The Texas Rangers

1936

1h 38m

IMDb RATING

6.3/10

YOUR RATING

Rate

POPULARITY

Play trailer

0 Videos

12 Images

Western

Two down-on-their-luck former outlaws volunteer to be Texas Rangers and find themselves assigned to bring in an old friend, now a notorious outlaw.

Directors

King Vidor

Writers

Walter Prescott Webb(story by)

Elizabeth Hill(story by)

Louis Stevens(screenplay by)

Stars

Fred MacMurray

Jack Oakie

Jean Parker

See production, box office & company info

Top cast

Fred MacMurray

Jim Hawkins

Jack Oakie

Henry B. 'Wahoo' Jones

Jean Parker

Amanda Bailey

Lloyd Nolan

Sam 'Polka Dot' McGee

Major Bailey

David

Captain Stafford

Ranger Ditson

Casper Johnson

District Attorney Dave Twitchell

Fred Kohler

Jess Higgins

George 'Gabby' Hayes

Judge Snow

Kathryn Bates

Schoolteacher (uncredited)

Rhea Mitchell

Passenger (uncredited)

Ranger (uncredited)

Ranger (uncredited)

Ranger (uncredited)

Ranger

Directors

King Vidor

Writers

Walter Prescott Webb(story by)

Elizabeth Hill(story by)

Louis Stevens(screenplay by)

All cast & crew

Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Petty robbers “Jim” (Fred McMurray) and his pal “Wahoo” (Jack Oakie) have quite politely robbed the stage, but are running out of cash so they head into a nearby town where they end up joining the Texas Rangers. Unlikely? Well yes, but in no time they hook up with their pal “Sam” (Lloyd Nolan) and conclude that they can make a fortune by passing on the Rangers’ secrets to him! Their first task doesn’t prove so lucrative though as the pair end up part of a small group taking on a band of marauding Indians who’ve had enough of the reservation. It’s during this assignment that “Jim” begins to see the merits of being a legitimate lawman, especially as his boss’s daughter “Amanda” (Jean Parker) starts to take a bit of a shine to him. Their next job is much closer to home. They must apprehend their friend and see him delivered for what is certainly going to be a trial and the noose. Now the conflicted “Jim” has to decide whether it is his past or his future that matters most. It’s an episodic, but competently delivered western all around this with McMurray providing a characterful performance as the bullets, knives, arrows and (some polystyrene) boulders fly around his ears. He works well with both Oakie and Nolan and the romance is kept on a low simmer so as not to get in the way of the culminating adventure. There’s also an hint of a moral, here, too and augmented by the rousing opening and closing narrative, it leaves us in no doubt about the dangers faced by the pioneers in establishing and maintaining the rule of law once success became something financially tangible to the violent and the venal.

Geronimo196709 Aug, 2025