Trouble in Texas

"Trouble in Texas" is arguably the best of the 12 westerns that Tex Ritter turned out for Grand National in the late 1930s. It is notable for the appearance of Rita Hayworth (as Rita Cansino) and the showcasing the many talents (excluding acting) of Yakima Canutt.

The story has the bad guys headed by Earl Dwire and henchmen Canutt and Charlie King rigging rodeo results to favor them by eliminating competitors. Hayworth is a federal agent sent to infiltrate the gang. Along comes Ritter and his sidekick Horace Murphy. Tex plans to compete in the next rodeo. He enters and beats Canutt in every event despite the gang's efforts to eliminate him. Finally, Tex and sheriff Glenn Strange settle things with the gang.

This film is memorable for the stunts performed by the legendary Canutt. He performs several dangerous stunts on the backs of a team of runaway horses and on the speeding wagon. Having been a champion Rodeo rider in his youth, Canutt had no difficulty in the rodeo scenes in spite of the extensive usage of stock footage.

Hayworth was about to adopt that name and move over to Columbia as one of its greatest stars. She gets to perform a dance sequence in which her considerable talent is displayed. Ritter sings a few forgettable songs as well. And the casting of veterans Dwire, King and Strange didn't hurt either.

Not a bad little programmer.

Tex Ritter tours the rodeo circuit, looking for the murderous cowboys that he believed caused the death of his brother, killed by the gang for taking too much money from them by winning. Meanwhile, undercover agent Rita Hayworth (who's beautiful and very brunette) is also on the case.

A remake of the John Wayne vehicle The Man From Utah (with Yakima Canutt playing virtually the same role), this is actually the better of the two with the usual winning performance by Tex, some great songs to pass the time, and a load of exciting stock footage of the real rodeo.

There's also some good villainy by eternal heavies Earl Dwire and Charles King, while the usually villainous Glenn Strange (the future Frankenstein monster) gets to be a good guy.

An exciting climax features some excellent stunt work and an explosive finale.

TROUBLE IN Texas is an entertaining little B western with wider appeal than the norm due to the leading lady being the very young Rita Hayworth (billed under her real name, Cansino). The appealing Tex Ritter stars as a rodeo circuit cowboy/entertainer who remains on the circuit in hopes of tracking down the bad guys who killed his brother. As it happens, beautiful young government agent Carmen (Rita) is also after them although Tex suspects she may be part of their gang (she is, but is undercover for the government) though he also attempts to woo this gorgeous young woman, no fool he.

This little movie is clearly a quickie with is blatant stock footage (including quite a bit filmed at an actual rodeo which isn't exactly smoothly edited into the film and the scenes with the actors), threadbare sets, and the like but the cast is very appealing and 18-year-old Rita is stunningly beautiful and beams with unmistakable star quality (she has some absolutely gorgeous closeups in this low-budget effort that would rival those in an important studio film that are probably due more to her natural beauty than to the cinematography).

Tex Ritter is great as the always smiling, down-to-earth hero of the tale and while sidekick Horace Murphy (57 at the time, to modern eyes he seems a decade older) is fairly amusing in apparently one of the bigger roles of his career (according to IMDb, most of his parts were unbilled bits). Throw in some classic B western bad guys, excellent stunt work, a nice dance number by Rita, and some good western songs and you've got a pretty terrific if unambitious little B western.

B western with singing Tex Ritter and Rita Hayworth using her given last name.

The songs will kill you.

Glenn Strange -- who paid Frankenstein's monster in the Abbott and Costello film is in it too!

It's just an OK B picture.

Synopsis: Tex is on the rodeo circuit looking for the men that killed his brother and he finds them in Middleton.

Barker expects his man Squint to win the prize money but when Tex starts winning all the events, they put the poisoned needle in his halter rope, planning to have him mysteriously die just as the others did.

If you like your villains straightforward and straight-faced, then this is a fun little B western. Tex Ritter is given the unenviable task of taking on the baddie trio of Earl Dwire, Yakima Canutt and Charles King. (If you're familiar with these fellows, you will have no trouble guessing who is the brains of the gang and who is simply brawn.)

Luckily, Tex's character is not named "Tex Masters" for nothing. Besides competing for rodeo prizes and singing a handful of catchy tunes, he suspects that the crooks in town are indeed the villains who killed his brother years ago, and are thus the gang he has been seeking all this time on the rodeo circuit. He also annoys Yakima to the point of uttering a classic threat: "All right, you guitar-playin' songbird, if you got anything to say, say it fast!"

Rita Cansino (Hayworth) is fine as an undercover government agent also after the same gang. And Horace Murphy is mildly amusing as Lucky, Tex's sidekick. I am not familiar with his work, but if IMDb's filmography is to be believed, he was busy in 1937--this was one of over 30 movies he appeared in that year!