Texas Across the River ** (1966, Dean Martin, Alain Delon, Joey Bishop, Rosemary Forsyth, Tina Aumont, Peter Graves, Andrew Prine, Michael Ansara) – Classic Movie Review 4779

Director Michael Gordon’s 1966 tongue-in-cheek Technicolor comedy Western Texas Across the River is a passable old-style entertainment, but at heart it is just a humble B-movie programme filler movie, with only mild entertainment value.

The handsome French street tough guy actor Alain Delon might have liked an international career but he was not easy to integrate into American films, partly because of his strong French accent, and here he crops up very oddly cast as a Spanish nobleman, Don Andrea de Baldazar, helping Texas cowboy Sam Hollis (Dean Martin) and Indian woman Lonetta (Tina Aumont) across Comanche land with a consignment of guns.

Dean Martin (1917–1995).

Nevertheless, Martin is amusing (except when he keeps calling De Baldazar ‘Baldy’), Delon is a very welcome presence, and the movie likeable enough, with its satirical spin, as a fun Sixties romp. However, Martin’s Rat Pack buddy Joey Bishop is embarrassing as an Indian called Kronk.

Tina Aumont (credited as Tina Marquand), who plays Lonetta, is Jean-Pierre Aumont’s daughter. Texas Across the River co-stars Rosemary Forsyth as Phoebe Ann Naylor, Peter Graves as Captain Rodney Stimpson, Andrew Prine as Sibley and Michael Ansara as Iron Jacket.

Alain Delon is a very welcome presence.

Also in the cast are Roy Barcroft, George Wallace, Don Beddoe, Richard Farnsworth, Linden Chiles, Stuart Anderson, Kelly Thordsen and Nora Marlowe.

Texas Across the River is written by Wells Root, Harold Greene, Ben Starr and John Gay (uncredited), shot in Technicolor by Russell Metty, produced by Harry Keller and scored by Frank De Vol [DeVol] and Joseph Gershenson (music supervisor), with Art Direction by Alexander Golitzen and William D DeCinces.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 4779

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com

Dean Martin plays Texas cowboy Sam Hollis.

Alain Delon plays Spanish nobleman Don Andrea de Baldazar in Texas Across the River (1966).