Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

***possible spoilers*** The setup for this movie was intriguing to me and I was really looking forward to it, but I was highly disappointed.A son returns to his family ranch and finds out his father has been murdered. But after that, its all pretty unbelievable that nobody in the town (supposedly many friends of the victim) would stand up to the murderer. Ridiculous plot that just isn't realistic. There are always bad guys in real life, but its been my experience (and I felt this as I watch this film) people tend to fight for what is right, especially when good friends or family are affected. The entire town accepted the murders without coming together to stop the threat?? Just not something I believe would happen in real life with the same type of setup.Finally, the idea of a person being able to defeat a skilled gunman using a whale harpoon is just too far fetched for me. This is definitely a film I will only see once and even that was too much.

"Big Combo" director Joseph H. Lewis' offbeat western "Terror in a Texas Town" is a low-budget endeavor that tweaks the formula and offers a little something different. The typical protagonist who performs the heroic duties is not a stud in a 10-gallon hat with a six-gun. Sterling Hayden, who played a gun-toting lawman in "Top Gun," plays George Hansen, a Swede with a slight accent who has made a living wielding a harpoon as a whaler on a sailing ship. He has arrived to take care of his late father's property. Lewis opens the film with part of the climactic showdown that occurs later at the end when our hero totes his father's harpoon to a gun duel. Lewis doesn't let the action loiter and "Terror in a Texas Town" clocks in at 81 minutes. One flaw is the death of the villain at the hands of another villain, an act of violence which occurs off-camera and deprives us of any closure in seeing how the villain accepted death. This western imitates all those that came before it with regard to the town boss plot.Basically, this Dalton Trumbo-scripted black & white frontier epic qualifies as your standard town boss western with an elegant city-slicker (Sebastian Cabot) as the villain. He never abandons the comfort of his hotel room in town. He controls the town and has the sheriff in his pocket. The second-in-command villain is a black-clad hombre, Johnny Crale (Nedrick Young of "Gun Crazy"), strapping a matched brace of six-guns. Since can no longer shoot with his right hand, he handles his gun with his left hand. Symbolically, this tough-talking Hemingway type character is castrated because his hand doesn't work. Moreover, to enhance his evil, he wears a solid black outfit from Stetson to boots. He has a moment toward the end where he learns that some men aren't afraid to die and it rattles him. The town citizens that cower at the feet of the town boss are embroiled in a land dispute with him, and this individual—MacNeil—has obtained the legal right to all the territory around town. He has hired a former comrade, injured gunslinger Johnny Crale to help him dominate the people and the land. Later, our hero learns that oil soaks his father's land. All Hansen knows is that a man shot his father in cold blood. He finds a witness, Mexican landowner Jose Mirada (Victor Millan of "Touch of Evil"), who agrees to testify in court that he saw Crale murder Hansen's father. Mirada dies not long afterward when the black-clad killer confronts him on his property. Tragically, Mirada's wife has just given birth to a baby. Previously, she had refused to let him reveal his knowledge of Hansen's murder. All this makes it imperative that Hansen kill Crale in the most unorthodox western showdown.Altogether, despite its differences with the typical western, "Terror in a Texas" qualifies as something of an oddity. The way that Lewis and Trumbo has tweaked the formula is clever, but the overall impact is less than satisfactorily in pure entertainment terms. The William Wyler western "The Big Country," made after this one, attempted the same thing by making the protagonist a sea captain who was going to marry into a cattle owning empire. "The Big Country" was flawed, too. "Terror in a Texas" suffers from contrivance and the omission of the villain's death scene in the hotel.

Greedy land baron in the tiny western town of Prairie City wants all the ranchers off their land, using intimidation tactics and arson to get them to vacate; seems the town is swimming atop oil, and when a Swedish farmer refuses to leave, he's mowed down by the baron's hired gun. The farmer's seafaring son soon arrives, slowly realizing what he's up against and attempting to rally the rest of the residents to fight. Another lawlessness-in-the-West story, with everybody under the thumb of the villain (who naturally holds all the cards). Derivative and uncomfortable at times to watch, with a long wait before our stoic hero finally gets his dander up. Sterling Hayden's half-hearted Swedish accent is a big problem, though he cuts a sturdy, sympathetic presence on the screen and almost makes the picture worth-watching. Director Joseph H. Lewis stages most of the scenes stiffly, like a TV western, and Gerald Fried's bugle-heavy score is no help, though the rich black-and-white cinematography by Ray Rennahan is excellent. An independent production released via United Artists, the film has a bizarre start (beginning with shots from the finale, followed by shots from the movie's midsection), yet it does have a certain needling power which most assuredly gets the viewer on Hayden's side. ** from ****

There was so much gunsmoke in Hollywood, 1958, the producers of this low-budget indie can hardly be blamed for the harpoon gimmick. All in all, the movie is neither the best nor the worst of oaters of that day, as some folks hold. It does have points of interest, but overall the 80 minutes lacks the intensity that many of the elements promise. For example, Ned Young's killer dresses the part, postures the part, and leers the part, but the total never gets beyond the impersonation stage. There's no real sense that he means it. Compare Young's black clad gunman with his counterpart, the fearsomely memorable Jack Palance of Shane (1953), as illustration. Then too, as another reviewer notes, Cabot's scheming mastermind fails to convey much beyond a grumpy old fat guy waiting for dinner. Thus the needed sense of evil-incarnate never really materializes, despite the posturing. In fact, in my little book, it's Carol Kelly as the conflicted Molly who delivers the movie's one really convincing performance.Now, I have as much respect for director Lewis as the next old movie buff, particularly for that overlooked Korean War drama Retreat, Hell! (1952). However, it looks like he was just going through the motions here, especially in his work with the actors. As other reviewers note, the movie does have points of interest absent from other little Westerns of the day, including that stunning back shot of Hayden stalking down railroad tracks that stretch to infinity-- a memorable visual. Nonetheless, despite the many script opportunities and dramatic situations, the action never really gels into the riveting essay on greed and evil that writer Trumbo evidently desires. In passing— the low-budget Western was a favorite refuge for those in Hollywood blacklisted by HUAC, like Trumbo and Young, or those compromised, like Hayden. My favorite is The Tall Texan (1953), not a very good movie, but featuring a whole array of compromised Hollywood talent looking for a needed payday. Watching such stalwart city types as Lee J. Cobb and Luther Adler tell their horses to giddy-up amounts to a real hoot. But unfortunately, it hasn't turned up on the movie channels lately. Then again, maybe that's fortunately.