Tue 21 Jun 2022
A Western Movie Review by Dan Stumpf: TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN (1958).
Posted by Steve under Reviews , Western movies[8] Comments
TERROR IN A TEXAS TOWN. United Artists, 1958. Sterling Hayden, Sebastian Cabot, Carol Kelly, Eugene Martin, Ned Young. Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo (fronted by Ben L. Perry). Director: Joseph H. Lewis.
I watched Lewis’s Terror in a Texas Town again the other day, a film I have reviewed before. It’s a splendidly cheap thing, with Sterling Hayden as a Swedish whaler coming to help out his Dad on the besieged Ranch they bought, Sebastian Cabot as the dress heavy, and blacklisted Ned Young as the Ultimate Hired Gun, who looks like they coined the term”walking dead” just for him: He’s overweight, over-age, over-indulged, and with every gesture he conveys the feel of a deadly working stiff who long ago forgot what he’s doing all this for.
Lots of fine camera work, surprising characterization, and a few scenes that stay in the mind a long time, such as Young begging Hayden to take a few Steps closer so their final gunfight will be fairer — to Hayden.
June 21st, 2022 at 8:48 pm
That gunfight sells the whole movie. Great concept well filmed. Hayden did several low-budget but watchable Westerns.
June 21st, 2022 at 9:11 pm
I’ve enjoyed Hayden in everything I’ve seen him in, but looking at the list of films he was in, I’ve seen only a fraction of them. I really have to do something about that!
June 22nd, 2022 at 10:41 am
I’ll second the love for Sterling Hayden–with my favorite performance probably being from Dr. Strangelove, with maybe The Killing (screenplay by Jim Thompson) second. His autobiography ‘Wanderer’ is supposed to be pretty good too.
June 22nd, 2022 at 12:51 pm
My favorite Sterling Hayden film by far, is The Asphalt Jungle. He plays Dix, the doomed thief. The shootout with Louis Calhern’s private eye is fast, so fast that it’s over in a second. Hayden should have won the Academy Award.
June 22nd, 2022 at 3:26 pm
My favorite Hayden:
Johnny Guitar
Crime Wave
Favourite Calhern
The Blot (1921) silent.
June 22nd, 2022 at 3:33 pm
“Lots of fine camera work” is one of The best one-phrase summaries of Joseph H. Lewis I have ever heard!
June 22nd, 2022 at 5:25 pm
Our Art Gallery is having a festival of Heist movies over four months. Last month I saw The Asphalt Jungle again on the big screen. You just can’t beat thar. Also, I thought his autobiography “Wanderer“ was one of the best actor autobiographies I’ve ever read. It’s available on Internet archive.
August 1st, 2022 at 9:15 pm
[…] in a Texas Town (reviewed here) was followed on TCM by Top Gun, also with Sterling Hayden, and directed by Ray Nazarro, a […]