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6.3/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 6.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. The Texan remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Is The Texan worth your time today? Only if you really like Gary Cooper or you have a soft spot for movies that feel like they were filmed inside a giant, dusty wooden box.
If you want a fast-paced western with shootouts every five minutes, you are going to hate this one. It is very slow. It is mostly people standing in rooms talking about things that happened off-screen.
But if you like watching how movies used to struggle with sound, it's actually kind of fun. You can tell they were still figuring out where to hide the microphones back in 1930.
Gary Cooper is the Llano Kid. He is an outlaw who is supposedly very dangerous, though he spends most of the movie looking like he just woke up from a very nice nap.
He has this tiny mustache. It looks like it was drawn on with a very sharp pencil. It makes him look less like a killer and more like a guy who would sell you a used car that breaks down two miles away.
The plot is classic O. Henry stuff. A guy named Thacker convinces the Kid to travel to Mexico. The plan is to trick an old woman, Señora Ibarra, into thinking the Kid is her son who vanished years ago.
The Kid is just supposed to get the money and run. But then he meets the mom. And she is played by Emma Dunn, who is just so incredibly nice that you know immediately the Kid is going to feel bad about the whole thing.
"You don't look like your father," she says, and you can almost feel the Kid's soul shrivel up a little bit.
Fay Wray is in this movie too. She plays Consuelo, the niece or cousin or something. She doesn't have much to do except look pretty and give the Kid a reason to stay in Mexico.
She is fine, but you can tell the movie doesn't really know what to do with her. She just kind of drifts in and out of scenes like a ghost in a nice dress.
Actually, a lot of the characters feel like that. They walk into a room, say their lines very clearly so the chunky 1930s microphones can hear them, and then they stand there.
There is a scene where they are all sitting at a dinner table. It feels like it lasts for an hour. Nobody moves their head too fast because they might lose the sound quality. It makes everything feel very stiff and formal, even when they are supposed to be relaxing.
The movie is a bit like The Spanish Jade in that it tries to capture a specific mood of old-world honor, but it gets bogged down in its own pacing. It doesn't have the flow of something like Smilin' Through, which handled the drama much better around the same time.
There is a moment near the end where the Kid has to make a choice. It’s supposed to be this big emotional peak. But because the movie is so quiet, it just feels... awkward?
He stares at a bag of gold for a long time. Like, a really long time. I think the director wanted us to see his internal struggle, but it just looks like he forgot his next line.
For a movie made in 1930, the depiction of Mexico isn't as bad as I expected. It’s still full of stereotypes, sure, but the Ibarra estate feels like a real place.
The sets are actually pretty big. You can see the dust on the floorboards. I like that. It makes it feel less like a stage play and more like a movie.
But then someone starts singing. There is a lot of singing in this movie. It’s not a musical, but people just burst into song because they have a guitar. It kills the tension every single time.
I wonder if audiences back then needed the singing to stay awake. Because honestly, the middle section of The Texas—I mean The Texan—really drags.
I don't think I would watch this again. It’s one of those movies you watch once to say you saw early Gary Cooper.
He is very handsome here. His voice is deep and sort of rumbles. It’s easy to see why he became a star. He has this way of looking at people that makes you think he knows a secret he isn't telling.
The ending is actually kind of sweet, in a very O. Henry sort of way. It wraps up too fast, though. One conversation and suddenly everything is forgiven? Real life doesn't work like that, but 1930s Hollywood definitely did.
If you're looking for a double feature, maybe pair it with Mothers of France if you want to stay in that era of heavy drama. But maybe bring a pillow. 🌵
One more thing. The gunshots sound like someone popping a paper bag. It’s hilarious. Every time a gun goes off, I laughed a little bit. It totally ruins the mood, but I loved it anyway.
IMDb 6
1927
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