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The story of the life of Sam Houston certainly would make for a great picture. He was the only person to be governors of two different states (Texas and Tennessee), was the first president of Texas and was ultimately destroyed because he opposed Texas leaving the Union in 1861. A truly interesting man...and "The First Texan" manages to capture SOME of his greatness.

The film only covers the period after Houston quit the governorship of Tennessee to the independence of Texas...just a few years out of Houston's life. So if you're looking for anything before this or after, it's not in the movie. But what bothered me about the film is that it created a fiancee for Houston who simply never existed. In fact, Houston was married multiple times and such a romance with Katherine Delaney never existed. What did exist were some divorces and scandals...none of which are talked about much in the movie. In other words this is no 'warts and all' portrayal of the man.

Overall, the film is rousing and interesting if not 100% accurate. Worth seeing but Houston really deserved better...and probably something longer than just a 90 minute or so film.

"The First Texan" despite the obvious lack of a stellar supporting cast (aside from Wallace Ford who does not disappoint), a famous "name" director and a major studio resources and production values, however, this is nonetheless a great and highly entertaining film to watch solely because of the magnetic screen presence of its larger than life star, Joel McCrea. This is a movie after all, and not a documentary on the life and times of Sam Huston. As in virtually every film Hollywood has ever made, they do at times take "poetic license", which in my opinion does not detract one bit from the film or its stunning Technicolor cinematography. This is a gem of a film!

I honestly prefered the other westerns from Byron Haskin: SILVER CITY, DENVER AND RIO GRANDE, WARPATH, and Byron Haskin was not a western specialist, not at all, a science fiction film maker, but those previous ones were rather well done. Concerning this one, I don't say it's a bad western but it is too much patriotic oriented for my taste. Good Americans vs evil Mexican. And watching this movie in f...pan and scan doesnt help much to appreciate this so predictable topic. Byron Haskin was not really concerned by this feature, that's what I feel, and I was really bored during the viewing. There is some action, yes, but that doesn't justify to purchase this movie at all costs. I admit that I am French and not American, but biographies on movies have always annoyed, bored me. Even Charles De Gaulle's one...;So, if you want to watch every Byron Haskin's film, watch it.

It's 1832. Sam Houston (Joel McCrea) crosses into Texas for the first time. The Tennessean wants to practice law while remaining neutral with independence. He befriends Jim Bowie (Jeff Morrow) and many of the pro-independence crowd. His old friend Davy Crockett arrives with an invitation to meet President Jackson who asks him to lead the fight for Texan independence and battle the Mexican army.

This is American history told by Americans. It's definitely slanted that way, but that's not unexpected. This is fine. There is limited drama as the history is told in a straight line. Maybe it could be shown in high school history classes. It's barely 80 minutes. That's about the level of this movie.

While watching this movie, I can feel the drive behind these men and their fight for Texas independence.

Told from the perspective of Gen. Sam Houston, this movie begins as Houston has just moved to the Mexican territory which is now Texas. We then witness his growing thirst for Texas independence and his subsequent call to arms by President Andrew Jackson.

We see his genius as a military commander in the fight against Mexican General Santa Ana, in what at first appears to be a cowardly retreat against Santa Ana's superior forces.

A wonderful classic for those who like westerns or war movies and for film buffs in general.