In the 1970s there were a lot of these grade-B, drive-in type movies set in rural Southern locations. Typically, there was a sheriff, a youngish protagonist, lots of car chase action, and some kind of conflict involving the sheriff and protagonist. "A Small Town In Texas" clicks all these boxes. And so the underlying idea here isn't original.

Yet, the down-home rural atmosphere seems fairly realistic, as the movie was filmed in and around small towns near Austin. Male characters are generally good ole boys with minimal education; and the women are fairly inconspicuous. The main character is Poke (Timothy Bottoms), a local hick just out of prison who has a score to settle with Sheriff Duke (Bo Hopkins). The corn pone dialogue is about what you would expect for local yokels. There's some fairly good suspense in the second half. And part of the plot involves corruption surrounding a political event.

The script has several major problems, apart from being unoriginal. First, the inciting incident is postponed too long, so that the plot's first thirty minutes meanders. Second, the scriptwriter overuses the car chase cliché; here there are three, complete with inept cops and screeching tires. Third, the script leaves dangling the subplot involving character C.J. Crane.

Casting is less than ideal. Bo Hopkins seems to have become typecast. Timothy Bottoms looks too young to play a hardened criminal, though his performance here is acceptable. Secondary characters seem more like two-dimensional stick figures. I really like that mournful score, played at the beginning and at the end. Cinematography and production design are okay, but the film's color seems highly muted.

Life in a small, rural town in the American South, combined with some contrived drama sums up the premise of this film. "Macon County Line" is much better. But "A Small Town In Texas" is acceptable if other similar movies are unavailable.

Even within its own and secluded subgenre (that genre being the good ol' boy hixploitation), "A Small Town in Texas" is a largely unremarkable and utmost derivative effort. The film has all the mandatory ingredients, like corrupt sheriffs, bluegrass music and virulent car chases, but the plot is overly simplistic, and the three lead characters are weak and unmemorable. Timothy Bottoms has zero charisma as the ex-con on the run for the corrupt Sheriff who wants to frame him for murder. The Sheriff, as played by Bo Hopkins, is alright, but not nearly as grim and menacing as the rotten lawmen in other contemporary semi-classics. Susan George is a lovely woman and a more than decent actress, but she one major handicap for starring in this film. She's far too British to depict a Texan local gal and can't really hide her accent. The makers must have noticed this as well, since she doesn't have many significant lines. The undisputed highlight of the film is a random but outrageous appearance by George 'Buck' Flower - who else - as the sneering Uncle Bull. "A Small Town in Texas" certainly isn't a total waste of your precious time, but there are much better and equally obscure hixploitation classics out there to discover (notably "Moving Violation", "Jackson County Jail", "Poor Pretty Eddy", "....tick...tick...tick", "Nightmare in Badham County", etc")

Ex-con and former high school football star Poke Jackson (a solid and likable performance by Timothy Bottoms) returns to his small country home town only to discover that his old flame Mary Lee (a fine and charming portrayal by Susan George) is now involved with the corrupt sheriff Duke (Bo Hopkins in peak slimy form), who also was responsible for sending Poke up the river in the first place.

Director Jack Starrett, working from a compelling script by William A. Norton, keeps the engrossing and entertaining story moving along at a steady pace, offers a strong and flavorsome rural redneck hamlet atmosphere, and stages several exciting action set pieces with his trademark rip-snorting gusto. Bottoms and George display a winning and convincing chemistry as the personable main characters; they receive able support from Morgan Woodward as flinty local bigwig C.J. Crane, John Karlen as bumbling deputy Lenny, Art Hindle as amiable grease monkey Boogie, and George "Buck" Flower in an especially lively and funny turn as scruffy hick hell-raiser Bull Parker. Both Charles Bernstein's spirited harmonic score and Robert C. Jessup's sharp widescreen cinematography are up to par. A fun flick.