Bill Slocum The Lone Star westerns John Wayne made for Monogram Pictures became his cut-rate purgatory before stardom. Some go down easier than others; "Texas Terror" mostly just goes down.Sheriff John Higgins (Wayne) is fooled into believing he shot his best friend in a gunfight with robbers. It's decided the friend, an old man who happened to be carrying a wad of dough, was part of the robber gang, so Higgins is off the hook. He turns in his badge anyway."When duty makes it necessary to take the life of a man like Old Dan Matthews, then I'm through with duty," Higgins declares."Texas Terror" is the kind of movie where things happen abruptly. Coincidences abound unexplained. People deliver long exposition in the form of conversation, stiffly and at one point, staring directly at the camera: "I'll be so happy to get home. You see, I'm Bess Matthews, and I own the Lazy M," a woman tells a driver after he has presumably been driving her awhile.Bess (Lucile Browne) is the daughter of the slain man, and for some reason new sheriff Ed Williams (George Hayes, not yet going by his better-known moniker "Gabby") decides Higgins is just the man to help Bess get Pa's ranch up and running. Never mind the fact he supposedly killed her father. Is this sort of thing supposed to be a secret forever, or does Ed think they will laugh it off when she finds out?Wayne's Lone Star pictures were mostly sub-par films, often worse than that. But most of them do feature Wayne coming into his own as a solid anchor performer. Here, however, he seems flustered and bored. At one point, when talking to the second male lead, villain Joe Dickson (LeRoy Mason), he seems to forget the character's name, awkwardly stopping mid-line.Director Robert N. Bradbury plays with spatial reality a lot here. In the beginning, we see Higgins right behind the robbers, even shooting one off his horse. The wounded man stumbles into a house where Dickson shoots Dan Matthews. This would have been heard by Higgins, you'd think, except somehow now the guy is ten minutes behind, so he can be led to believe he shot Matthews himself in a later battle, never mind the corpse is lying in the middle of a room, not near a window.The film does have some grace notes. A milking contest brings some country charm, with lovable Fern Emmett as Bess's Aunt Martha going toe-to-toe with a competitive but amiable old coot. You also have a scene where rustlers threatening the Lazy M are set upon by local Indians who act at the behest of their friend, Higgins. The Lone Star productions were death on stunt horses, but nobody in the 21st century can fault them on their handling of Native Americans. Throughout Wayne's run there Indians are depicted as his wise and loyal friends.Whatever the intentions on view, the movie is so draggy, unbelievable, and lifeless I struggled to sit through it, short as it was. Even Hayes seems less invested in his character this time around. Wayne looks formidably scruffy for a while after leaving the sheriff's job, even sporting a beard for a while, but he is hemmed in by the same exposition-laden dialogue that does in everyone else. "Texas Terror" wound up more like Texas Tedium to me.

Robert J. Maxwell No need to spend much time deconstructing "Texas Terror." This was the depths of the Great Depression and John Wayne was lucky to find any work at all, even at Monogram. These things were turned out with blinding speed. I think there may have been a two-year period in which Wayne starred in eight of these poverty-row features.He isn't really "John Wayne" yet. He's tall, handsome, slender, slow, and graceful but doesn't project the indomitable and bulky masculinity of his later years. And he hasn't yet learned to reserve his strength. He throws his lines out as if proud to have memorized them.The girl in the picture seems to have less talent than Wayne. The smoothest performance is from George Hayes who hadn't become the caricature of "Gabby". He seems like the only seasoned performer in the cast.He's not, though. Yakima Canutt and gang did the stunts and they were very good riders. And the photographers included Archie Stout who was to win an Oscar for Wayne's "The Quiet Man" in 1952.The writers didn't need to spend much time on the script because the few words we hear are strictly functional, uttered only in order to advance the plot. Audio title cards."Seen anything of young Higgins lately?""Waal, he was in town to cash a few nuggets last week. Ridin' around with a heavy heart. Turned into a desert rat, you know."The story is perfunctory. Wayne blames himself for the death of an old friend during a hold up and, in part to redeem himself, helps his friend's newly arrived daughter to get the ranch up on its feet, ensnare the villains, and marries her. The stagecoach is a Model T Ford. There's a modern telephone. Lucille Brown wears 1935 clothes. But what do you expect?

dougdoepke No need to repeat the plot. This matinée special has a number of interesting features. Reviewer jayraskin1 is right—this is one of the young Wayne's better performances since he has to run a gamut of emotions from shame to anger. He's actually a better actor than these two-reelers required, and I wouldn't be surprised this was a feature where the great John Ford caught Wayne's potential before elevating him to the A-class in Stagecoach (1939). Then too, I enjoyed the old flivver chugging down the road. Sure, there are some questionable anachronisms like the antique telephone. But it's fun and revealing to see these early editions of everyday modern contraptions. Also, the milking contest is a charming hoot, expertly done by the two characters playing the yokels. I wish I could say the same for the leading lady who at one point declaims like she's center stage doing Shakespeare. But wonder of wonders, catch an apparently well-groomed George (Gabby) Hayes in several scenes where, dare I say it, he looks almost handsome! I'm still wondering about that and whether I should have any more 12-packs while enjoying these oaters. Speaking of visual oddities, is that about ten seconds of a subjective camera in the movie's first part when the scene goes all blurry as though we're peering through the blurry eyes of the leading lady (I believe it was hers and not mine!). If so, it's one of the few subjective shots in a genre not known for arty effects, to say the least. Anyway, I'm glad Lone Star popped enough money to put the larger than usual cast including extras into the piney mountains east of LA. The locale may not be the scenic Sierras, but it sure beats the scrubby hills of city outskirts. All in all, it's a better-than- average entry for fans of the Lone Star- Wayne series.

Spondonman I've seen this a few times now, but this was the 1st time on DVD with new digital music added to pep it up. Unfortunately it doesn't pep it up, it simply makes you wonder what the producers of the video release were thinking of in messing about with the original soundtrack. They wouldn't have been allowed to ruin 'Frankenstein' with senseless and incongruous dramatic chords sprinkled throughout, so why cheapies like this? This was a budget release, why couldn't they have spent any spare cash on eliminating the frame wobble?Big John's in good form, with lots of noble deeds to do and the usual Lone Star chases on horseback back and forth across California (not Texas) in 1934. In a case of mistaken identity the heroine says to him that she "doesn't know words vile enough to express her contempt for him". Sadly todays heroines would have no such problem! Nice to see Gabby Hayes just after his last shave!A good film for fans of the genre, not even marred by the shortness (49 minutes on this DVD) - Wayne made so many of these you'll be lucky to live long enough to see 'em all!