Indianola, Texas to Abilene, Kansas. We see hundreds of head of cattle forced to swim across the Rio Grande, followed by the cowboys' struggles with such obstacles as dust storms, snow storms, prairie fires, Indian attacks, and pursuit by the U.S. Army. These sequences are quite spectacular, but they're somewhat undermined by the awkward dialogue scenes between the stars. Randolph Scott stars as an ex-Confederate soldier whose idea of taking the cattle to Kansas to keep them from being confiscated for back taxes by the Carpetbagger administrator is taken up by rancher Joan Bennett and her team of cowboys-turned-rebels-turned-cowboys-again. Scott is supposed to be a war-hardened vet trying to survive in Reconstruction Texas, but he comes off as way too cleancut and restrained. The actor needed at least another decade to develop the kind of seasoning that made him such a sturdy western star in the late 1940s-to-early 60s (THE DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA, SEVEN MEN FROM NOW, THE TALL T, et al). Joan Bennett is terribly miscast here and plays it as if she's in a romantic comedy. Despite having to run off with the cattle with no time to pack her things, she somehow manages to conjure up a parade of fresh feminine fashions along the way and arrives in Abilene with a spanking new dress and bonnet, a new hairdo and fresh makeup. She's never remotely believable as a rancher and frontierswoman who'd kept her spread thriving during the war.

On the other hand, May Robson, as Joan's rough-hewn pioneer grandmother, is appropriately fierce and participates in the action as closely as anybody in the film. (She was near 80 when she made this!) SHE should have been the star. And Walter Brennan is his usual dependable self as the ranch foreman, Chuckawalla. Robson and Brennan are often together and the drama scenes benefit considerably when they're on screen. Raymond Hatton is another old hand at this kind of thing and he appears as Cal, Scott's frontiersman sidekick. The problem is, he literally arrives out of nowhere. When we last see Scott at the end of the opening sequence, where he's fought Union soldiers and helped Bennett escape with a shipment of rifles meant for die-hard Southern rebels, he's alone, unarmed, unhorsed and wearing an ill-fitting new suit of clothes that cost him everything he had. In the next scene, he shows up in a fresh buckskin suit, riding a horse, armed with pistols and rifle, and accompanied by Cal, with no explanation of how these things materialized or where Cal came from. Gaps like this tend to disrupt the storytelling for me.

One of the problems is that the credited director, James Hogan, worked mostly in B-movies and had a largely undistinguished career at Paramount. Why couldn't the studio have gotten one of their more experienced hands, like Henry Hathaway (LIVES OF A BENGAL LANCER), to helm an important western like this? After all, no less a showman than Cecil B. DeMille had made the comparably budgeted western saga THE PLAINSMAN for Paramount two years earlier. To go from DeMille to Hogan in two short years demonstrates a distinct impairment of studio judgment. In any event, as another reviewer here pointed out, THE TEXANS compares most unfavorably with a later film that told a similar story, Howard Hawks' RED RIVER (1948).

This film introduced the gentle, melodic western song, "Silver on the Sage," sung in the film by Bill Roberts (as "Singin' Cy") and written by Leo Robin and Ralph Rainger, Paramount's ace in-house songwriting team. (The pair also gave us the title song of the Hopalong Cassidy western, HILLS OF OLD WYOMING, a year earlier.) I first heard "Silver on the Sage" when it was used on the soundtrack of the 1981 drama, BUTTERFLY, the score of which was composed by Ennio Morricone. I don't remember how the song was used in the film, but the BUTTERFLY soundtrack album featured Johnny Bond's rendition of it.

"The Texans" is a post civil war picture that is set in Texas. The story centers around carpetbaggers trying to cheat Texas ranchers out of their land which eventually forces them to undertake a cattle drive to Abeline.

The movie has the look and feel of a classic western but there's something missing. It has plenty of action to be sure, but the action sequences have the look of stock footage which Paramount was fond of using during the 30's. The Zane Grey series, most of which starred Randolph Scott is a case in point. The chief villain (Robert Barrat) is presented alternately as a heartless villain and buffoon, a major weakness in the story line. There are also too many obvious "studio exterior" shots for my liking.

In a major case of miscasting, Joan Bennett plays the heroine who we are to believe is a gun runner and large ranch owner. Why during her escape from town even gets a smudge of dirt on her pretty face, but not a hair is out of place. Somebody like Jean Arthur would have been more convincing. Randolph Scott is good as the hero, and May Robson as "Granna" virtually steals the picture. Robert Cummings as Scott's rival for the affections of Ms. Bennett, Walter Brennan as Bennett's crusty foreman and Raymond Hatton as Scott's sidekick are also along for the ride. Francis Ford (brother of John) stands out in a featured role as "Uncle Dud". If you look real close, you might spot Clayton Moore and Richard Denning in bit parts.

But as I suggested earlier, the picture suffers from the lack of a strong villain. A good western, but could have been much better.

With the U.S. Calvary on his tail, ex-Confederate Randolph Scott braves the elements and leads a massive cattle drive through Indian territory in order for his hard-case employer (and potential sweetheart) Joan Bennett to avoid paying the nasty carpetbagger government's new cattle tax.

The first thirty minutes of the film, with it's blistering portrait of reconstruction, is so grimy and claustrophobic that it comes as a bit of a relief when Scott and the boys (and the girls) hit the trail. In fact, they lay it on so thick that Randolph Scott's character comes off a bit silly when he voices his support for a reunified country!

Some slow spots help keep this from being one of the best of Scott's early Paramount vehicles. However it's probably one of the best produced, with some excellent photography and really well-staged action sequences. The scenes depicting the crossing of the Rio Grande and their battles with angry Comanches are particular standouts.

The end is a bit of a forerunner to Red River!

Some of today's viewers might be a bit put off by what they see as racism in the beginning. Just remember not to judge other times by the current time in which you dwell. Black Union soldiers did make themselves unwelcome in post Civil War South. Carpetbaggers did go to the South to take advantage. The South WAS desperately poor after the war and unfair taxes were levied. These are historical facts which do not take sides. The writer took the facts and the attitudes, of both sides, and wove them into this story. Randolph Scott as a former Confederate who wanted the country reunited instead of taken over by Mexico. He said that all Yankees were not like the ones pushing their way around Texas, as he had met them in the war. The Union officer felt the same about many former Confederates. The movie showed this as the beginning of understanding between former foes. The acting was good. Perhaps one of Scott's better performances. Mae Robson was great and reminded me of Beula Bondi. Robert Cummings (well before his TV successes) was the former Confederate officer who could not accept the loss of the war. Joan Bennett was beautiful as the center of the love triangle between Scott, Cummings and herself. Character actors brought the film along quite well as they often do - Walter Brennan, Raymond Hatton, Frances Ford, Robert Barrat, Harvey Stephens. And there was Richard Denning with a small speaking part before his Mr. North fame. There was a most believable fight scene in the streets between Union troops and former confederates. It was well directed. There was an action scene of wagons, horses and cattle running from brush fire set by Indians that was very well done considering this was before digital special effects. The movie moved along nicely from the very beginning with plenty of Western excitement. Be sure to catch this Western if you get the chance. Although it has some twists and turns, it is still a good old fashioned Western.

After the Civil War, the former Confederates of Texas are suffering under harsh taxes, ill treatment and corruption by the Federal Government during the Reconstruction era. Texas ranch owner, Ivy Preston accompanied by her grandmother Granna and her old ranch foreman, now the trail boss, Chuckawalla is trying to move her cattle to market to sell them. The carpetbaggers are not only trying to seize her cattle without payment but want her ranch as well for their own ends.

A Confederate veteran named Kirk Jordan ( Randolph Scott) who has had enough of war and convinces her to drive her cattle to Abilene, Kansas rather than Mexico but he is upset with her when he learns she wants to use the money to help the South continue fighting.

The Texans is a solid western set around the aftermath of the Civil War and the carpetbaggers (its depiction is really well done, quite grim). It has a healthy mix of humour, adventure and action, namely in some exciting sequences where the cattle driving are braving the elements through conflict such as Comanches and carpetbaggers. Joan Bennett plays the heroine and she's quite breezy, Randolph Scott is Randolph Scott and is solid but it's May Robson as "Granna" who steals the picture. There's a little love rivalry thrown in with Scott and Cummings vying for Bennett. I wonder who gets the gal. Ah! That's a no brainer. There's some slow bits and too many subjects are shoved into his running time but overall a solid western.