Runtime: 80 minutes
Directed by: Joseph H. Lewis
Starring: Sterling Hayden, Nedrick Young, Sebastian Cabot, Carol Kelly, Eugene Mazzola
From: United Artists
It is a bad sign when I don’t recall where or who gave me a film recommendation! It came either via a Letterboxd mutual or someone on a messageboard bringing up this movie once I mentioned another Western of its time. This is why from now on I need to jot down this information; it typically takes me months to fulfill these requests so it is a wise idea to keep such a record. Incidentally, it wasn’t the plan to watch this last night. However, it will be gone from Prime (the ability to see it for free for me as a Prime member, anyhow) and as I attempted to start watching a few movies but found them all to be dumb, poorly made or just plain irritating for a variety of reasons, I gave up on all of them… what they were, that is my secret.
Terror in a Texas Town is a 50’s black and white Western I know I’ve heard of before; after all, a Western w/ Sterling Hayden where he plays a Swedish whaler looking for revenge and he uses a HARPOON as a weapon… how could you forget such a premise? Lest you think I gave away some sort of surprise—literally before the opening credits, the viewer witnesses Hayden walking down the street with the harpoon for a showdown w/ an unseen heel, the spear as a substitute for a revolver. Hayden might as well have narrated to the viewer, “You’re probably wondering how I found myself in this situation” as most of the movie is an extended flashback.
The film is as simple as a rich A-hole (Sebastian Cabot) wants to control the land in Prairie City so he hires a gunslinger and uses intimidation tactics to try and drive them out. Hayden’s father is killed in that mess (oil is also involved) so he is looking for revenge. The gunslinger-Johnny Crale, a man who dresses in black like he’s Johnny Cash-is someone the viewer spends more time than expected with. Nedrick Young as Crale delivered the most memorable performance as a character whose profession is winding down and so is his bravado. Hayden attempts an accent, which is delivered with mixed results yet it was still nice to see him. His character riding into town as a bastion of hope against a town afraid of an oversized bully and his hired goons… he was easy to root for.
This was the final film of Joseph H. Lewis, a director who found fame after death with movies like Gun Crazy and The Big Combo. Those were the only other two I’ve seen-perhaps in the future I’ll do a deeper dive. Understandable comparisons have been made to High Noon; this is not a classic like the Gary Cooper movie by any means, but was still more than just “a Western with a harpoon as a weapon.” After all, a genre effort w/ noir elements written by Dalton Trumbo should be interesting.
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