Steineded How sad is this?

Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Geraldine The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

museumofdave This Paramount studio effort stars Fred MacMurray, who many folks today only remember as the Dad in My Three Songs or the Flubber films. But MacMurry could do almost anything and do it well, from his cunning performance as the weak insurance foil in the classic noir Double Indemnity to his brilliant turn as the amoral business executive in The Apartment.Here early MacMurray is pared with Jack Oakie, the latter an endearing studio performer who brings some genuine warmth and humor to what in many ways is a typical studio Western, but much richer than the usual B oaters churned out by Republic or Monogram; this is essentially a tale of cowboy reformation, as three thieving get separated by circumstance and two of them choose community and goodness, while one--the notorious polka dot bandit (!), played by Lloyd Nolan, stays outside the law. Nolan, who usually played good second leads or endearing detectives, effortlessly engages in a wee bit of method acting, convincing in his greasy charm, oozing villainy and malice.While not a landmark film in any way, this is a casual, amiable entertainment, good for a lazy afternoon (coupled with a bowl of popcorn and perhaps a Charlie Chan mystery).

mark.waltz Two Texas bandits (Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie) join the Texas Rangers in order to avoid being caught and slowly reform. They take on raids by Native Americans and another bandit (Lloyd Nolan) while MacMurray further reforms thanks to a beautiful woman (Jean Parker). Exciting action sequences (particularly a scene with falling boulders)and humor by Oakie are among the highlights. MacMurray, then at the start of his lengthy career, is quite likable in spite of a tough facade. Benny Bartlett is excellent as the young boy MacMurray mentors initially against the law and later on its side. Parker gets some better material than most heroines do in westerns. This is a perfect old movie to introduce today's youth to the great westerns of yesteryear.

Spikeopath The Texas Rangers is directed by King Vidor who also co-writes with Elizabeth Hill, Louis Stevens and Walter Prescott Webb. It stars Fred MacMurray, Jack Oakie, Jean Parker and Lloyd Nolan. Music is by Gerard Carbonara and cinematography by Edward Cronjager. Plot has MacMurray and Oakie as two outlaws who decide to become Texas Rangers, something which invariably brings them into conflict with another outlaw pal.It showcases the good and bad of 1930s Westerns. The action is strong and vibrant, the landscapes appealing and the story as a premise is always interesting. But those good points are countered with weak scripting, goofs, logic holes and a mixed bag of acting performances. But all told, Vidor's movie comes through its problems to stay firmly on the good side of good for the Western fan.It's good guys versus bad guys on the home front, with the Indians lining up in numbers to be the common foe. It's here for the latter, where Vidor excels, constructing the action scenes with great skill as a ream of extras in Indian attire attack in their droves, arrows and bullets fly with murderous worth, bodies hurl and fall about, it's exciting stuff. The highlight coming as the Indians start flinging boulders off of a cliff face down onto the Rangers down below; the sound work here especially great, as is the stunt work in this whole segment of the film.MacMurray and Oakie make a likable pair, but both seem a touch out of place in this portion of the Wild West. But Nolan cuts a nice snarly figure as chief villain Sam "Polka Dot" McGee, and he gets to deliver the film's best (nastiest) moment. Parker is pretty but pretty much a token, while secondary support slots are capably filled by the likes of Edward Ellis, Benny Bartlett and Frank Shannon. Cronjager's black and white photography is on the money, neatly utilising the New Mexico locations as wide open vistas that impose on the characters. While Carbonara scores it with standard Cowboys and Indian flavours for the attacks, and bombastic machismo for the Texas Rangers patrols.Full of formula and mixed signals as to what it wants to be, The Texas Rangers is none the less an enjoyable picture and one of the better Oaters from the 30s. 7/10Footnote: A sequel followed in 1940 called The Texas Rangers Ride Again. In 1949 The Texas Rangers was remade as Streets of Laredo, with William Holden starring.

railyard All you Jack Oakie fans beware, I'm going to dump on him. Any time I see his name in the cast of characters, I think twice about watching that movie. There has to be a big-name leading man that I like enough to overcome the stupid shenanigans of Oakie. In this case, it was Fred MacMurray, of whom I am very fond. Why oh why do the heroes in the early westerns have Bozo the Clowns for partners? Gabby Hayes, Smiley Burnett, Pat Buttram, Dub Taylor, Al St. John, Fuzzy Knight, Max Terhune, Frank McHugh, Slim Pickens, Pat Brady and a score of others all set their sights on being as dumb as possible and hinder the hero in as many ways as possible. There were a few good exceptions, my favorite being Tonto of The Lone Ranger fame. In real life, would Lloyd Nolan put up with Oakie. I don't think so. The least he would have done is kick him out of the gang. Although I didn't approve of the way Nolan did in Oakie under the table, I was glad that Oakie was out of the movie, even though it was only for a short time before the ending. (See The Call of the Wild with Clark Gable if you want to see Oakie spoil another great movie). I loved the action and gunplay in this movie especially the Indian attack. Long-distance shooting with sixguns was a bit hard to take, but all the movie cowboy heroes did it. I thought the romance was particularly well done and I would have given in to Jean Parker a lot sooner than Fred did. Overall I gave this movie a 7, but it would have been an 8 if it took itself a bit more serious. I know a lot of you are going to disagree with me on the partners issue, but I like serious westerns, not comedy westerns.