The Stranger from Texas

This is a pre-Durango Kid Charles Starrett western with plenty of action and a story with a few good twists and turns, most fairly predictable. Besides the action, the main reason to watch this shoot 'em up is to hear and see one of the best cowboy bands on record and in the movies, the marvelous Sons of the Pioneers in their heyday, with Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer (two of the best songwriters around), Pat Brady (who replaced a young man, Leonard Slye, when he became Roy Rogers), the Farr brothers (talented and gifted musicians), and Lloyd Perryman (also talented and gifted). What harmony! Pat Brady was beginning to hone the comic talents that would eventually lead to his being Roy Roger's sidekick on Roy's television show. Pat didn't ride a horse in the series. He drove a jeep named Nellie Belle. People laughed at this, but he got places a lot faster that the rest who still rode horses. Bob Nolan's classic "Tumbling Tumbleweeds" is used as the theme to "The Stranger from Texas." The other songs used in the film were written by Tim Spencer. One wonders why Bob Nolan always played second fiddle in westerns. Did no producer think to offer him a lead role? For a change, the title of this oater actually has somewhat of a connection to the story, since Charles Starrett is an undercover US Marshall who pretends to be a stranger although he is actually the son of one of the ranchers in trouble.

The cast is adequate with Lorna Gray making a good gun-toting cowgirl with a crush on Charles Starrett. The nonpareil character actor seen in many a Preston Sturges flick, Al Bridge, makes the most of his part as one of the ranch owners, Jeff Browning. All in all, not a bad way to spend 54 minutes and the music flows easy on the ears.