Man from Texas (1948)

Director:

Leigh Jason

Writers:

Jerome Chodorov, Joseph Fields,

Stars:

James Craig, Lynn Bari, Johnny Johnston

Cast

Complete credited cast:
James Craig	...	Tobias Simms, alias Toby Heath
Lynn Bari	...	Zee 'Ma' Simms, alias Zee Heath
Johnny Johnston	...	Billy Taylor (as Johnnie Johnston)
Una Merkel	...	Widow Weeks
Wallace Ford	...	Jed (lead henchman) (as Wally Ford)
Harry Davenport	...	'Pop' Hickey (bank president)
Sara Allgood	...	Aunt Belle
Victor Cutler	...	Charlie Jackson (henchmanin checked shirt) (as Vic Cutler)
Reed Hadley	...	Marshal Gregg

Storyline

---

Plot Keywords:

based on play

---

Genres:

Western

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

6 March 1948 (USA)

Also Known As:

El Paso Kid

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bryan Foy Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

71 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

User Reviews

"The Good Book says, relieve the weary traveler of his burden".

Not surprising that this film doesn't have any reviews up to this point. I've only come across it as part of the Mill Creek Entertainment collection of two hundred fifty mostly little known B Westerns. This one's a below average entry, almost to the point of being inane. Had I known the main character Tobias Simms/El Paso Kid (James Craig) was going to get married to his wife Zee (Lynn Bari) more than once I would have kept track. I can understand how this might have been confusing for the young Heath kids, who were present for each ceremony, their last names changing each time to accommodate the new town they found themselves in. You see, Toby was addicted to being an outlaw, and even though Zee attempted to leave him behind every time he took off with his gang, she always wound up back with him. This yo-yo effect got monotonous after a while, and I found myself rooting for Zee to just up and run away as she threatened to do any number of times.

But that wasn't the most unbelievable part of the story. In his travels, El Paso comes across a widow (Una Merkel) who had nine kids in nine years, but none of them were around! It was explained that her husband's folks took them away, presumably because she was too poor to take care of them. With money 'borrowed' from a local bank, The Kid pays off her home, has the bank representative robbed of the the money, and later proceeds to pay back the money he got from banker Hickey (Harry Davenport).

The way the story ends is a puzzler too. As the law eventually catches up with Mr. Kid (Hickey's name for Toby), he's arrested and on his way to prison. Ever the honorable outlaw, he helps prevent a train robbery, then puts himself back into the custody of the marshal. You would think that Mrs. Kid would have been fed up by now, but the couple is genuinely relieved that his sentence has been reduced to a year and a day. If I had to bet, they'll get married once he gets out.