''The Texican'' is a 1966 American

Techniscope Techniscope or 2-perf is a 35 mm motion picture camera film format introduced by Technicolor Italia in 1960. The Techniscope format uses a two film- perforation negative pulldown per frame, instead of the standard four-perforation frame ...

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film produced and written by John C. Champion and directed by

Lesley Selander Lesley Selander (May 26, 1900 – December 5, 1979) was an American film director of Western (genre), Westerns and adventure film, adventure movies. His career as director, spanning 127 feature films and dozens of TV episodes, lasted from 1936 to ...

. It is a paella western

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

of their 1948 film ''

Panhandle A salient, panhandle, or bootheel is an elongated protrusion of a geopolitical entity, such as a subnational entity or a sovereign state. While similar to a peninsula in shape, a salient is most often not surrounded by water on three sides. Ins ...

'' adapted for the

persona A persona (plural personae or personas) is a strategic mask of identity in public, the public image of one's personality, the social role that one adopts, or simply a fictional Character (arts), character. It is also considered "an intermediary ...

Audie Murphy Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor, and songwriter. He was widely celebrated as the most decorated American combat soldier of World War II, and has been described as the most highly decorated enli ...

that featured

Broderick Crawford William Broderick Crawford (December 9, 1911 – April 26, 1986) was an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Willie Stark in the film ''All the King's Men'' (1949), which earned him an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award. Of ...

as the

heavy Heavy may refer to: Measures * Heavy, a characterization of objects with substantial weight * Heavy, a wake turbulence category used by pilots and air traffic controllers to refer to aircraft with a maximum takeoff mass of 136,000 kgs or mo ...

. The film was re-titled ''Ringo il Texano'' in Italy to coincide with the popularity of the Ringo

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

film series.

Plot

The town of Rimrock, Arizona is run by

political boss In the politics of the United States of America, a boss is a person who controls a faction or local branch of a political party. They do not necessarily hold public office themselves; most historical bosses did not, at least during the times of th ...

Luke Starr (

). When one of Starr's

henchmen A henchman is a loyal employee, supporter, or aide to some powerful figure engaged in nefarious or criminal enterprises. Henchmen are typically relatively unimportant in the organisation: minions whose value lies primarily in their unquestioning ...

wishes to escape from Starr he meets with the editor of the town newspaper, Roy Carlin ( Víctor Vilanova), to ask for his help. Starr discovers the meeting and he and his loyal henchmen shoot both of them, spreading the story that the two killed each other in a gunfight. Roy Carlin's brother Jess (

) is a former Texas sheriff now living in semi-retirement with his girlfriend in Mexico. He has a price on his head for unstated crimes committed in the United States but earns income and beats the boredom of his quiet life by capturing fugitive American criminals and turning them over to American lawmen who return them across the border. When Jess finds out the story of his brother he renounces the quiet life to bring his brother's killer to justice, as he knows Roy never carried a firearm. On the way he is unsuccessfully ambushed by

bounty hunter A bounty hunter is a private agent working for a bail bondsman who captures fugitives or criminals for a commission or bounty. The occupation, officially known as a bail enforcement agent or fugitive recovery agent, has traditionally operated ...

s and has to escape without his saddle. Stopping off at a ranch he thinks is unoccupied, he leaves money for a saddle but is held at gunpoint by the ranch owner Sandy ( Luz Márquez). She changes her opinion on Jess after discovering he has left money as payment that is four times the value of the saddle. Riding into Rimrock, Jess unsuccessfully tries to find out more about his brother's death. The new editor of the paper asks Jess to stay to eliminate Luke Starr and his band. Jess explains that in the past, when he was a sheriff in the same town where his brother was a newspaper editor, they cleaned up the town but found out the hard way that the men who replaced those they got rid of were much worse. After fist and gun fights, Jess is finally able to establish proof of Luke's involvement in the killing when he finds a decorative concho that leather worker Sandy is able to identify as one that came off Luke's gun belt.

Cast

Production

Audie Murphy was one of the many stars who turned down

Sergio Leone Sergio Leone ( ; ; 3 January 1929 – 30 April 1989) was an Italian filmmaker, credited as the pioneer of the spaghetti Western genre. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest directors in the history of cinema. Leone's film-making style ...

's ''

A Fistful of Dollars ''A Fistful of Dollars'' (, (''For a Fistful of Dollars'')) is a 1964 spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood in his first leading role, alongside Gian Maria Volonté, Marianne Koch, Wolfgang Lukschy, Si ...

'' because he recognised that the screenplay was an uncredited copy of

Akira Kurosawa was a Japanese filmmaker who List of works by Akira Kurosawa, directed 30 feature films in a career spanning six decades. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential filmmakers in the History of film, history of cinema ...

’s ''

Yojimbo is a 1961 Japanese samurai film directed by Akira Kurosawa, who also co-wrote the screenplay and was one of the producers. The film stars Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Yoko Tsukasa, Isuzu Yamada, Daisuke Katō, Takashi Shimura, Kamat ...

''. With Westerns being not only in demand but cheap to produce in Europe, the film crew travelled to Spain in September 1965 to shoot the film. Murphy recalled he had to perform his own stunts and “had to do everything myself except pack my own lunch”. A third partner in the MCR (Murphy, Champion & SelandeR) Production company, Murphy had a large say in the making of the film. The team was to have made another film in Spain, ''Maverick Guns'' with

Cesar Romero César Julio Romero Jr. (February 15, 1907 – January 1, 1994) was an American actor. He was active in film, radio, and television for almost 60 years. His wide range of screen roles included Latin lover (stereotype), Latin lovers, historical ...

and Gary Crosby but it was never made.p.210 Larkins, Bob & Magers, Boyd ''The Films of Audie Murphy'' McFarland & Co., 2004 Producer and writer John C. Champion, whose first film had been ''Panhandle'', had made several Westerns in America and the '' Laramie'' Western series. After his Spanish venture, he moved to England and started

Oakmont Productions Oakmont is a borough in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, along the Allegheny River. The population was 6,758 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. The borough is best known for the nearby Oakmont ...

to film

war film War film is a film genre concerned with warfare, typically about navy, naval, air force, air, or army, land battles, with combat scenes central to the drama. It has been strongly associated with the 20th century. The fateful nature of battle s ...

s for

Mirisch Productions The Mirisch Company was an American film production company owned by Walter Mirisch and his brothers, Marvin and Harold Mirisch. The company also had sister firms known at various times as Mirisch Production Company, Mirisch Pictures Inc., Mir ...

finished his career directing Westerns for

A.C. Lyles Andrew Craddock Lyles Jr. (May 17, 1918 – September 27, 2013) was an American film producer for Paramount Pictures, who is best known for producing a variety of Westerns in the 1950s and '60s. Career Born in Jacksonville, Florida, Lyles began ...

Notes

External links

*
''The Texican''
at

TCMDB Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

*
''The Texican''
at Audie Murphy Memorial Site {{DEFAULTSORT:Texican 1966 films Columbia Pictures films Films directed by Lesley Selander Spanish Western (genre) films 1966 Western (genre) films Films shot in Spain Spaghetti Western films Films shot in Barcelona Films scored by Nico Fidenco 1960s English-language films American Western (genre) films 1960s American films 1960s Italian films English-language Western (genre) films