If you’ve never seen a B-Western from the '30s before, then it’s probably best if you skip Starlight Over Texas. Starring singing cowboy Tex Ritter (father of John Ritter), the Monogram Pictures-produced Starlight Over Texas is the type of film that makes countless other cheapo western productions look like they were made by John Ford — despite sharing the same low budgets and even lower production values.
Our story opens with some suspiciously non-Native-looking American Indians chasing after a stagecoach — a scene so thrilling that the editor shamelessly uses a take twice. But with the massacre of the brave men driving the coach comes the introduction to our hero, Tex (played by, um, Tex — who portrayed more onscreen characters named Tex 
than any other actor ever). Of course, Tex doesn’t arrive to save the stagecoach’s possessions or its passengers — no, instead, our smiling cowboy first appears strolling down the road while singing the movie’s tender titular love song to his spooked horse!
Thankfully, Tex casts aside his love for his horse when he meets a spicy little salsa number named Rosita (Carmen Laroux, in one of her final roles before her untimely demise in 1942), and, from then on, there ain’t nary a thing that’ll stop him from winning over her heart — even if it means humiliating himself (and anyone with a pulse) by singing a song like “Ah! Viva Tequila” with his ambiguously gay friends Ananias and Pee-Wee (portrayed by Horace Murphy and “Snub” Pollard, respectively, both of whom starred in a dozen or so other movies with Tex Ritter — usually as the same characters).
Wait, did I mention there was singing in this film? ‘Cuz there is. A lot, really. It’s safe to say that a good third of the film is song and dance — and not in a good way, either, especially when you have people singing about the joys of tequila in a B-movie aimed at the kiddies (no wonder that generation had so many alkies). 
But I kid Tex Ritter and this movie, too: in all honesty, Starlight Over Texas is a hoot of a picture — and a great companion piece to a bottle of “Ah! Viva Tequila.”
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