Fiamme nel Texas

TROUBLE IN Texas is an entertaining little B western with wider appeal than the norm due to the leading lady being the very young Rita Hayworth (billed under her real name, Cansino). The appealing Tex Ritter stars as a rodeo circuit cowboy/entertainer who remains on the circuit in hopes of tracking down the bad guys who killed his brother. As it happens, beautiful young government agent Carmen (Rita) is also after them although Tex suspects she may be part of their gang (she is, but is undercover for the government) though he also attempts to woo this gorgeous young woman, no fool he.

This little movie is clearly a quickie with is blatant stock footage (including quite a bit filmed at an actual rodeo which isn't exactly smoothly edited into the film and the scenes with the actors), threadbare sets, and the like but the cast is very appealing and 18-year-old Rita is stunningly beautiful and beams with unmistakable star quality (she has some absolutely gorgeous closeups in this low-budget effort that would rival those in an important studio film that are probably due more to her natural beauty than to the cinematography).

Tex Ritter is great as the always smiling, down-to-earth hero of the tale and while sidekick Horace Murphy (57 at the time, to modern eyes he seems a decade older) is fairly amusing in apparently one of the bigger roles of his career (according to IMDb, most of his parts were unbilled bits). Throw in some classic B western bad guys, excellent stunt work, a nice dance number by Rita, and some good western songs and you've got a pretty terrific if unambitious little B western.