Young Guns of Texas (1962)

Strong and Moving!

Expected more

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Worth seeing just to witness how winsome it is.

This western uses the gimmick of 3 sons or daughters of famous actors being used to fill about half the major roles. These are James Mitchum, Alana Ladd, and Jody McCrea. More cryptically, it included Barbara Mansell, as Martha Jane Canary: the birth name of Calamity Jane. Judging by some old photos, Barbara was notably better looking than Calamity! We have basically 4 groups that are involved in part or most of the story. Group A consists of 7 former Civil War soldiers, led by the brother of Tyler Duane(Gary Conway), plus his wife, apparently. They have stolen a $30,000. Union payroll. and are heading toward a Mescalero Apache territory, in SE NM, or Texas, perhaps on the way to Mexico. These Apache constitute a significant risk to their lives and treasure. However, it turns out that their comrades are just as murderous, the first victims being Tyler's brother and his apparent wife, until only 2 are left when they engage the other groups in a climactic shootout........Group B consists of several young men, played by Mitchum, McCrea, and Gary Conway(Tyler). In addition, there's veteran Chill Wills, as unordained minister Sam Shelby, and bride Lily Coe(Alana Ladd), formerly Lily Glendenning, just married to Morgan Coe(Mitchum), although it's unclear how legitimate this marriage is. Morgan and Lily are running away from Lily's father, Jesse, who is out to kill Morgan and bring Lily back home. He is the leader of Group C: hot on the heels of Group B. Meanwhile, Tyler, of Group B, is intent on capturing the money held by Group A, and returning it to the US Army. Group D: a band of Mescalero, don't want any of the above groups passing through their territory. I forgot to mention that Martha Jane((Barbara Mansell) joined Group B, along the way. Why, instead of tending her cattle? My guess is she thought Lisa could use some female companionship. Also, she was running from Lisa's father(Group C), whose cattle she had rustled. See the film to find out the result of the big 4 way gun battle, and its aftermath......I thought none of the offspring of the famous actors had any appreciable charisma. It was up to Chill Wills and Barbara Mansell to supply the charisma......See it at YouTube.

Young Guns of Texas is a western with a gimmick starring the children of well known actors. The film sees these young ones team up for a perilous journey through dangerous Apache territory, accompanied by a veteran preacher. Gary Conway is hunting for a patrol who have stolen money from the army and this could lead to a personal conflict. There is a wild man raised by Indians who is eloping with a wealthy landowner's daughter, the irony is that it was the landowner who rescued him from the Indians and raised him as his own son and is now hunting him down with his posse.Conway is the main star of the film who has screen presence. James Mitchum has top billing but although he has his father's looks, he does not have his acting chops. Alana Ladd looks nice but again the acting is just so-so.Itmis left to the veterans to add some meat and bite to their roles, the film is simplistic, low budget but is watchable enough if you are looking for something undemanding. There is a nice shootout at the end as the different hunting parties converge in Indian territory.

Gary Conway is the real protagonist of this western, although the siblings of Joel McCrea, Robert Mitchum and Alan Ladd were given top credit. But James Mitchum had no charisma, and Alana Ladd was not a good actress, so the best parts of the film are carried out by Conway, Jody McCrea, and Chill Wills.The film starts well when Conway arrives in a town controlled by a nasty landowner. He is following a patrol of Southern rebels carrying stolen money. But then the attention turns to the romance of the landowner's daughter (Ladd) and a guy raised by Indians (Mitchum). As things get more complicated and the film demands higher production values, the budget betrays everybody's effort, making everything look really cheap.

I was surprised to see no comments on this movie, which has certainly been on TV fairly recently (at least in the UK). I also saw it in the cinema in the UK when it first came out. It is in many ways a typical Western of the early sixties, starring actors straight out of contemporary TV series, who looks as if they belong to a Beach Party movie rather than the real Wild West! This film is also famous for starring a string of children of more famous stars. It begins at a good pace, with Gary Conway arriving in town, having an extensive fist fight, and meeting Jody McCrea. After that it becomes increasingly boring & pedestrian, and I couldn't give away the ending, because I don't really remember it! So my advice is, make sure you watch the beginning, but don't bother too much if you miss the end!