Claudette Colbert is Prudence Webb, a woman whose father embezzled $50,000 from the bank he worked for, then committed suicide after losing the money to renown river boat gambler Chris Mooney (Barry Sullivan).
So she teaches herself poker, tracks him down and does her best to ruin his reputation by winning back the $50,000 and leaving him at least momentarily penniless. Next she heads to Fort Ralston, Texas, to claim the only thing she owns, a newspaper called The Clarion.
When she arrives, she discovers two ranchers — Whit Sturdy and Mica Ralston — run the town and the surrounding countryside. And anyone who doesn’t see things their way changes their mind or else pays the price. They have a fast gun named Jess Foley to back up their bullying.
But they’ve yet to meet the likes of Prudence, who convinces a drunken lawyer named Cass Gower to give up the bottle and help her retain ownership of the newspaper. With the power of the pen, she prods the townsfolks to the point of rebellion, urging them to welcome a railroad and the prosperity it would bring even though Sturdy and Ralston don’t want to see rails in Fort Ralston.
The fact that Mooney shows up with a fast gun and a few faster tricks doesn’t hurt. That night on the riverboat, he was taken with the feisty woman who took his money. And he just had to look her up again.
Review:
An average film with a few original scenes. In one, everyone is encouraging Mooney to get out of town because Jess Foley is gunning for him. Instead of running, Mooney takes a chair outside and has a seat under a tree until the young gunman shows up. Then he quickly accesses a derringer and beats him to the draw.
And when the townsfolk finally see things Prudence’s way and elect new town leaders — including Mooney as sheriff — the cattle kings put the town under siege, figuring they’ll have to give up sooner or later.
One problem with the movie: Twenty years removed from her best actress win for “It Happened One Night,” Colbert is unconvincing as a female all the men swoon over. She was 49 when the film was made and looks every bit the aging star. Foley is among the men who want to make her his own; he was 22 years younger at the time, and the camera doesn’t do a very good job of hiding the age difference.
In fact, this marked the next to last big screen appearance for Colbert, who wouldn’t make another until 1961’s “Parrish.” As for Gregory Walcott, who plays Foley — four years later he’d have a starring role in Ed Wood’s “Plan 9 from Outer Space,” one of the worst films ever made.
Directed by:
Tim Whelen
Cast:
Claudette Colbert … Prudence Webb
Barry Sullivan … Chris Mooney
Ray Collins … Mica Ralston
James Bell … Cass Gower
Horace McMahon … Stringer Winfield
Gregory Walcott … Deputy Jess Foley
John Litel … Meade Moore
Walter Sande … Whit Sturdy
Don Haggerty … Sheriff Herndon
Alexander Campbell … Judge Herzog
Douglas Fowley … Clay Ballard
Florenz Ames … Wilson
Kathleen Mulqueen … Nanny Winfield
Robert Lynn … The Rev. Callender
Runtime: 86 min.
Title tune: “Texas Lady”
sung by Mary Ford
Memorable lines:
Chris Mooney, as Sturdy and Ralston ride off: “There go the last of the giants.”
Chris Mooney: “You know all these comic opera hired men follow the same tiresome formula. Get out of town by dawn, by noon, by sundown. Billy the Kid hardly cold in his grave, and already every smelly cowboy in the West is trying to imitate him.”
Prudence Webb: “Well, this man is giving a good imitation. You’ll find the last two men he killed at the undertaker’s, across the street.”
Chris Mooney, taking a chair into the street for his showdown with Jess Foley: “Melodrama is what Foley wants. Melodrama is what he’ll get.”
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