Don't Believe the Hype

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Texas Lady marked Claudette Colbert's one and only western and I think this RKO film was probably something that they might have had Barbara Stanwyck in mind for. Colbert though she gave a decent performer really is not a western type. I suspect she wanted at least one on her film resume and took Texas Lady which was an inflated B film.After learning the game of poker for years, Colbert takes Barry Sullivan on and beats him handily. Sullivan, a gentleman riverboat gambler had cleaned out her father who had embezzled money and then lost his ill gotten gains at the poker table and promptly killed himself. After restoring the family honor, Claudette goes to Texas where she's inherited a newspaper.The paper is the paid for rag of the owners of the local Ponderosa, Ray Collins and Walter Sande. Claudette starts agitating for a railroad spur to come to town. But that will mean less dependency on the cattle barons and new people settling. The plot here has certain similarities to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Claudette also gets some attention from fast draw deputy Gregory Walcott who kills a couple of small ranchers in the service Collins and Sande.In the meantime Sullivan comes to town as his reputation is shot to all heck on the riverboat scene. Being both southerners to the manor born they find a lot in common.Texas Lady was a decent enough western, but it looks like it was edited considerably down and a lot of the story doesn't really make sense. And Colbert is just not well cast in westerns. But her fans might like it. It sure is a far cry from the comedies she did in the Thirties and Forties.

I read one review where they said that this was Claudette Colbert's last movie. In fact, she made several made for TV films as well as the film "Parrish" after she made "Texas Lady". Just thought I should set the record straight on this. However, this same reviewer was right--everyone seemed VERY old in this film and perhaps it was in an effort to make Colbert seem younger.The film begins with Colbert beating Barry Sullivan in poker and taking control of his newspaper in Texas. It seems that Colbert has been looking forward to beating Sullivan, as she blames him for ruining her father--who was a gambling addict. Regardless, she heads west to assume control of the paper. When she arrives, she finds some mighty unfriendly folks. Later, when you find out who comes to your rescue and why, you'll most likely groan--it's THAT dumb.All in all, a stale film that simply is beneath the many talents of Colbert. It's not a terrible film bit it certainly is a poor one--with a romance that comes from out of left field and a script that never, ever packs any excitement. A sad little film.

She was 51 when she made this turkey, though she still tried the best she could to make it work. NO CLOSEUPS of her AT ALL in the film, and everything is shot from her LEFT SIDE, or straight on. A few glimpses of her right profile when she danced and the such, but 95% from her left side. Incredibly hokey film, the color is faded, Barry Sullivan looks bored to tears, Ray Collins spends half the movie sitting down. Gets interesting when the mean sheriff gets involved, and his resolution caught me off guard. But all in all, lame and dull and not up to snuff. Watch CLEOPATRA instead for a solid Claudette Colbert fix. Or better yet, catch the milk bath scene from THE SIGN OF THE CROSS or any scene from IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT for a good dose. This movie just doesn't work.

Flat and disappointing. As suggested by others, Claudette Colbert didn't convince in her role, nor did the affable Ray Collins as the local big land owner, Mica Ralston. Only towards the end of the film was the idea put over that he and the other cattle baron, aided by corrupt lawmen, were dominating the town.The barons and their henchmen never seem very threatening.The film's opening sequences suggest that Chris Mooney is an ace gambler, but he can't be that great if he's wiped out first by a woman who's only learnt the game a year ago and then by the owner of a small-town saloon, the Wigwam, Meade Moore. And he's a very forgiving guy because he falls for the woman and immediately becomes close buddies with Moore.It doesn't seem to dawn on the barons that the US mailman would seek help once they let him through their cordon around the town. Mind you, the help turns out be just two Texas Rangers, to whom Ralston meekly gives in.Yet again in a 1950s Western, I wondered if the sums being gambled had been inflated to present-day values to convey their size; $10,000 was a heck of a lot of money in the 1880s.Several of the supporting cast were very wooden.The best thing were some of the outdoor shots of the countryside, albeit photographed in slightly curious tints.