The Kid from Texas (1939) User Reviews

Typical B movie for the second feature---

[Ishallwearpurple · 6/10 · 14 March 2004]

---of a double or triple bill during the studio era. Pleasant enough to watch with your popcorn. Older viewers like me remember it well.

Dennis O'Keefe is a loud mouthed braggart who has trained a paint cow-pony to play polo Texas style. The horse only obeys him and when some easterners come to the ranch to buy ponies for their polo teem, it is a deal to have the rider and the pony as a team, if O'Keefe can make his own way back east.

Our hero gets into much trouble with the sister of the buyer and continually has disasters, like dunking her in the lake etc. Not extremely funny, but not horrible, except for the attitudes toward women. But that was then, this is now; and this was one of O'Keefe's early roles playing a bumbling fellow, which in later films he perfected. Jack Carson and Buddy Ebson provide some humorous moments. 6/10

Typical b comedy from the period

[funkyfry · 6/10 · 29 June 2005]

I basically watched this film because Buddy Ebsen was in it, and I always enjoy his comedy and dancing. Also I really enjoyed Simon's "The Cockeyed Miracle", a similar MGM B comedy. It didn't me down there, although Ebsen wasn't in very much of the film, which focuses on O'Keefe as a "rough and ready" cowpoke with a yen to become a polo star. This setup is little more than an excuse to get him involved with a "high society" girl and milk the comedic consequences of the situation. It's fairly predictable but enjoyable.

The only thing I would have wanted to see more of is Buddy Ebsen. It would have been fun for them to show more of what they were doing with the circus.

Watchable and pleasant.

[planktonrules · 6/10 · 26 May 2017]

"The Kid from Texas" is a pleasant B-movie starring Dennis O'Keefe of all people as a cowboy. William (O'Keefe) leaves his native Texas to hang with rich swells and play polo. But not surprisingly, the uncouth cowboy is way out of his element with these folks and the only reason he seems to stay is that he's smitten with Margo (Florence Rice). However, after making a fool of himself, he ends up hooking up with a Buffalo Bill-style wild west show...and now another lady has set her eyes on him. So what's going to happen next?

This movie is pleasant and the actors do their best. But it also is a movie that seems a bit improbable and silly to say the least. A nice time passer but not much more.

I gave it a *3* for the horse, Lonestar.

[heathentart · 3/10 · 2 April 2010]

This is a loud, loud, LOUD and brash story about a louder man. It's a freaking wall of noise from beginning to end. So much so, that the actors who speak in normal tones seem to be whispering.

I don't understand the *funny* in yelling. And when you have an entire cast just wailing from first to end, you can't give a rip about the story, if there was one.

Stupid, stupid, STUPID script with loud-mouthed actors. Take a gander at Buddy Ebsen screaming his lines. Not funny. Just stupid.

Trust me on this, the cast sucks. Best actor in the bunch, with the best lines, is the pinto, Lonestar.

The only improvement, it seems, is that Dennis O'Keefe finally learned to rachet it back in his future films. What a relief!!

weird plot goes just everywhere

[ksf-2 · 5/10 · 3 June 2017]

Bill (Dennis OKeefe) and Margo (Florence Rice ) have a run-in when they meet for the first time, and they hate each other so much, you can tell its only a matter of time before they fall in love. LOVE Jessie Ralph! (She was the perfect foil to W.C. Fields.) You'll also see a 30 year old Buddy Ebsen as the dancing ranch hand. Jack Carson is in here too. He will go on to great roles, like along-side Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce. The premise in "Kid From Texas" is a little wacky... when a rancher sells a horse, his ranch hand wants to along with it. The jet set plays polo, so the ranch hand takes it up too. It's all pretty silly. Everyone keeps getting knocked into the water. Rice wouldn't stick around very long...she disappeared pretty quickly from the Hollywood scene. This one needed a better script... the meandering plot seems to be aimed at a younger audience, maybe as the second Saturday matinée. It's OK. Don't really need to see this one again. Some early roles for some big names, though.