Lone Star

Clark Gable stars in this 1952 Western which deals w/Texas's road to statehood. Boiling down to two different factions for & against annexation of Texas w/Andrew Jackson, the president at the time, played by Lionel Barrymore, getting Cable's help for the pro while Broderick Crawford stands against the action. Meeting during an Indian skirmish, Gable & Crawford actually manage to be civil to each other (no kidding!) but Cable doesn't divulge who he is & his agenda. Meeting Crawford's squeeze, Ava Gardner, Cable becomes enamored w/her but then Gable goes into motion on his plans which culminates in a tense standoff where Texas politicians, which includes Ed Begley, deliberate Texas's fate, as opposing forces are in the midst of battle. Entertaining to be sure but doesn't make a lick of sense when it comes down to the actual politics which took place at the time but the stars' charm make all of this nonsense go down handily like warm soup on a cold afternoon.

Starring Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, and Broderick Crawford, "Lone Star" is a rousing story of political intrigue based on the historical battle for The Republic of Texas. One side wanted annexation by the United States. The other wished to maintain the republic and set treaties with Mexico and other countries.

The battle for the minds of Texans is an interesting one, involving many factions, including the native Americans of the territory. The year is 1845 and Andrew Jackson, who still wields tremendous influence from Nashville, advocates annexation. Andrew Johnson is against it. Sam Houston--a local hero--is a significant unknown entity who may sway the Texas government and Texas hearts.

Gable plays Dev Burke, a Texas cattleman who agrees to represent Jackson's interests. Broderick Crawford plays Tom Craden, a significant influence around Austin, who has big plans for the republic. Ava Gardner plays Martha Ronda, editor of the Austin newspaper and "the woman" of Craden. Or is she?

This historical drama contains a steamy love story that also involves principles. And like most westerns, the bullets and fists fly. I enjoyed this film, mostly due to its strongly drawn characters.

This big budget Western deals with cattle baron Deveraux (Clark Gable) who his assigned by Andrew Jackson (Lionel Barrymore) to convince Sam Houston for union Texas to United States . A fiery newspaper editor (Ava Gardner) is the woman between Deveraux and the bad guy , Craden (Broderick Crawford) . Deveraux must fight state senators (Crawford , Ed Begley , Russell Simpson) for union to United States.

This exciting picture about Texas fights for independence contains Western action , drama , historical happenings , a love story and results to be quite entertaining . Based on a screenplay by Borden chase , a Western expert . Gorgeous Ava Gardner as an intrepid journalist as well as Clark Gable's love interest . Film debut for George Hamilton and secondary acting by William Conrad and Ed Begley . The motion picture was well directed by Vincent Sherman . Also available in horrible computer colorized version .

It's partially based on historical deeds about Texas independence, these are the followings : With Mexican permission Stephen Austin brought the first Anglo-American colonists to Texas, the first of many, their numbers grew and they wanted self-government and this desire led to the revolt of 1835, the Texas war for Independence. General Santa Anna, stormed the Alamo, and wiped out the garrison on 6 March 1836. But on 21 April 1836 General Santa Anna suffered a crushing defeat by Sam Houston and was taken prisoner. Texas was declared a Republic in October 1836 and Houston became its first president. In 1845 Texas joined the US, this lead to war with Mexico and disastrous results for that country. Samuel Houston(1793-1863)well performed by Moroni Olsen, was a frontiersman and politician , he went to live with the Cherokees and took a Cherokee wife. After the fall of the Alamo, he managed to keep together a small force and launched a furious surprise attack on the Mexican army of 1300 camped on the western bank of the San Jacinto River. With Texas free and independent republic, Houston was elected the first president. When Texas was admitted to the United States in 1845, Houston was a senator to Washington.

A movie set in 1845 Texas that deals with Texas either joining the union or going off and becoming an independent republic. Lionel Barrymore plays Andrew Jackson is who for joining the union and so is Clark Gable. Broderick Crawford and Ava Gardner want Texas to become an independent and Crawford wants to be the leader. Both sides are waiting for what Sam Huston has to say, but he is out helping the Indians form a peace treaty. Crawford is willing to do anything to get what he wants and Gardner begins to fall for Gable. At the end, of course, there is a big battle between Gable and Crawford's army and then a fight between the two of them. Clark Gable is the same as always and Broderick Crawford is miscast in this role. Ava Gardner is only OK and Lionel Barrymore is only in two scenes.

I afraid even with the starpower involved in this one since there's not much they can do with a poor script.

Convoluted plot about the annexation of Texas into the union, it involves the opposing forces of Gable and Broderick Crawford in a fight to see whether Texas will become a state, or an independent republic.

Although there's plenty of action, too much of the film gets bogged down in the romance between Gable and Gardner. I guess MGM needed another vehicle for the two of them after THE HUCKSTERS (1947) or MOGAMBO (1953)

And the battle scene and what happens to Crawford at the end is unreal. It turns into a 'Let's all unite for Texas' kinda of a thing that looks implausible, especially after what's been going on for the previous 94 minutes.

If they had a better script it might have turned out to be something more entertaining. 4 out of 10