Terror in a Texas Town

Terror in a Texas Town

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Joseph Lewis
Produced by John Seltzer
Written by Dalton Trumbo
Starring Sterling Hayden
Music by Gerald Fried
Cinematography Russell Harlan
Edited by Stefan Arnsten
Distributed by United Artists
Release dates
  • 1958 (1958)
Running time
 80 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Terror in a Texas Town is a 1958 American Western film, directed by Joseph Lewis and starring Sterling Hayden.

The script of Terror in a Texas Town was written by Dalton Trumbo one of the infamous "Hollywood Ten" who was blacklisted during the McCarthy-era witch hunts of the late forties and early fifties. Due to Trumbo's status on the Hollywood Blacklist, Ben Perry initially received screenwriting credit.

Director Lewis was set to retire when his friend, the actor Nedrick Young, handed him the script. Young had been blacklisted and this picture was his chance to get back into the business. Excited by the script, Lewis agreed to do it because he had nothing to fear from working with blacklisted artists as this was going to be his last film anyway.[1]

Plot

The wealthy McNeil wants to control Prairie City and the land around it. He tries to burn out small ranchers and then hires gunfighter Johnny Crale to run them off.

Sven Hansen learns from neighbor Jose Mirada that there is oil on his land. Sven stands up to Crale, his only weapon a harpoon from his past as a whaling fisherman, and Crale shoots him dead.

The dead man's son, George Hansen, arrives in town and finds out that his father has died, but isn't sure how. The sheriff is in McNeil's pocket and unwilling to help. George tries talking to Molly, the wife of Crale, but ends up beaten unconscious and dumped on a train leaving town.

Mirada is the next one gunned down by Crale, but his courage impresses the killer, who in a fit of rage shoots McNeil, the man who hired him. George Hansen returns to town for a showdown and is wounded before getting the better of Crale with his father's harpoon.

Cast

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Terror in a Texas Town film article at". tcm.com. Retrieved 2014-08-24.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Terror in a Texas Town.


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