Customer Reviews

Texas [VHS]

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Two young drifters, Ted Ramsey (Glenn Ford) and Dan Thomas (William Holden,) find fame and fortune, romance and adventure, in the cattle rich state of Texas.

At least Texas has cattle, gold on the hoof, if the ranchers can only find a way to get them to market. The rest of the post-war (1866) country is experiencing famine and starvation, and it's a fur piece to the stockyards and railways of Abilene. Fur and dangerous. The trail is lousy with cattle rustlers. Our heroes, Ford and Holden, are a couple of personable saddle tramps who start out together, are separated early, inadvertently thrown back together a short time later. Texas may be a big state, but it's a small world. Unfortunately for their friendship, but essential to the plot, before they reune one becomes involved with the good, decent, upright ranchers while the other has through in with a scurrilous, cattle-thieving, rough bunch of prairie thugs. Add a pretty young rancher's daughter (Clair Trevor as `Mike' King) and you've got yourself a movie.

TEXAS opens with a long, long, looong scene that - until you realize this is a western-COMEDY - is, frankly, pretty tough to endure. We're in Abilene with Dan and Tod (wonder how many people in 1941 even recognized Ford and Holden before they stepped forward out of the crowd scene?) There's a prize-fight, two bare-knuckle pros, winner-take-all. Stop me if you've heard this one - one of the fighters has a disabling injury upon entering the ring, and one of our cash-strapped buddies decides... okay, everyone from Abbot & Costello to Laurel & Hardy have played this tune. It's a staple of buddy films, and when handled right hilarity ensues. In here things kind of, well, miss the beat. George Marshall directed, and his credits include a number of comfortably amusing, rather that side-splittingly hilarious, action movies. The list includes `Destry Rides Again,' `The Ghost Breakers,' and `Papa's Delicate Condition.' The comedy in TEXAS is blunt, laconic, and for those who don't see the humor in a herd of cattle walking through a room in which a man is taking a bath in a metal tub, or a skinny Bill Holden duking it out for 35 rounds (!), not to everyone's taste.

Still, TEXAS is an easygoing showcase vehicle for a couple of promising young stars, the underrated Clair Trevor adds spice, and the always welcome Edgar Buchanan chews up a big chunk of time as the somewhat grimy and seedy town dentist. Could have done without the running gag of building scenes around his checking out a feller's bicuspid - nasty looking dental equipment back then. Despite its faults I enjoyed TEXAS quite a bit. Ford and Holden are very young and pretty raw, and it was interesting to see them in their first starring vehicle. The plot wasn't gripping, but it was familiar and comfortable. Fans of the stars, or of old B-westerns, should get a kick out of it.

Texas is not in the league with many of Glenn Ford's and William Holden's great western films. Their other Western together, The Man From Colorado, is much better in every way, but this is not a horrible movie.

Ford and Holden play two ex-Confederate soldier who head west to seek their fortune. They initially plot to rob a stagecoach. Things go awry and they split up. When they reunite, Holden has become a seasoned robber and Ford is running a successful ranch. The inevitable conflict ensuses.

Claire Trevor, who was in The Desperadoes with Ford, Edgar Buchanan (who's in both the Desperadoes and The Man From Colorado) provide solid support. This movie feels artificial and forced in places, but goes a ways on the strength of its cast.

Not a bad film at all; in fact, a good western yarn at that...fun seeing Holden and Ford kickoff their Hollywood careers as two Texas roustabouts raising caine...they had a real life friendship throughout their cinematic bonding which millions of their fans are grateful for, me included...too bad we have to age...youth, those were the days, but that's life...get this DVD, you'll enjoy it...1941 saw two [2] mega-stars, who are on their way up and entertain you as Texas cowboys/wranglers of yore....SSGT CHRIS SARNO-USMC FMF

Columbia Pictures presents "TEXAS" (1941 93 min/B&W) -- Starring: William Holden, Glenn Ford, Claire Trevor, George Bancroft & Edgar Buchanan

Directed by George Marshall

Dan Thomas (William Holden) and Tod Ramsey (Glenn Ford) are ex-Confederate soldiers who get into trouble in a wide-open Texas town. The two split up, whereupon Tod takes a job on Dusty King's ranch; by and by, he falls in love with Dusty's daughter `Mike' (Claire Trevor). Meanwhile, Dan has joined a gang of rustlers headed by town dentist Buford 'Doc' Thorpe (Edgar Buchanan). Dan & Tod confront each other when the former tries to steal the cattle that Tod is driving to Abilene. Complicating matters is the fact that Dan, too, carries a torch for `Mike'. Though Packed with action and suspense and at the helm is slapstick comedy veteran George Marshall!

Columbia Pictures' sort-of-follow-up to Arizona (1940) which also starred William Holden.

** Special footnote: -- As was often the case during his career, Holden shaved his chest before appearing, shirtless, in this movie's prizefighting sequence.

Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, DVD, Full Screen, Subtitled, NTSC
Language: English
Subtitles: English, Japanese, Spanish

BIOS:
1. George Marshall (Director)
Date of Birth: 29 December 1891 - Chicago, Illinois
Date of Death: 17 February 1975 - Los Angeles, California

2. William Holden [aka: William Franklin Beedle Jr.]
Date of Birth: 17 April 1918 - O'Fallon, Illinois
Date of Death: 16 November 1981 - Santa Monica, California

3. Glenn Ford (aka: Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford)
Date of Birth: 1 May 1916 - Sainte-Christine, Quebec, Canada
Date of Death: 30 August 2006 - Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California

4. Claire Trevor (aka: Claire Wemlinger)
Date of Birth: 8 March 1910 - New York, New York
Date of Death: 8 April 2000 - Newport Beach, California

5. George Bancroft
Date of Birth: 30 September 1882 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Date of Death: 2 October 1956 - Santa Monica, California

6. Edgar Buchanan
Date of Birth: 20 March 1903 - Humansville, Missouri
Date of Death: 4 April 1979 - Palm Desert, California

Mr. Jim's Ratings:
Quality of Picture & Sound: 4 Stars
Performance: 4 Stars
Story & Screenplay: 4 Stars
Overall: 4 Stars [Original Music, Cinematography & Film Editing]

Total Time: 93 min on DVD ~ Columbia Pictures ~ (April 5, 2005)

It took a while for me to catch on, but there's a deliberate and persistent goofiness about this movie that I ended up enjoying a lot. Witness, for example, the cows running through the room where the sheriff's taking a bath during the big chase scene at the end. That goofiness is interesting, too, because this movie, like a number of other westerns (The Virginian, The Texas Rangers, The Plainsman, Bend in the River, Law and Jake Wade, Man of the West, the Jake Spoon story in Lonesome Dove) is about two companions, one of whom grows up and accepts responsibility, the other of whom remains boyish, fun-loving, irresponsible and goofy. Danny (William Holden) to Tod (Glenn Ford): "You fell on one side of the fence, and I fell on the other." It seems to me like the movie fell on Danny's side.

They don't make them like this any more. Texas was a very busy place in post Civil War 1866, as the viewer shall see in this rousing, well-acted, funny, enthusiastic, black & white classic, Western motion picture.

William Holden and Glenn Ford were in their mid-20s when they made Texas. It's great to see these great actors so young in their long movie careers.

A fine cast indeed!

William Holden - Dan Thomas; Glenn Ford - Tod Ramsey; Claire Trevor - "Mike" King; George Bancroft - Windy Miller; Edgar Buchanan - Doc Thorpe; Don Beddoe - Sheriff; Andrew Tombes - Tennessee; Addison Richards - Matt Laskan; Edmund MacDonald - Comstock; Joseph Crehan - Dusty King; Willard Robertson - Wilson; Pat Moriarity - Matthews; Edmund Cobb - Blaire; James Flavin - Announcer; William Gould - Cattle Buyer; Raymond Hatton - Judge; Jack Ingram - Henchman; Ethan Laidlaw - Henry's Handler; Lyle Latell - Dutch Henry; Ralph Peters - Deputy; Duke York - Wise Guy; Carleton Young

This western picture runs 94 minutes.

This western was released in movie theaters on January 1st, 1941.

This is an entertaining Wester from the early forties with a game cast and a light feeling that is underscored by inappropiate Drama and Hollywood constraints.

What I mean to say is that the cameredrie between the two stars, Holden and Ford, is so strong that when the script pits them against one another, the tone turns
unbielevably around.

The beginning depicts a funny boxing match with Holden and another bare knuckle boxer and it seems that were watching a funny, Comedy Western. Ford and Holden flee town and hold up a group of robbers that had just robbed a stagecoach. The two split ways and soon are pitted agaionst one another. This is when the film takes a change for the worse and the plot takes over.

The film has a tough time determining whether or not it's a Comedy or a Drama and has a tough time balancing the two.

The romance between the two guys and Claire Trevor is fun, but falls prey to politics of the time. You see, Trevor can't end up with Holden because he joined a team of rustlers and is deemed "bad". So than arrives a spoiler that was inevitable: Holden is killed, so Ford can make off with Trevor. Unfortunately this does not come off well, since we empathized more with HOLDEN than we did with FORD and the "happy" ending with him riding away with Trevor just seems too artificial to really work.

This is a shame because this film could have been a perfect Buddy Western. Even the villains play it lighter. Both George Bancroft and Edgar Buchanan are good in there respectable roles, but again there lighter portrayals keep the film unbalanced. Buchanan in particular is far too likeable and warm to be a believable enough bad guy.

Director George Marshall directs the film with a sure hand and the film looks alot more higher budgeted than expected. The cattle stampede finale is in particular, impressive.

Nothing great but a solid, passable Western worth seeing for the stars and a few good moments throughout, but not the classic it could have been.

Texas was directed by George Marshall & starred William Holden & Glenn Ford. It was only Holden's ninth movie & Ford's eleventh movie & they don't look old enough to have already made that many appearances. Texas is a lighthearted movie which George Marshall was pretty good at doing. It's an old style western which may not please everyone.

Holden & Ford are two ex-confederate soldiers that are going to Texas. They witness a stagecoach holdup but don't intervene. They track down the robbers & rob them of the money. Through a misunderstanding they are accused of the holdup. They separate in the ensuing chase vowing to meet up again in Texas.

One of the film's funnier segments is when Holden goes into the boxing ring to earn some money for the two broke friends. It's a bare knuckle event under the Marquis of Queensbury rules. It's mostly comedic with Holden getting the worse end of things. Holden ends up winning which creates a problem monetarily because Ford has gambled that Holden won't win.

Holden & Ford then take two different paths; Ford goes to work on a ranch while Holden falls in with cattle rustlers. This inevitably leads to the two main characters being on opposite sides of the law & having to question the true meaning of friendship. They are also in love with the same woman, Claire Trevor, which only intensifies the eventual showdown. Edgar Buchanan co-stars as a dentist (which he was in real life) that's the behind-the-scenes leader of the rustlers.

It all turns out to be entertaining but not very deep & not real meaningful. Texas is a film that was ahead of it's time in one sense; today, the exploration of friendship would have been addressed differently which might have made Texas a good movie instead of an average one.

Several years later Ford & Holden would reunite in The Man From Colorado. Their roles would be reversed in a much more effective film.

Glenn Ford and William Holden early in their careers taking different paths in the old west. Lots of action and fun, good performances all around

This cowboy picture shows us a very young 22 yrs.old Bill Holden and Glenn Ford at the beginning of their careers at Columbia Pictures. In 1940 they were paid $25.00 per picture, not very much money.Compared to the amount of money Columbia Pictures were taking in, for royalties from the U.S.A. and overseas. It took several years before the actor's requested more money from the studio's.