Lou Brown Movies

The fight for the Louisiana Territory provides the basis for this adventure. The struggle begins when the Spaniards controlling the land try to keep American boatmen from entering the Mississippi. A young American fellow is dispatched to represent the US and to parlay with the Spanish. Eventually, he and his girl friend attempt to return to Washington, DC to speak with the president, but the Spanish do all they can to stop them. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

A rather weak entry in producer Edward F. Finney's series of Tex Ritter Westerns, Trouble in Texas enjoyed a much longer than usual shelf life courtesy of its beautiful leading lady Rita Hayworth, then known as Rita Cansino. Ritter stars as a rodeo champion searching for the villains who killed his brother. The gang, headed by Barker (Earl Dwire), is summarily poisoning competition to Barker's own champion, Squint Harmer (Yakima Canutt). With the assistance of Carmen (Hayworth) and comedic sidekick Lucky (Horace Murphy), Ritter not only avoids being poisoned, but goes on to win the rodeo. As a sort of consolation prize, the Barker gang rob the local bank, but choose a rather unfortunate wagon filled with dynamite as the getaway vehicle. In between riding in the (stock-footage) rodeo and chasing down his brother's killers, Ritter sings his own "Song of the Rodeo" and Al Bryan's "Down the Colorado Trail," while Hayworth performs a Mexican dance. When Trouble in Texas was re-released in 1943 by Ambassador Pictures, Rita Hayworth not surprisingly earned star billing ahead of Ritter. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide