mark.waltz This action-packed western grabs you from the moment of its 3-D credits. Even long before that gimmick took over the screen, movies were trying different ways of grabbing the audiences' attention, and something as simple as the rolling credits was a great way to get the audience's attention. Look at the Cecil B. De Mille epics of the mid-late 30's and even some of MGM's most lavish costume dramas. In the case of "Texas", what seems like just an ordinary western surrounding cattle rustlers ends up being something much more exciting.William Holden and Glenn Ford were rising young actors on the Columbia lot who were soon to be mega stars, both handsome and likable, and both who obviously took their crafts seriously. Their film legend is only enhanced by their longevity, and their pairing as best friends of very different personalities is as exciting as the pairings of such mega-stars as Gable and Tracy, Edward G. Robinson and Bogart, EGR and Cagney, Bogart and Cagney. Like the state of Texas itself, this film is huge, fast-moving and gloriously entertaining.There's a wonderful confrontation between Holden and Claire Trevor (fresh from "Stagecoach") where he tries to steal her horse and she gets the better of him momentarily. She briefly falls under the spell of the more noble Ford who had no idea that his pal was involved in the robbery of cattle rustlers posing as cattle owners. There's also a great performance by the wonderful character actor Edgar Buchannan ("Petticoat Junction") as a grizzled old dentist with several surprises up his drill. The mixed loyalties, unknown motivations and some great comedy interwoven make this a ton of fun. Buchannan even gets to do a musical number as Trevor plays the organ while Ford and Holden take turns pumping it from the back.To even give a little bit of some of the surprises here away would defeat the fun of discovering it. While Trevor gets plenty of chances to chew up the scenery, she does so subtly here, not like she would do in later films where she sometimes seemed as if she was going to swallow up the whole camera. Other than a few other female extras, she is the only woman character in the film, yet she is not some namby pamby love interest tossed in to cause friction between the two leading men. Her character here definitely has purpose, and she does a very good job in the part. This showed movie audiences that you didn't need to have John Wayne acting or John Ford directing to have a good "A" western. It deserves a bigger status among classic westerns than it has gotten. George Marshall, who has directed many westerns yet crossed over to practically every other genre as well, helms this production, and helps make it flow effortlessly.

lee1888 This is a very good western with two great up and coming actors at that time. Glen Ford and William Holden really shined in this movie and it paid off good for both of them.This was Fords 9th film and Holden's 6th, but you could never tell it by their acting. These two men played well off each other. It didn't hurt that they had Claire Trevor as their love interest either. The cast is rounded out with the great actor Edgar Buchanan playing the bad guy, I know it's hard to hate a man like Buchanan.This is NOT a B cowboy movie, far from it. The scrip and acting is very good, and the movie has a good plot as it moves alone and never leaves you bogged down. Ford and Holden play well off each other, so well in fact it wasn't long before Hollywood teamed them up again in another western "The Man From Colorado".So if your looking for a very good western with a great cast that has plenty of action along with some humor and love, you can't go wrong with this movie.

dougdoepke Holden and Ford may be the stars, but the film belongs to director Marshall and the incomparable Edgar Buchanan. Marshall started out directing comedy shorts and it shows up here in several memorable scenes. That fight scene may be the most amusing on boxing record. Dutch Henry keeps popping up, dukes raised, like a whack-a-mole, and I love the way the boisterous crowd ends up in a frontier free-for-all. The buckboard scene may be brief but it's expertly done, Trevor shows real comedic ability as she struggles with a rebellious ten yards of skirt. Then there's the topper—pudgy, gravel-voice Buchanan actually doing a song and dance. I wouldn't believe it if I hadn't seen it. But more incredibly, his graceful shuffle and tuneful refrain are absolutely charming. What a marvelous actor he was as he transitions here from musical performer to shifty-eyed mastermind.It's a good story if a bit shopworn—two buddies (Ford & Holden) falling on opposite sides of the law while competing for the same girl (Trevor). The various alliances get a little confusing so you may need a scorecard to keep up. Holden gets the majority screen time, while the always low-key Ford is even more so than usual. All in all, it's a highly entertaining, fast-paced 90-minutes, thanks mainly to an expert director and a cagey old coot.

dinky-4 It's a bit surprising that no one's commented on this movie till now. After all, it isn't some obscure B-western but rather an almost "A" production with two rising young stars, (William Holden and Glenn Ford, plus Claire Trevor), and a respected director, George Marshall. Perhaps the fact that it's in b&w has unjustly relegated it to near-obscurity.Those who seek it out, however, will be rewarded by an engaging plot which has some interesting twists and turns, by some snappy dialog -- particularly in the first meeting between Holden and Trevor -- and by a host of good supporting players, such as Edgar Buchanan who plays a devious dentist.For fans of "beefcake," there's an early prizefight sequence in which a shirtless Holden battles the local champ in a bare-knuckle marathon. Only about 22 or 23 years old at the time, Holden's physique hadn't yet reached the maturity displayed in his later films, (most notably "Picnic"), but his bare chest, (shaved of the hair displayed earlier in "Golden Boy"),is still quite pleasing to the eye. If only the scene could be re-written so that Holden would have been matched against a stripped-to-the-waist Glenn Ford. Now, that would have been a beefcake bonanza!