Another of Monogram's Johnny Mack Brown/Raymond Hatton westerns. It's not a bad way to spend an hour. Brown and Hatton had played under cover marshals over the past few years. In 1946 they began playing different characters.Brown plays Wells Fargo investigator Johnny Macklin who has been sent to the town of Rim Rock to find out who is behind a series of robberies in the area. It doesn't take long for him to discover that oily saloon owner Steve Corbin (Tristram Coffin) is the boss of the operation. With the help of newspaper editor Idaho Foster (Hatton), his daughter Diane (Reno Browne) and Mayor Tom Jamison (Steve Clark), he begins his work.The Mayor appoints Johnny sheriff and Idaho as his deputy. Meanwhile Corbin and his two men, Duke Carter (Marshall Reed) and Ace Jenkins (Terry Frost) are behind two murders, one a miner and another who accused Corbin of cheating at cards. Kitty Malone (Claudia Drake) and Flo Vickert (Christine McIntyre) compete for Corbin's affections. Johnny has a knock down drag out fight with Duke to establish his authority. Kitty takes a liking to Johnny and warns him of impending danger.Corbin sets a trap for Johnny and Kitty but things don't go as planned. Following a gun battle with Corbin's men Johnny confronts Corbin and Duke at the saloon and.................................As in many "B" westerns of the day, the picture's title has nothing to do with the plot. First, unless I missed it, there is NO Gentleman from Texas, in fact I don't think the word "Texas" is even mentioned. Brown as most western fans know was from Alabama.Brown's westerns were always entertaining and full of action and Hatton was one of the most popular of sidekicks. Christine McIntyre was a member of the unofficial Three Stooges stock company of the time and appeared in several of their comedies. Veteran baddie Pierce Lyden appears as a hired gunman. Claudia Drake sings a couple of forgettable songs and Curt Barrett and his Trail Blazers liven things up with a couple of jumpy little tunes.A competent little western.

No better example that Johny Mack Brown's rugged Westerns were not made for children exists than The Gentleman From Texas. This one is astonishingly violent even for one of his shoot'em-up, punch'em-down numbers. In the 55 minute running time there must be at least 30 characters killed, or approximately one every one-and-a-half minutes. Nor are the usual furniture-smashing saloon fist fights forgotten. Though Brown's and other low-budget Westerns of the 1930's and 'forties were actually aimed at uncomplicated rural adults, they were always seen and enjoyed by children -- unfortunately. Even realizing that those little snot-nosed bundles of fallen nature are born loving violence, that doesn't mean it should be encouraged in them.That being said, this is surely one of John Mack's better efforts. Certainly not because of the unfortunate costuming choice which had him wearing the same distractingly loud checked shirt though the entire picture. Partly because of a refreshing absence of the sometimes irritating B-Western comedy relief. But mostly because of the excellent performance (both acting and singing) of beautiful, curvaceous femme fa-tale Claudia Drake, as a shady saloon girl who seems to be stuck on both her criminal boss (Tristam Coffin) and marshal Johny Mack. Likewise good support comes from Christine McIntire, as a rival floozy, and the always colorful Raymond Hatton. Charaterization is better than the average for a low-budget oater, the action scenes well brought off, and editing on the button. Well done by veteran director Lambert Hillyer.This is a good one for those of you geezers who like yours truly will watch any Western. But don't let your grandchildren watch it!

Roy and Gene and Tex could sing. Buck and Ken seemed the real thing. Tim had the look of an eagle. Wild Bill and little Bob Steele were dynamic actors. William Boyd as Hoppy was Dad in a Stetson. But the best of all the B cowboy heroes might well have been Johnny Mack Brown. Handsome enough to have wooed and won Garbo and Crawford as a silent film matinée idol, he was a forceful and yet sensitive actor who projected an engaging personality. Best of all, this former All-American football star at Alabama was a superb horseman and all-around athlete. No one was better in the action scenes.Brown's career stuttered with the coming of sound, his warm Southern accent for some reason viewed as a drawback, until eventually he found his niche in the mid-thirties in B westerns. He would remain one of the most popular cowboy stars until well into the fifties.The Gentleman From Texas might well be the best of the 130 or so westerns which Johnny Mack filmed during his career. Produced by Monogram bigwig Scott Dunlap, the little studio obviously put their best into it. Old-time William S Hart director Lambert Hillyer handled the action scenes with panache. Brown was in his early forties, but as with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum, maturity sat well on him. His weight problems were still in the future.The plot is an old sagebrush standby with Brown an ex-lawman brought in by Wells Fargo to put the lid on a wide open town, and who is swiftly appointed town marshal. Raymond Hatton is the publisher of the local newspaper who takes on the job of Brown's deputy. Reno Blair is Hatton's daughter and the courageous editor who rallies the good folks of the town to back Brown.The bad guys are a formidable bunch, led by the urbane Tristram Coffin, the slickest of the "boss" heavies of the forties. Marshall Reed, Terry Frost, and Pierce Lyden lead the pack of henchmen and hired guns doing Coffin's bidding. There are plenty of hard riding chases, shootout after shootout, and two bone-jarring to the finish fistfights, before Brown can scrub the town clean and restore law and order.While the basic plot is familiar, there is one twist which separates this film from the usual B western offering. Coffin has not one but two saloon girl mistresses, played by the talented Claudia Drake and blonde Three Stooges comic foil Christine McIntyre, who are willing to become involved in murder plots, leading to several unusual complications.Everything from the acting to the action is well done. Even the musical interludes, often a drawback, are top notch and entertaining.All in all, a must for Johnny Mack or B western fans, and a good one for others who might want to dip into this once most popular genre.