Timothy Bottoms returns to his Texas home after serving a prison sentence to discover that the local corrupt sheriff (Bo Hopkins) has taken up with his girl friend (Susan George), the mother of his son.  After Bottoms witnesses the sheriff’s involvement in a political assassination, he and George are forced to run for their lives.

CRITIQUE

A Small Town in Texas (1976) is the kind of picture that I used to call “a wreck the police car movie”.

There were many of these modestly budgeted epics back in the 1970s, each featuring one or more extended car chases in which the usually corrupt police would be chasing the hero, whose maneuvers would cause the officers to lose control of their vehicles, resulting in some pretty spectacular crashes.

The problem is that most of these films had very little else to offer.

The sad thing about A Small Town in Texas is that it has a potentially intriguing basic story premise, as well as some actors who have delivered impressive performances in other movies. 

William Norton’s screenplay is poorly structured and its key event, the political assassination, appears to have no viable motivation whatsoever.  It’s like the producers just decided to throw it into the mix because it would be “sensational” and provide a reason for the crooked sheriff to chase our innocent hero.

But, why would the town’s wealthiest man (Morgan Woodward) order the killing of some poor schmuck who is running for a small Congressional District?  It’s not like he’s Presidential candidate or something.  We are never given even the hint of a reason.

Texas is a big state, which is (I assume) the rationale why almost all of the actors play their roles “BIG,” thus becoming caricatures.  Director Jack Starrett may have been great at staging car chases, but he should have also paid more attention to performances of his actors.

My wife quit this movie after the first fifteen minutes, and the only reason that I stuck with it is because I had to write this review.

That’s 96 minutes of my life that I will never get back again.

THE VIDEO

As part of MGM’s “Limited Edition Collection,” this is a “burned,” as opposed to a “pressed” DVD, and is manufactured from the best elements available.

The widescreen picture has some signs of age, but no significant problems.  Any issues with the picture have to do with the low budget, poor lighting conditions under which this movie was filmed, and not in the transfer.

THE AUDIO

The Dolby Mono Sound is probably as crisp and clear as it was when the movie first played in the theaters.  The sound recording for this film was not ideal.  There is a lot of unfiltered background noise and some of the lines are muffled and should have been corrected in a looping session, but they weren’t.

THE EXTRAS

None have been included.

FINAL THOUGHT

If you like to watch police cars crash, then this is the movie for you.  If you like good acting, direction and storytelling, look elsewhere.