The Texican (1966)

Audie Murphy (The Red Badge of Courage) and Broderick Crawford (Born Yesterday Best Actor Oscar Winner All the Kings Men 1949) star as sworn enemies who battle it out for control of an entire town in this action-packed western adventure. Jess Carlin (Murphy) is a former sheriff living in peaceful Mexican exile who must cross the border into Texas to uncover the truth regarding his brother's murder. Pursued by bloodthirsty bounty hunters and risking certain death Carlin arrives in the town of Rum Rock where he finds a populace gripped by fear. The evil town boss Luke Starr (Crawford) not only set up Carlin in the first place by murdered his brother a respected newspaperman for exposing his corrupt ways. While investigating the murder and the mounting conspiracy of silence Carlin finds romance in the arms of the beautiful dancehall girl Kits O'Neal (Diana Lorys) for whom Crawford carries a torch. The result is rousing frontier drama which explodes into a blazing shootout at sundown. Murphy show was WWII's most decorated G.I. parlayed his boyishly handsome good looks and war record into a thriving film career. His impeccable image made him a great foil for famed screen heavy Broderick Crawford.System Requirements:Running Time: 88 Min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: WESTERN/MISC. Rating: NR UPC: 043396094598 Manufacturer No: 09459 Product Description

Real WWII Hero Gets Spaghetti

Audie Murphy, the real life WWII Soldier/Hero stars in his only Spaghetti Western.That alone should seal the deal for anyone with any interest in the Italian Western films of the 60s and 70s.Worthy of any Western collection. March 28, 2008

Adrift in Spanish vistas

This is a nice film to look at thanks to longtime director of American Westerns Lesley Selander, Spanish cinematographer Francisco Marín, and stunning Spanish vistas. They almost make the film worthwhile.

Almost. The misnamed John Champion wrote a script so aimless that it failed to build tension in me. The final shootouts failed to disturb my heart rate. And I found the final stroll into the sunset is striking but uninspiring.

This qualifies as a Spaghetti Western, I suppose, even without the Italians' involvement. The music and the sound effects are unmistakable. This time, however, the many Europeans supporting actors are poorly dubbed by bad American actors.

Somehow, this film fits comfortably into the Audie Murphy canon. I didn't find it as alien as the more famous Spaghetti Westerns. Audie's persona dominates in the usual way. He's in his familiar amiable mode despite his character's bent on vengence. By this time in his career (his third to the last film), he could do those roles with his eyes closed. Maybe he didn't want to be too much better than the script. August 15, 2007

An Audie Murphy Spaghetti Western!

This film was canned in Europe (Spain)and hauntingly similar to the style set by Sergio Leone in his Eastwood "Man with No Name" trilogy. The supporting actors are mostly Spanish except for the familiar figure of screen heavy Broderick Crawford. There is a blending of the Hollywood Westerns and the Italian Spaghettis in this one. The dubbing is so obvious (typical of spaghetties)but the storyline is easy to follow (typical of Hollywood westerns). Murphy's boyish looking demeanor is still here but his age shows in this one. The protagoinists still dress decently and "cleanly" (typical of Hollywood). The only reference to the slovenly atmosphere, dirt and perspiration stink (in Spaghetties) are the presence of flies stealing the scenes in some shots. The gunfire (whistling type of blast)and the Morricone type of music (done to nauseating extremes) definitley makes this a Spaghetti western with its good qualities. The distracting and dizzying closeup-shots of Italian spaghettis thankfully were not incorporated into this movie. If you have been accustomed to the Hollywood B westerns by Audie Murphy at Universal, this movie is still of similar mode, except that it has the spaghetti taste in it. This is a good movie for western fanatics who enjoy the genre. May 16, 2005

Major audio problems on Texican

Buyer beware on this video, the spoken audio track does not always match up well with the video. In fact, some of the voices used do not ever seem to be from the actor in the movie. Parts of the movie feel a poorly dubbed Godzilla movie. The picture quality of the movie is fair to good (but could be a lot better). As an Audie Murphy fan, I could not find this movie anywhere else so I had to get it. July 12, 1999

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