TrueHello
Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
Tobias Burrows
It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.
Gary
The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.
Francene Odetta
It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.
bkoganbing
Texas Lady marked Claudette Colbert's one and only western and I think this RKO film was probably something that they might have had Barbara Stanwyck in mind for. Colbert though she gave a decent performer really is not a western type. I suspect she wanted at least one on her film resume and took Texas Lady which was an inflated B film.After learning the game of poker for years, Colbert takes Barry Sullivan on and beats him handily. Sullivan, a gentleman riverboat gambler had cleaned out her father who had embezzled money and then lost his ill gotten gains at the poker table and promptly killed himself. After restoring the family honor, Claudette goes to Texas where she's inherited a newspaper.The paper is the paid for rag of the owners of the local Ponderosa, Ray Collins and Walter Sande. Claudette starts agitating for a railroad spur to come to town. But that will mean less dependency on the cattle barons and new people settling. The plot here has certain similarities to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Claudette also gets some attention from fast draw deputy Gregory Walcott who kills a couple of small ranchers in the service Collins and Sande.In the meantime Sullivan comes to town as his reputation is shot to all heck on the riverboat scene. Being both southerners to the manor born they find a lot in common.Texas Lady was a decent enough western, but it looks like it was edited considerably down and a lot of the story doesn't really make sense. And Colbert is just not well cast in westerns. But her fans might like it. It sure is a far cry from the comedies she did in the Thirties and Forties.
writers_reign
Horace McCoy, arguably best known for his Depression novel They Shoot Horses, Don't They, subsequently adapted into an Oscar-winning film, is credited with the story and screenplay here and clearly phoned it in. The only possible reason anyone would want to spend time with it is the presence of Claudette Colbert in the lead role. One can only speculate what made her get involved in something so cliché-ridden; money, a need to retain a career in front of the camera at what amounted to any price? Who knows. Barry Sullivan was a generally reliable support in A-movies (see, for example, Queen Bee) who just as often got to play a lead in pieces of cheese like this. See it if you must but don't say I didn't warn you.
FRANK SILVA
"Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry. "Hank" Ralston's Deputy was played by Henry Wills, not "Buzz" Henry.
bob the moo
On the way to a small Texas town to claim the local newspaper as her inheritance, Prudence Webb stops off to fleece a infamous gambler (Chris Mooney) in revenge for him winning a lot of money off her father – a debt that eventually led to his suicide. On arriving in the town, Prudence finds that the paper is run by Clay Ballard who denies that the paper was ever signed over to Webb's father and refuses to give up ownership. Prudence turns to the law and quickly makes enemies in the town by using the court system to claim her inheritance and wins her case. With the town's powerbase against her, who'd have expected that it would be Chris Mooney who would come to her aid?! And so goes the story with this fairly run-of-the-mill western that is strangely coloured and lacking anything special to really justify watching. The basic plot sees a bit of romance set against a back drop of a stranger in town causing a conflict with the bad element and, yes, it is delivered as flatly and unimaginatively as that summary suggests. The basic characters don't really add anything of interest and I did struggle to really care about any of them mainly because they were fairly cardboard and uninteresting. Of course, this being a b-movie sort of affair then it is maybe a bit unfair to be harsh on it because all it is aiming to do is fill time and provide a bit of entertainment and not much else. In that regard the film does alright – with poker games, fights, shoot outs, horse riding and action; none of it is anything special of course but it just about does enough to be distracting.The cast pretty much match this with average performances all round. Colbert is OK but never made a lasting impression on me; she seems to enjoy the lead role and she matches the material. Sullivan should have been the slick man of the film and brought a spark to all his scenes, instead he is rather bland and only really has chemistry with Colbert in his opening poker scene. Support is nothing special at all and the "baddies" never really made much of an impact and thus didn't feed the tension within the narrative.Overall this is a fairly average film with nothing special to really recommend it for. The story is OK and is delivered with enough stuff of entertainment value to make it passable and distracting on a wet Sunday afternoon but there are much better westerns than this around.