Review of The Texican

The Texican (1966)
One of Murphy's last is not one of his best
30 June 2009
Times were getting hard for Audie Murphy in the '60s. He started getting financial problems, his personal life was going to hell, and the kind of westerns that had made him a star were starting to dry up. So he went to Spain to make this Spanish western. That fact did not bother me when I heard about this movie. Many of my favorite westerns are European westerns, so I was pretty intrigued to see what Europeans would do with a Hollywood star like Murphy.

I was disappointed with this movie in the end, however. I will admit that the sets are fine, and there is some good desert scenery. But I found the story surprisingly slow and dull. Murphy's character knows who the culprit is that murdered his brother, but he does pretty much nothing about it until the very end of the movie. Until that happens, the audience is treated to endless (and boring) chat, a bland villain, and a pretty bland hero as well.

The faults of this movie can probably be explained that while this was a European western, there was no Italian involvement. The Italians were the ones who really made European westerns shine, from the music to the scripts. Watch one of these kinds of European westerns instead of "The Texican", even if it doesn't contain a star as big as Murphy. You'll most likely be greater entertained.
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