Customer Reviews

Once Upon a Texas Train with bonus CD

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I do love a good western, and this was a pretty good western. Although Willie Nelson is not as good an actor as he is a singer, Shaun Cassidy is HOT HOT HOT in this movie. The first part of the movie is pretty amusing with quite a few old favorite actors, quite a few of whom I believe have since passed on, but it is a pretty good way to spend an hour and a half. With Richard Widmark, Stuart Whitman, Dub Taylor and my all-time favorite western actor, Jack Elam, I really enjoyed this movie.

I'm not a western fan, but I enjoyed this movie! Country & western singer Willie Nelson does a great job portraying his villainy character, John Henry Lee, a person that tries to blow up a railroad. Former 70's teen rock idol Shaun Cassidy's acting has improved since his work as Joe Hardy on T.V.'s "Hardy Boys Mysteries", even though he still pursued his acting career after the show ended in T.V. and national theatre, and is now a T.V. producer and writer. He does fairly well playing a young gang leader named Cotton. For a T.V. movie, this is made on a good budget and still gets played on T.V. stations. Check it out if you see it advertise on your local T.V. listings!

I was the Location Manager for this movie which was filmed at Old Tucson Studios in Tucson, Arizona. It didn't win any awards but it was a fun movie with all the country western stars. We had mucho fun with Willie and all the rest. They were kidding and telling tale tales when off camera. Burt Kennedy has always been a favorite Director of mine and I enjoy working for him. You will have fun with this flick and I promise you will watch it over and over.

Jack Young

Once Upon a Texas Train

Near the start of this movie there is a prison scene, where a prisoner is being released. The head administrator and the warden are shown in very sharp looking clothing. However, there is no way one would expect to see such very well dressed individuals working in ome miserable jail. Hence there is a bit of loss in credibility at the start.

However, this movie is cast as a spoof on westerns, but it is not as good a spoof as:

* The Cheyenne Social Club;

* The Great Scout and Cathouse Thursday;

* The Hallelujah Trail and

* Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

In spite of these two shortcomings this is a rather interesting movie. One of the major pluses in this movie is to see some of the old characters that were originally seen in such classics as:

* The Over the Hill Gang, and

* The Over the Hill Gang Rides Again.

The plot features an attempted train robbery 20 years ago. The robbers are caught by the Texas Rangers and shipped off to jail. The head robber (Willie Nelson) is now being released for good behavior. But the minute he is released he, and his brother (Dub Taylor) pull off bank robbery. And they plan to go after the train robbery they bungled 20 years ago. Nelson's aged gang includes:

* former "Gun-smoke" deputy, Ken Curtis and

* western character actors, Royal Deno and Gene Evans

The head of the Texas Rangers (Richard Widmark), who sent Nelson to jail prepares to chase him again. The now somewhat aged Rangers include:

* former "Rifleman", Chuck Conners;

* past "Cimarrin Strip" marshal, Stuart Whitman and

* former "Dakota's" deputy jack Elam.

This plot is made even more complicated when one learns that Angie Dickinson originally intended to wed the character played by Willie Nelson, but marries the character played by Richard Widmark, when Nelson goes to jail. Despite this complexity, the question on credibility and the lower ranking of it as a spoof, this movie is worth ones time and money. On balance it gets four stars.

They really knew "funny" in the '80s! My sisters and I watched this movie and couldn't stop laughing.

Shaun Cassidy is absolutely wonderful. Lots of people think he was a poor actor and was "in over his head". . . so not true! He portrays Cotton, a young outlaw gang, perfectly. And you gotta love the trench coat.

I also read some reviews (not necessarily on this site) when people said Willie Nelson should stick to singing or whatever. I thought he was good. He plays a guy who (kinda) wants to be good, but he just can't help it, like it's a bad habit or something.

So many old actors!

The old man on the bike was just too funny. Especially that shot when he's riding down a hill against the sunset and three of his buddies are behind him on horseback.

This is a great movie, a classic, and will always have a place in my home.

Great cast and good western plot. One you will watch again and again. We are movie buffs in our house, especially westerns. Go for it you will enjoy it!!!

We enjoyed seeing actors from serious westerns decades ago now reuniting in all their wilted glory to show a group of smart-aleck kids what REAL men can do. Of course, these aging Texas Rangers and their arch-enemy desperado gang have a few challenges to overcome... nothing works quite so well as it did when they were younger. Perhaps we won't find it so funny once we get to that age??? It's hard to keep track of our first copy as it moves around the house, so we decided to buy a second!

I love this movie i have for years. Great VHS Movie

Calvin

As is true of so many westerns, this movie is entertaining -- but so wrong. Scenes involving saguaro can't be filmed in Texas. Texas was never a U.S. territory; it went from Mexican to independent republic to U.S. state. And the Brazos doesn't flow through a desert.

On the other hand, the plot is a jovial little tale. The story progresses slowly, but has a few twists which keep it entertaining. And the climactic gunfight near the movie's end is actually more easily believed than most gun battles in movies.

This movie cracked me up. It's got great actors, great scenes and it just a feel good western movie. I still laught when I think of old boy who has to ride a bike to meet up with the rest of the gang. Add to that that he can't see worth dang it. It's hilarous.