Deux gars du Texas

Warner Brothers answer to Crosby and Hope, Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson, star in Two Guys From Texas as a comedy team traveling through the Lone Star State when their car runs out of gas. A kind pair gives them a lift to Dorothy Malone's dude ranch and the boys are grateful. Of course that abandoned car out of gas later figures in some nefarious schemes.

Carson who enlivened many a Warner Brothers film in the 40s with his comic blowhard character is a man most afraid of anything that walks on four legs. Kind of ridiculous if you ask me, but Carson pulls off the Hope like gag.

And just like Crosby would want to cure his pal, Morgan seeks the help of visiting guest Dr. Fred Clark. All this leads to complications with Malone and another entertainer at the ranch Penny Edwards and the local sheriff Forrest Tucker. Not a good idea to make even a romantic rival of the sheriff.

Jule Styne and Sammy Cahn wrote the unmemorable but serviceable score which yielded no song hits for Morgan. For a man afraid of animals some of Carson's transformation is both miraculous and hysterical.

Like Bing and Bob, Dennis Morgan and Jack Carson both had considerable separate careers of their own. But their teaming yielded more than a few good laughs.

Taking their "Bob Hope and Bing Crosby" act from Rhode Island to California, crooner Dennis Morgan (as Steve Carroll) and partner Jack Carson (as Danny Foster) run out of gas and are stranded in Texas. The "Two Guys from Texas" (not) stay at a dude ranch owned by beautiful dark-haired Dorothy Malone (as Joan Winston). Both men are attracted to Ms. Malone, but she seems to prefer Mr. Morgan. Adding more romance possibilities are pretty blonde Penny Edwards (as Maggie Reed) and 6'6" tall in his wedgies Forrest Tucker (as "Tex" Bennett)...

An obese Native American woman (as a Fat Indian squaw) follows Mr. Carson around throughout the story; she has a little secret to reveal before the closing credits. In a shorter running joke, Carson has to overcome a fear of animals. The poolside scene gives Malone an opportunity to model her two-piece yellow swimsuit. In a nicely done animated dream sequence, "Bugs Bunny" has a cameo. The intended hit "Every Day I Love You (Just a Little Bit More)" by Sammy Cahn & Jule Styne didn't go far, but the sweetly melodic "Hankerin'" charted for Gordon MacRae.

**** Two Guys from Texas (8/6/48) David Butler ~ Jack Carson, Dennis Morgan, Dorothy Malone, Penny Edwards

Two stumbling tenderfoots get stranded in big state Texas, where they meet up with a sheriff even bigger than they are, and luckily, meet two extra-pretty gals who furnish-- surprise, surprise-- romantic subplots.

Great Technicolor. The producers go out of their way to lavish on the carnival colors. But why can't big studio Warner Bros. do better rear projection, especially with Carson on a bucking bronco. Too bad since the production is otherwise fairly polished. So, how long will it take our two eastern tenderfoots (Morgan & Carson) to learn sprawling Texas ways. Bragging about the state's bigness flies about as fast and furious as Carson's patented mugging. It's all in good humor, of course, even the swipe at a gangster-type plot. But what about those two Texas gals. Wow, I'm heading for Dallas right away. Maybe there're Dorothy Malone and Penny Edwards look-alikes still there. I'm especially impressed with the sparkling Edwards. Looks like she could qualify for A-picture, Betty Hutton-type roles. Then too, the script works in some humorous running gags, one of which really pays off for Carson in the end. It all adds up to a highly entertaining comedy-musical of the sort they unhappily don't make anymore.

The duo of Morgan and Carson has always been full of fun and laughs, perhaps because the two gentlemen were such good friends in real life. But I did notice that a good deal of the plot structure and character development were cribbed from another Warner Brothers musical, A Cowboy From Brooklyn. This isn't to say that the film isn't a delight, because it is. It's just that in the late 1940's Warner Brothers started the process of cannibalizing its own material. They'd turn ordinary comedies into musicals and very often the star of the show would be none other than Dennis Morgan himself. All I can say about Two Guys From Texas is sit back, relax and prepare to enjoy yourself for the next ninety minutes or so!

Bing Crosby and Bob Hope and their "Road" pictures were some of the hottest properties around during the 1940s and it seems that the Warner studio was trying to recreate the magic with Jack Carson and Dennis Morgan in their shared pictures. Unfortunately it did not work. One of the things that made the "Road" pictures so much fun was the obvious friendship and chemistry between Bing and Bob. A large part of the dialog in their films was ad-libbed, something that Jack and Dennis either could not do or were not allowed to do. No, the songs are not all that memorable and, no, Dennis Morgan doesn't have as good a voice as Bing, but while the songs are forgettable they are still pleasant. Jack Carson was a good actor and a fair comedian, but he was never as funny as Bob Hope. The story here is pretty predictable and Jack's total phobia about animals (and the easy way he gets over it) is slightly silly but even with its shortcomings this film is fun and worth at least one watching. I just recently saw it again on TCM and enjoyed it a lot.