The Fabulous Texan

After the American Civil War, Jim McWade, ex-Confederate officer, returns to his home in Texas. But his territory is now under the control of corrupt and despotic adventurers. McWade gets into a shootout with officials after his father is killed. He flees to the mountains and does so with his war buddy John Wesley Barker. McWade vows revenge on the current corrupt regime in his beloved Texas. In the end, McWade realizes he would be better off collaborating with the federal government, but Barker now enjoys the life of an outlaw and refuses to give up his independence. Ultimately, McWade is forced to hunt down his old friend Barker.

Bill Elliott is top-billed here, but the scene stealer here is John Carroll. He gives an intense performance as the man who defies the state police, finds himself on the run and finds it impossible to stop running because so many Texans want him to continue their fight.

A vision of post civil war south is depicted as a devastated place in the hand of crooked authoritarians, and it's well-imagined. The aftermath of the war is grimly well done. The characters are well written, though Will Bill Elliott's role is small compared to Carroll. Strange considering that this was an attempt to boost Elliott into the "A western" super league. It is fast-paced, and packed with terrific outdoor action and a strong sense of lawlessness. It can be a bit grim, though.

At least, this is not a Republic Pictures music hall, dancing hall, western, as it was so often the case with Republic Pictures, especially for the period late forties and early fifties. I mean a false western, just taking place on the West coast during the latest part of the nineteenth century, and "westerns" where there was no Indians, no Outlaws, no cavalry, no possee, just artists of music hall and a greedy cabaret owner; that was all. Here, it is some kind of a western melodrama story, pulled by a John Caroll, who spent much time in Republic Pictures, mostly with John H Auer as director. Here, this is Edward Ludwig who makes this temendous western that so many folks seem to have forgotten. Eddy Ludwig, who also made the fabulous WAKE OF THE RED WITCH, one year later, a terrific adventure sea drama, the speciality of Ludwig, starring John Wayne.

The real story of the Texas State Police is hardly the one told here. It was formed by the carpetbagger Reconstruction government of Texas and the big objection that Texans had to it was that it employed black officers of the law. But you will not see a black face in this entire film. The Fabulous Texan presents a pre-Civil Rights era view of Reconstruction that is generally discarded today.

However the film is a great epic western as Herbert J. Yates apparently was trying to use Wild Bill Elliott in more big budget items normally reserved for John Wayne. Elliott and John Carroll play a couple of Confederate veterans returning from the Civil War and find that their area and all of Texas is in the hands of a military dictator in Albert Dekker and specifically their area is in the hands of Reed Hadley. Dekker has founded and Hadley is the local commander of the Texas State Police founded to impose their will on a recalcitrant population.

When we first meet Hadley he's telling newspaper editors Andy Devine and Ruth Donnelly that the government objects to their editorial policy. Hadley also finds out that Carroll is the son of minister Harry Davenport whose sermons against Dekker's rule are also frowned upon. As the USA was just finished fighting a war against such dictators The Fabulous Texan I'm sure found a resonating audience in 1947.

When Davenport is murdered, Carroll in turn settles that account with Hadley and he starts to gather a gang of outlaws. Friend Bill Elliott is caught in the middle and throughout the film tries patiently to work within the system. Elliott also turns outlaw for awhile, but Reconstruction does end things do right themselves, but not without a lot of blood.

The storyline of The Fabulous Texan is borrowed liberally from the 20th Century Fox classic Jesse James. Personally I think Darryl Zanuck could have sued Yates, but possibly he felt flattered. No doubt that Bill Elliott was trying to break into the A picture market the way John Wayne did, but he never quite had that career.

Despite it not being historically valid, The Fabulous Texan does make for real good western entertainment.

Wild Bill Elliott stars in this action-packed post-war B-western. He portrays a peaceable man confronted by corruption and opportunists when he returns to the Lone Star state at the close of the War Between the States. John Carroll and Andy Devine are excellent in key supporting roles here.

Elliott was very good in this one ---- he always excelled as the voice of reason and enforcer of justice in the old west. He wasn't the best of actors,but what he did ,he did well. His fistfights and shootouts here are taut and convincing. I liked Carroll in this one.... he was a charismatic actor here, but never quite reached true stardom.

This is a fun and entertaining B-western and was superior to many other contemporary shoot-em-ups. Enjoy !