Once Upon a Texas Train

1988

1h 36m

IMDb RATING

5.1/10

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12 Images

Action

Western

TV Movie

Captain Hayes of the mighty law enforcement squad named the Texas Rangers reached the pinnacle of his career when he captured the notorious John Henry, an outlaw cowboy, and put him behind bars. Twenty years later, upon his release, Henry is older but unrepentant. Within six hours after leaving his jail cell, he evens the score with Hayes by holding up the Bank of Texas for $20,000 in gold. Hayes, in his fury, gets himself out of retirement to take up the chase once more.

Directors

Burt Kennedy

Writers

Burt Kennedy(writer by)

Stars

Willie Nelson

Shaun Cassidy

Chuck Connors

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Videos1

Clip
Watch Once Upon a Texas Train - Excerpt (1988)

Photos12

Top cast

John Henry Lee

Cotton

Nash Crawford

George Asque

Billy Bates

Old Timer

Kelly Sutton

Nitro Jones

Jason Fitch

Fargo Parker

The Governor

Charlie Lee

Meg Boley

Herald Fitch

David Michael O'Neill

John Young

Red West

Bates Boley

Dennis Fimple

Telegrapher

Don Collier

Warden

Directors

Burt Kennedy

Writers

Burt Kennedy(writer by)

All cast & crew

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User reviews2

Review

Featured review

6/10

***Old guns vs. young guns*** Released to TV in 1988, “Once upon a Texas Train” is a Western about an aged outlaw who is paroled from prison after 20 years (Willie Nelson). After he brazenly robs a bank and reforms his old gang, his nemesis, a retired Texas Ranger (Richard Widmark), forms a posse to pursue them. But these two factions of withered men might have to join forces against a young gang of outlaws (led by Shaun Cassidy). Writer/director Burt Kennedy was known for numerous Westerns, both theatrical and television, two of his best being “The War Wagon” (1967) and “The Train Robbers” (1973). This one isn’t on that level because it was limited by a TV budget and included Willie Nelson, who’s a charismatic guy but not the best actor. Nevertheless, it’s a worthwhile Western featuring a can’t-beat-it cast of Western stalwarts, like Chuck Connors, Stuart Whitman, Jack Elam and Angie Dickinson. Also on the female front is the lovely Clare Carey, who was only 20 during shooting. There’s some effective comedy thrown in, mostly revolving around old age, not to mention a couple of laugh-out-loud jokes involving a bicycle. Lastly, you can’t beat the superb Western locations of Arizona (Mescal, Old Tucson), Nevada (Ely) and California (Thousand Oaks). The film runs 1 hour, 36 minutes and, while a standalone flick, was sort of the third movie in the “Over the Hill Gang” series, the first two being from 1969 and 1970 respectively. GRADE: B-

Wuchak04 Dec, 2018