classicsoncall Review of Texas Across the River

Texas Across the River (1966)

"We've had civilized killing around here for years".

[7/10 · 21 September 2016]

Starting out I didn't know what to make of this Western. Joey Bishop as an Indian? It had to be the first time he rolled his eyes that I figured out the writers were playing it strictly for laughs here, with Dean Martin leading the charge in this funny Western parody. The Cheyenne Indian tribe in particular cracked me up every time Yellow Knife (Linden Chiles) referred to his father Iron Jacket (Michael Ansara) as 'Dad'. Nothing is safe from the writers' satirical pen in this flick, even the Cavalry gets a workout with Peter Graves leading his soldiers with that non-sensical call to arms that sounded like 'Ha-Roar - Har!' every time they changed direction. I can only imagine what the outtakes for this picture must have been like. To their credit, Rat-Packers Martin and Bishop managed to keep a straight face pretty much throughout the story, but I bet they had to shoot a fair share of scenes more than once to get beyond the hysterics.

Best gag - Sam Hollis (Martin) to Kronk (Bishop) - "Why weren't you born a Comanche?"

Kronk - "Mother run too fast!"

'Suna Mah Gun'.