Lawbolisted Powerful

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

JohnHowardReid Director: JOSEPH H. LEWIS. Screenplay: Ben L. Perry. Photography: Ray Rennahan. Film editors: Frank Sullivan, Stefan Arnsten. Art director: William Ferrari. Set decorator: Rudy Butler. Make-up: Sid Perell. Hair styles: Shirley Madden. Property master: Arnold Goode. Music editor: George Brand. Special effects edigtor: Carl Brainard. Assistant director: Richard Dixon. Associate producer: Carroll Sax. Producer: Frank M. Seltzer.Released through United Artists: September 1958 (USA), 14 September 1958 (Britain), 29 January 1959 (Australia). 7,200 feet. 80 minutes. (An excellent M-G-M DVD). COMMENT: This is one of those films that - influenced by TV techniques - start off with a few tantalizing action clips from the climax before the credits roll on to the screen. This device generally signals that the rest of the movie (like its TV counterpart) will be long on talk, short on action. And such is regrettably the case here. True, Lewis does occasionally manage to insert a tautly dramatic composition. True too that color ace, Ray Rennahan, proves equally adept at stylish black-and-white. But unfortunately the initially off-beat characters turn out to be as stereotyped as the formula "B"-western plot, - with a tiny dressing of more sophisticated dialogue. As the protagonist in this oft-told tale, Sterling Hayden's Swedish accent slips on and off like a mack on a showery day. It's a blessing that Cabot and Ned Young come across as a forceful pair of villains and that the girls are moderately attractive (though their parts are so small they could be scissored altogether without harming our comprehension of the plot). Aside from a clip or two of stock train footage, production values are not too miserly - by the normally humble standards of the independent western "B".

Ziglet_mir If you are reading this review than it is probably because you were/are as interested as I was/am about watching 'Terror in a Texas Town.' As the few reviews have already mentioned, yes, this is probably one of the strangest westerns out there but strange in all the right ways. I mean, how often do you see a film start off with the top-billed actor walking intently down the middle of the street with a harpoon in arms, let alone in a western? Then, there is a slight monologue from the opposing man as we face his back (and we don't see his face). We are already hooked and want to know more. Who is that blonde in the crowd? Who are those people and why are they watching? And why does one man carry a harpoon? The film begins with this startling image, provides an alarming western montage, and gives us the title card to then begin guiding us through the events that lead up to the unorthodox standoff we began with.Parts are indeed flawed, but what do you expect from a B-western? The biggest qualms are more than likely the choice of music, some instances of the editing, and Sterling Hayden's floundering Swedish accent. But there is A LOT of good to enjoy which makes this film absolutely worth seeing.We are led to believe that Hayden is the main character when I think there is more to look at through Ned Young's leather-clad gun-for-hire. Some of the previous reviews mention this; that there is a moral grey area this film conveys. Ned Young's Johnny Crale, who does all the dirty work for the greedy fat man McNeill, is troubled from the start. We learn that he and McNeill have had a past and that Crale is not the same person. He has changed, but for better or for worse? What does he seek from their relationship? And I suppose the same question can be asked of Crale's and Molly's bond. And everything that was so wacky about that first confrontation now makes more sense, but not in ways we could have imagined. Now we know who the characters are and where their motives lie and the context of the situation. The Swede wants revenge for his father's death and the townspeople want to watch on like the curious bystanders they are. Society wants its victim, and so gets it. Because we need a bad guy when we know that Crale isn't the only one. As you watched the movie and got back to the confrontation how many other morally inept people were there? And how many does the Swede actually take on? Kinda puts things a bit more in perspective, doesn't it?The loyal Mexican friend, Mirada, played by Victor Millan is the other mention-able part of the film, and the other major contribution to Johnny Crale's character development. Mirada knows, and Crale makes him pay but not without their confrontation changing Crale more than he suspected. During the scene nothing out of the ordinary happens and then the scene ends. It isn't until we watch Crale confront his girlfriend Molly that we see how truly disturbed he has become. "I saw a man this morning who wasn't afraid to die. YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND."Highly recommended B-western, with a lot going for it especially if you like a little bit of a change-up to the normal prescription.

kapelusznik18 ***SPOILERS***The "Sterling" actor Sterling Hayden who was promoted by his studio Paramount back in 1941 as being the most handsomest man in Hollywood is whaler George Hansen who's now back home in Prairie City Texas from the high seas after a 19 year absence in the Pacific. Only for him to find out that his dad the old salts Sven Hansen,Ted Stanhope, has been brutally gunned down the day or, give or take a day, before! Hayden/Hansen sporting a weird and almost laughable Swedish accent now decides to find his father's killer and bring him to justice. It later turns out that the elder Mr. Hansen refused to vacate his farm to the greedy and land grabbing McNeil, Sabastian Cabot, who in return had his top henchman the all dressed in black and one handed "Lefty" Johnny Crale, Ned Young, gun him down. It's not just old man Hansen's property that McNeil want's but the entire towns that he found out is swimming in "Blacak Gold" or oil. And being the all for me and screw you individual that McNeil is he not only want's a piece of the action but the entire caboodle as well!Peacful and law abiding at first Hansen in getting no cooperation from the intimidated towns people that McNeil and his goons are targeting then decides to take them on single handedly all by himself. It's not an easy task for the peace loving Hansen who ends up getting worked over and run out of town on a rail by McNeil's goons only to come back for more, beatings and abuse, of the same. It's when McNeil overplayed his hand when he has the non violent and never making trouble for anyone, even for McNeil, farmer Jose Mirada, Victor Millan, gunned down by "Lefty" Crale. That was to keep him from telling the local sheriff Stoner, Victor McVey, that it was Crale under orders from McNeil who murdered Old Man Hansen. Instead of feeling he's now off the hook, in the Seven Hansen murder, Crale gets religious and turns on his boss McNeil by shooting him for ordering him to gun Jose down as well as keeping his mouth shut about it.***SPOILERS***It's now high noon time at Prairie City with Hansen fully recovered from his injuries faces the gun slinging Crale, who murdered his dad, in the town square to not only see who's the fastest gun, or in the case of Hansen harpoon thrower, in town. Made just after the height of the "Red Scare" or "Communist Witch Hunt" era in the US the film starred two actors, Hayden & Young, who were victims of the dreaded "Communist Blacklist" as well as the man Dalton Trumbo, using an assumed name of course , who directed it.

secondtake Terror in a Texas Town (1958)The first five minutes of this movie is fabulous a play of archetypes, with a showdown, some cattle breaking free and stampeding, a raging fire, and some close ups of sad faces lit by the flames. In fact, in the wide screen black and white, it seems most of all like a precursor to the spaghetti Westerns, dramatic and just a hair "arch" in its excess, music, photography, acting and all. It all takes place in a little Texan town called Prairie City.This is a great movie right off the bat, but it isn't sustained. It tries too hard sometimes, and unlike "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" it talks too much for its own good. There is an overweight bad man (Sebastian Cabot of all people) who has a maniacal laugh, a tough guy gunslinger (Ned Young) with a fast draw and a metal arm, and there is a stoic good guy (Sterling Hayden) who depends on his stoicism and morality to stand up against them. Men are strong, women are to be kept in bed (or so the gunslinger tells his dame), and life is hard. In addition to the wood frame one street town and the hardworking farmers there is the discovery of oil, and lots of it, an appropriate twist in this final chapter of the Wild West.The director is a favorite of mine, Joseph H. Lewis ("Gun Crazy" and "The Big Combo" both precede this one), and it has some of the same crudely cut archetypes and stiff dialog. But this is part of the style (he surely knew what he was doing), and adds to the blunt force of the story. There are moments of raw and brutal violence and sections of peaceful bucolic life. People are oddly realistic even if the movie isn't. This is a kind of warm up to about fifty episodes of a classic television show called "The Rifleman" that Lewis directed, playing with simple stories well told but quickly arranged. Sam Peckinpah initiated that show, and we can see some back and forth influence between the two directors.It is a bit odd to hear Sterling Hayden with a Swedish accent. He plays a kind of simple fellow, but good hearted, and neither quality is exactly useful in this rough town. Hayden ends up a caricature, and not a good one. He is filled with such strained affectations, and he plays a "good" person, but he doesn't sweep you into his cause because he's just plain weird. But of course he prevails, and the last five minutes is much like the first, and you see that justice is sometimes the hardest thing to achieve but you have to keep trying anyway. It's a strain, but an archetypal one.