Man from Texas
Cast & Crew
Leigh Jason
James Craig
Lynn Bari
Johnnie Johnston
Una Merkel
Wally Ford
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Because he carries out all his robberies in other counties, Tobias Simms, who is also known as The El Paso Kid, lives a life of quiet respectability with his wife Zee and their children in a small Texas town. Toby returns home after a series of robberies to find that Zee, who has long worried about his criminal activities, has sent the children to her parents' house and is planning to leave him. To prevent this, Toby promises to make a sacred pledge during a ceremony in which they will reconfirm their marriage vows that he will never ride out again as a bandit, but just as they are about to say their vows, Billy Taylor, Toby's best friend, tells him that a band of horsemen are headed toward the church. The sheriff and his posse chase Toby and Billy but fail to catch them. Later Toby, determined to reform, tries to borrow money legally on his word alone, but when the banker laughs at him, Toby tells him he is The El Paso Kid, and the banker willingly hands over the money. Toby then gives the banker his note and asks him to keep the transaction a secret. Toby reunites with Zee and the children, and they move to another town where, Toby changes his name to Heath and opens a hay and feed store. However, one Sunday, the family returns from church to find Jed and the rest of Toby's old gang waiting for them. When Zee accuses Toby of reverting to his old ways, he explains that while the feed store business is fine, he only has enough money to pay off the bank. Toby then promises Zee that he will do only one more robbery. The gang plans a stagecoach holdup but are outwitted as it is carrying no cash. As an act of friendship, Toby tells Billy to leave the gang, find a wife and settle down. After Billy rides away, Toby finds temporary refuge with the Widow Weeks, a devout, penniless Baptist who is about to be evicted. Billy returns due to a trail washout. Feeling sorry for her plight, Toby ends up paying the widow's $200 debt, but after she secures a receipt for her payment from the bank representative, he and Billy hold him up and recover the $200. When Mrs. Weeks later goes to the bank to pick up the deed to her property, the banker asks to see the signed receipt. While she is there, Toby arrives to discuss his debt and pretends not to know the widow but persuades the banker not to cause her any more difficulties. Toby then pays off his debt with interest and receives his note. However, he is offended when the banker tells him that the newspapers have reported his loan as a robbery and decides to actually rob the bank by blowing open the safe. More robberies follow, and Toby, Billy and Jed are pursued by a large posse and separate. Later, a U.S. Marshal pays a visit to the Heath home and asks Toby to join a posse to round up The El Paso Kid and his gang. The gang splits up before all of the roads are closed to them. Although Toby promises Zee that he will sell the business and they will go to California, the marshal is eventually tipped off about Toby's identity and arrests him. Toby is sentenced to serve ten years, and as he is traveling by train to prison, a water tower is toppled across the tracks causing the train to stop. Toby tells the marshal, to whom he is handcuffed, that it must be a hold-up. After the marshal unlocks the handcuffs, Toby discovers his old gang robbing the mail car of gold bullion, chases them off and reattaches the handcuffs. When the train reaches the state capital, Toby finds that the news of the attempted hold-up has been wired ahead and a crowd is there to greet him as a hero. After Toby's sentence is reduced to a year and a day, he and Zee reconfirm their vows in a church, while Billy and the widow Weeks contemplate their future together.
Director
Leigh Jason
Cast
James Craig
Lynn Bari
Johnnie Johnston
Una Merkel
Wally Ford
Harry Davenport
Sara Allgood
Vic Cutler
Reed Hadley
Clancy Cooper
Bert Conway
Paul Burns
Stanley Andrews
Brick Sullivan
Robert Malcolm
Hope Landin
Glenn Arthur
Suzanne O'connor
Erville Alderson
James Logan
Charles Wagenheim
Lee Roberts
King Donovan
Richard Foote
Eddie Dunn
Ray Bennett
Lyle Latell
James Farley
Peggy Montgomery
Guy Wilkerson
Lane Bradford
Hank Worden
Crew
Leon Becker
Emil Cadkin
Jerome Chodorov
Norman Colbert
Alfred De Gaetano
France Ehren
Joseph Fields
Joseph Fields
Joseph Fields
Robert P. Fox
Bryan Foy
Irving Friedman
Edward L. Ilou
Truman Joiner
Howard W. Koch
Arnold Laven
Armor Marlowe
Morrison B. Paul
Jack R. Rabin
Earl Robinson
Earl Robinson
Jackson J. Rose
Eunice Shore
Lillian Shore
Noel Smith
Stewart Stern
Joseph Stinton
George J. Teague
Percy J. Townsend
James T. Vaughn
Carl Wester
Ern Westmore
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Working titles of the film were, Texas Legend and A Texas Story. Missouri Legend, the play on which Man from Texas is based, was about the life of Jesse James. Several of the characters and incidents in the play were retained in the film. James Craig appeared in a small part in the New York production of the play, which starred Dean Jagger as Jesse. According to the file on the film in the MPAA/PCA Collection at the AMPAS Library, the Ohio Censorship Board eliminated all references to Baptists from the film and song lyrics about thinking, on Sundays, of robbing banks on Mondays. Modern sources add John Qualen to the cast, but he could not be identified in the print viewed.
