The Lady from Texas
Cast & Crew
Joseph Pevney
Howard Duff
Mona Freeman
Josephine Hull
Gene Lockheart
Craig Stevens
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
In Rawlings, Texas in 1888, tough cowboy Dan Mason is hired at Dave Blodgett's Bar Z Ranch. While Dan happily discovers that the ranch's cook is a lovely young lady, Bonnie Lee, Dave's daughter Mabel and her husband, Cyril Guthrie, convince Dave that they must buy the ranch of their neighbor, Miss Birdie Wheeler, so they can raise more cattle. Dave, not knowing that the duplicitous Mabel and Cyril have already bought the other local ranches in order to sell them all to a railroad line, agrees to pressure the reluctant Miss Birdie to sell. When Miss Birdie's only employee, Jose, arrives for the food that Bonnie secretly slips him each day, the two discuss the older woman's desperate need for a ranchhand and protector. Over the next few days, Bonnie manipulates Dan into leaving the Bar Z so he will be free to work for Miss Birdie. First Bonnie discourages his advances by pretending to want to marry him, and later she arranges for Dan to knock a cup of coffee into Cyril's lap, causing a fight, which Dan wins. After Cyril fires Dan, Jose encourages him to apply for a job at Miss Birdie's. By the time Dan realizes that the ranch is ramshackled and Miss Birdie is an eccentric who calls all her animals by name and believes that Lincoln is still president, he has already agreed to stay the night. When Bonnie and Jose visit, Dan realizes he has been set up and angrily prepares to leave. Although Bonnie tearfully explains that Miss Birdie was a lovely Southern belle who escaped from reality after her beloved husband, the Colonel, was killed in the Civil War, Dan refuses to stay. The next day, Mabel and Cyril set out with their conniving lawyer, Craig Toland, to convince Miss Birdie to sell her land. At the same time, Dan goes to town and learns from Jose that Bonnie relates to Miss Birdie because both are alone in the world, and then sells his fancy cowboy boots to Mike McShane. At Miss Birdie's, Toland tries to charm her, but is shocked to hear that she believes the long-dead Lincoln wrote her a letter the previous week. Just then, Dan returns and chases out Mabel, Cyril and Toland, but as they leave, they scheme to have Miss Birdie declared mentally incompetent and placed in the custody of Mabel and Cyril. Bonnie, upon discovering that Dan has sold his boots in order to buy food for Miss Birdie, delightedly shows him around the beautiful but squandered ranch. Although Dan swears he is leaving soon, he begins to renovate the ranch. One night, as Miss Birdie, Jose, Bonnie and Dan eat supper, Cyril's henchmen set the barn on fire and, during the ensuing chaos, steal the Lincoln letter. Mike arrives the next morning to inform them that Mabel and Cyril have requested a sanity hearing, and though Dan and Bonnie want to be named as her guardian, Mike explains that they are not as desirable as Mabel and Cyril because they are not married. As the trial begins, Dan hesitantly approaches Bonnie about marriage, but is interrupted when the townspeople begin to tease the oblivious Miss Birdie. In court, everyone laughs as Miss Birdie explains about her animals and her belief that her husband is still alive. When the judge, George Jeffers, bangs his gavel, Miss Birdie's frightened pet skunk Annabelle lifts her tail. As everyone runs out, Dan proclaims his love to Bonnie and they chase down a justice of the peace to be married. They return just as the case reconvenes and Toland presents the Lincoln letter to the judge. As Jeffers reluctantly begins to read, Miss Birdie recites from memory the President's notification of the Colonel's heroic death, and his request that she keep the brave man's spirit alive so that one day the American ideals of peace and tolerance can triumph. She explains to Jeffers that she knows the Colonel is dead but still loves him, and the judge immediately declares her competent. One by one, the chastised townspeople offer Miss Birdie their spare stock and ranchhands. After Dan punches Cyril and Mike returns Dan's boots, Miss Birdie declares it a fine day.
Director
Joseph Pevney
Cast
Howard Duff
Mona Freeman
Josephine Hull
Gene Lockheart
Craig Stevens
Jay C. Flippen
Ed Begley
Morgan Farley
Chris-pin Martin
Barbara Knudson
Kenneth Patterson
John Maxwell
Dabbs Greer
Lane Bradford
Edmond Cobb
Alice Richey
Donald Kerr
Ada Adams
Eddie Parks
William Fawcett
Katheryn Sheldon
Roy Butler
Buddy Roosevelt
Forbes Murray
Helen Dietrich
Crew
Gerald Drayson Adams
Connie Lee Bennett
Charles P. Boyle
Leslie I. Carey
William Fritzsche
Russell A. Gausman
Joseph Gershenson
Jack Gertsman
Leonard Goldstein
Bernard Herzbrun
Joe Kenny
Joseph Kish
Joe Lapis
Emrich Nicholson
Rosemary Odell
Harold Shumate
Joan St. Oegger
Virgil Vogel
Bud Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
The working titles of this film were Fine Day and One Fine Day. According to a March 1951 Hollywood Reporter news item, Ronald Reagan was originally set to play "Dan Mason."
