Sam (Lloyd Nolan), Jim (Fred MacMurray), and Wahoo (Jack Oakie) are three outlaws in the old west. Wahoo works as a stagecoach driver and always lets Sam and Jim know which coaches will be worth holding up. It’s a pretty good scam until the authorities get wise to their scheme and set out after the three of them. Sam abandons his two partners while Jim and Wahoo eventually end up in Texas. At first, Jim and Wahoo are planning to keep on robbing stagecoaches but then they realize that they can make even more money as Texas Rangers.
At first, Jim and Wahoo are just planning on sticking around long enough to make some cash and then split. However, both of them discover that they prefer to be on the right side of the law. After they save a boy named David from Indians, Jim and Wahoo decide to stay in Texas and protect its settlers.
The only problem is that their old friend Sam has returned and his still on the wrong side of the law.
Made to commemorate the Texas centenary (though it was filmed in New Mexico), The Texas Rangers is a good example of what’s known as an oater, a low-budget but entertaining portrayal of life on the frontier. King Vidor does a good job with the action scenes and Fred MacMuarry and Jack Oakie are a likable onscreen team. The best performance comes from Lloyd Nolan, as the ruthless and calculating Sam. Sam can be funny and even likable but when he’s bad, he’s really bad.
Jack Oakie was better known as a comedian and The Texas Rangers provides him with a rare dramatic role. Four years after appearing in The Texas Rangers, Oakie would appear in his most famous role, playing a parody of Benito Mussolini in Charlie Chaplin’s The Great Dictator.
When a secret service agent’s investigation into a supposed counterfeiting ring instead leads to him discovering a plot to smuggle illegal aliens into the United States via airplanes, the agent ends up plummeting several hundred miles to his death. Realizing that they need someone who can go undercover and infiltrate the smuggling ring, the Secret Service recruits Lt. Brass Bancroft (Ronald Reagan). Bancroft is a war hero who is now a commercial airline pilot. He is also good with his fists, has an innate sense of right and wrong, and a sidekick named Gabby (Eddie Foy Jr., giving a very broad performance as the movie’s comic relief). But before Brass can win the trust of the smugglers, he will have to establish a firm cover story and that means allowing himself to be arrested on fake charges. In order to save the day, Brass will have to first survive prison.
Through the Shattered Lens 