Ceticultsot
Beautiful, moving film.
Hadrina
The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful
Jenna Walter
The film may be flawed, but its message is not.
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.
JoeytheBrit
George Marshall's entertaining Western adventure - with some comedy elements - is lent an air of poignancy thanks to the pairing of enduring stars Glenn Ford and William Holden in the early years of their careers. Holden has the meatier role here, a good guy turned bad in love with the same woman as his friend (Ford) who follows a law-abiding life in the employ of cattle ranchers desperate to import their stock to the east but frustrated by marauding rustlers. Claire Trevor is the love interest, but she's fairly bland and it's difficult to see what a bad lad like Holden would see in her. That makes her a decent match for Ford, because there's not really that much to his character either. But then this is a product of the 40s Hollywood treadmill, so incident is more important than characterisation. Edgar Buchanan, with his laid back, scratchy drawl and permanent stubble makes the biggest impact playing a dentist in league with the cattle rustlers who is always keen to repair the bicuspids of anyone who sits in his chair, whether it's for treatment or just for a chat.The story starts out fairly carefree (despite Ford being the subject of an attempted lynching) before gradually evolving into something more serious, a little like the protagonist's respective situations and life in general. George Marshall directs with an assured hand, delivering a solid studio project that was never going to win any awards but was sure to satisfy filmgoers of the day.
alexandre michel liberman (tmwest)
George Marshall knew how to blend humor with drama, Destry Rides Again is a proof of that. In Texas which was made two years later he did it again. In this entertaining western which did not age you can see a fantastic comic fight between Holden and Dutch Henry that will make anyone laugh. There is a great performance of Edgar Buchanan as Doc Thorpe, a dentist who is comic and seems harmless, and comes out incredibly well in a musical number "Buffalo Girls". It is a pleasure to see a young Claire Trevor an actress which I was more familiar when she was older. Also a young Glenn Ford already showing the qualities that would make him a great star. But the main character is really Holden with a magnificent performance as a man who has trouble in making the right moral choices. A must for those who enjoy westerns.
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!
