The Texan | |
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Theatrical release poster
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Directed by | John Cromwell |
Produced by | Hector Turnbull |
Written by |
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Screenplay by | Daniel Nathan Rubin |
Based on | "The Double-Dyed Deceiver" by O. Henry |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Victor Milner |
Edited by | Verna Willis |
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Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
Release date
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
The Texan is a 1930 American Western film directed by John Cromwell and starring Gary Cooper and Fay Wray. Based on the short story "The Double-Dyed Deceiver" by O. Henry, the film is about a daring bandit called the Llano Kid who shoots a young gambler in self-defense and is forced to hide from the law. He is helped by a corrupt lawyer who involves the bandit in a scheme to swindle a Mexican aristocrat whose son turns out to be the young gambler killed by the Llano Kid. The screenplay was written by Daniel Nathan Rubin, and the story was adapted for the screen by Oliver H.P. Garrett and Victor Milner. Produced by Hector Turnbull for Paramount Pictures, The Texan was released in the United States on May 10, 1930. The film received positive reviews upon its theatrical release.
A young bandit called the Llano Kid (Gary Cooper) is wanted by the law and has a price on his head. After stopping in at the local blacksmith, John Brown (James A. Marcus), a highly religious man who fancies himself a sheriff, the Kid gets into a poker game during which he notices a young gambler cheating, confronts him, and is forced to kill him in self-defense. The Kid is then pursued by Sheriff Brown and is almost apprehended, but is able to get the draw on the zealous lawman. As the Kid leaps into the saddle, Sheriff Brown pledges, "God will deliver you into my hands."
Later aboard a train, the Kid meets an unscrupulous lawyer named Thacker (Oscar Apfel), who convinces him to pose as the son of Señora Ibarra (Emma Dunn), a wealthy South American widow whose son Enrique disappeared fifteen years earlier. Having set himself up as the widow's agent hired to find the lost son, Thacker plans to return with her "son" and swindle the widow's gold in the process. Soon the two men set sail aboard a schooner to South America, where they arrive at Señora Ibarra's family hacienda in a little seaport town of Buenas Tierras. With his basic Spanish speaking skills, new sideburns, and tattooed hand (similar to Enriques), the Kid is able to pass himself off as Enrique, the long lost son of Señora Ibarra.