Once Upon a Texas Train (1988)

An outlaw and a Texas Ranger Captain have a life-long personal feud, but twenty years later, with old-age settling in, they must put their differences aside in order to face the latest Texas problem, the youngest generation of outlaws.

Director:

Burt Kennedy

Writer:

Burt Kennedy

Stars:

Willie Nelson, Richard Widmark, Shaun Cassidy

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Willie Nelson	...	John Henry Lee
Richard Widmark	...	Captain Owen Hayes
Shaun Cassidy	...	Cotton
Chuck Connors	...	Nash Crawford
Ken Curtis	...	Kelly Sutton
Royal Dano	...	Nitro Jones
Jack Elam	...	Jason Fitch
Gene Evans	...	Fargo Parker
Kevin McCarthy	...	The Govenor
Dub Taylor	...	Charlie Lee
Stuart Whitman	...	George Asque
Angie Dickinson	...	Maggie
Jeb Stuart Adams	...	Billy Bates
Clare Carey	...	Meg Boley
Harry Carey Jr.	...	Herald Fitch (as Harry Carey)

Storyline

Captain Hayes of the Texas Rangers reached the pinnacle of his career when he captured the notorious John Henry, an outlaw cowboy, and put him behind bars. Twenty years later, upon his release, Henry is older, but unrepentant. Within six hours after leaving his jail cell, he evens the score with Hayes by holding up the Bank of Texas for twenty thousand dollars in gold. Hayes, in his fury, gets himself out of retirement to take up the chase once more.

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Plot Keywords:

texas | outlaw | texas ranger | bank | cowboy | 

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Taglines:

Some men took money ... Some men took lives ... These men took both.

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Genres:

Action | Comedy | Romance | Western

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 January 1988 (USA)

Also Known As:

Texas Guns

Filming Locations:

Thousand Oaks, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Robert Papazian Productions, Brigade Productions, Rastar Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

87 min (TV)

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Many of the locations and names in this movie are related to Willie Nelson. He is from the Waco, Texas area, from where the train comes, and the Brazos is a large river that flows through Waco.

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Goofs

Texas never had a "territorial prison" because Texas was never a territory. Unlike nearly every other state, Texas was an independent sovereign republic, and became part of the United States of America after a treaty was negotiated between the two nations (i.e., the Republic of Texas and the United States of America).

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Quotes

[first lines]
Captain Owen Hayes: Put the gun down John Henry.

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Connections

Follows The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again (1970)

User Reviews

An interesting film with a "history" to two earlier TV-films

A pleasant, tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek western (with that Burt Kennedy touch) that gives up yet another adventure with some wonderful characters that were first introduced almost 20 years earlier. I speak of the ABC Movie-of-the-Week films "The Over-the-Hill Gang" and "The Over-the-Hill Gang Rides Again" (which was Fred Astaire's TV-film debut and ONLY western film--ever!) The character of Richard Widmark was earlier played by Pat O'Brien in the first film, with Chuck Connors taking over Walter Brennan's part and Jack Elam here "filling" in for Edgar Buchanan. Those earlier films (from 1969 & 1970 respectively) were light yet entertaining and this film does not fail in that genre. Some might argue that many of the actors are in their "golden years"--and that's to the viewer's advantage as you will soon realize that with age certainly comes style. Sit back, enjoy and find a smile creeping across your face as you discover that there ARE films out there that are made "like they used to be"!