Tales of the Texas Rangers

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Seasons & Episodes

8.3| 0h30m| en
Synopsis

Tales of the Texas Rangers is a western old-time radio drama, which aired on NBC from July 8, 1950 to September 14, 1952, and thereafter a 52-episode CBS television series broadcast on Saturday mornings from 1955 to 1958. Film star Joel McCrea voiced the radio version as the fictitious Texas Ranger Jayce Pearson, who uses the latest scientific techniques to identify criminals. His faithful horse, Charcoal, helps Pearson to track down the culprits. The radio shows, some of which are available on the Internet, are reenactments of actual Texas Ranger cases. The television version was produced and also directed for several episodes by Stacy Keach, Sr. It was sponsored for part of its run by Wheaties cereal. Captain Manuel T. "Lone Wolf" Gonzaullas, who was said to have killed thirty-one men during his 30-year career as a Texas Ranger, was the consultant for the television series, filmed by Screen Gems. On radio, Joel McCrea's Pearson often worked by request with a local sheriff's office or police department, but in the television version, Willard Parker assumed the role of Jace Pearson and had a regular partner, Ranger Clay Morgan, who had been an occasional character on the radio show. Morgan was portrayed in the television version by Harry Lauter. William Boyett appeared five times on the television series, including the role of Wade Crowell in the 1955 premiere episode, "Ransom Flight."

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Reviews

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.
StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Myron Clemons A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.
Casey Duggan It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny
bkoganbing Tales Of The Texas Rangers apparently believed that the Rangers was a family profession. Willard Parker and Harry Lauter as Rangers Jace Pearson and Clay Morgan starred in the show. Which alternated between the old west and the modern day. But two rangers named Pearson and Morgan were always apprehending bad guys no matter the era. The two had the same uniforms in both old west and modern stories and both sported a two gun rig. But for the modern stories they rode in a squad car with a trailer hitched to it where they kept the horses. Should the bad guys take off into some rugged terrain, they could saddle the horses and continue the pursuit. It's what I remember best about the show I started watching at the age of 8.Joel McCrea narrated and starred in a radio version of the show in the role that Willard Parker had. It might have been nice to see him on television. But the man was in his 50s already.It's a fond memory from childhood, wish I could see it again.
lrachiele1-1 SONY has the rights to the 13 unreleased episodes of the Tales of the Texas Rangers. They indicated that if enough people and/or dealers show interest, they will sell them on the market. In other words, it is up to us to contact SONY; or SONY may find it more convenient to just sell the entire 52 stories as one package. Suggest we fans move to request it. Unreleased: Both Barrels Blazing, Bandits of El Dorado, Last Days of Boot Hill, Whirlwind Raiders, Ambush, Warpath, Double Edge, Midway Kewpie, Quarter Horse, Jail Bird, Buckaroo from Powder River, Panhandle, Key Witness, Traitor's Gold. This was a very good series for its time and Willard Parker was an underrated actor
John (opsbooks) Harry Lauter used to turn up in so many shows during the 1950s and 1960s that my dad and I used to keep track of them so we could catch repeats. Yes, Harry was that good; an actor who came across as someone who could carry off any character with aplomb.This series had probably the best theme outside of 'The Adventures of Superman'. Though I've not seen 'Texas Rangers' for decades, I can replay that theme, words and picture, in my mind without any trouble at all. A series I'd love to find one day on DVD.
consortpinguin Every Saturday morning I loved the lineup of live action and animated shows on the air. "The Tales of Texas Rangers" started just before I entered kintergarten and continued until about the third grade. Many times my friends and I played cowboys and sometimes used story lines from these shows. When I was in the early grades I wanted to be a cowboy, which would be a big move for a city slicker from Pittsburgh. Cowboy, fireman, and pilot were the top three career goals of the boys in my classes. Westerns and Science Fiction were big both in the movies and TV."Tales of Texas Rangers" was one of the better Westerns I remember. One week they would be in the Old West and the other week they would be in modern times. We loved the deserts, the mountains, and the praries of the West, and of course the horses. It was encouraging to see even that in the age of Satellites, they still had big ranches in Texas and were still troubled by cattle rustlers and mine claim-jumpers. The good guys always won, and we admired their bravery and quick-thinking. One encouraging sign for our future employment was that at least the original Texas Rangers only hired men who were not from Texas, on the theory that Texans would sooner or later would be forced to arrest an old friend.One of the details that strikes you at that age is that in the modern episodes they always got brand new Fords every September. Seeing the new crop of cars every years was very exciting and every year the auto stores on Homestead's "Auto Row" would hold big open houses to show off the latest models.When my own children grew up in the 1980s I watched many wonderful new kids' shows, but they just didn't match up to the classics like "Texas Rangers." Ah, the memories!