Overrated

Excellent but underrated film

everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

On a whim, bandits Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie enlist in the Texas Rangers. The two partner up with old pal Lloyd Nolan for some crooked schemes, but soon hear the call of duty, putting them at odds with their criminal lifestyle.Like his most famous film, The Champ, director King Vidor imbues this with depression-era sensibilities and sentimentality, having lovable bums MacMurray and Oakie find self-respect, romance, and a sense of selflessness, all with a young orphan in tow.Photography, direction, and action sequences are all first rate. The performances were a little dated, but adequate. Unlike others, I didn't find Oakie's good-old-boy character annoying or unrealistic.Cameo appearances by George "Gabby" Hayes and Charles Middleton (Ming the Merciless) were a lot of fun too.

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.

King Vidor brings his usual sincerity and visual austerity to this tale of the early years of the Texas Rangers, as seen through the eyes of a pair of lawbreakers (Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie) who join the force planning to use inside information to make their robberies more effective. But gradually through the course of the film first Wahoo (Oakie) and finally Jim (MacMurray) face responsibility and turn in the direction of the law. Jim is influenced in this regard by his love for his commanding officer's daughter, Amanda (Jean Parker).This is one of those films that looks kind of important but ultimately feels like lazy film-making. For instance there are all these scenes with Jim and the Rangers on the top of a hill shooting Indians…. They're using pistols but somehow shooting them off their horses from hundreds of yards away. I know realism isn't always the requisite for Westerns, but at least in the matter of firearms that could be expected from a non-comedy film. It features put-you-to-sleep narration from the Ranger commander that feels like it was lifted out of a G-man film. Overall there's just a feeling of smallness, of a lack of aspiration surrounding this movie.MacMurray struggles to give his character dignity. He's a good actor but he's been given a pretty standard character here. In fact all 3 villains just feel a bit too goofy and affable for us to believe they are "badmen" or for the possibility of reformation to feel really dramatic. Oakie's character is interesting because he begins as basic comic relief and ends up becoming the moral voice of the film. Lloyd Nolan gives probably the film's best performance as the third man in their partnership who doesn't want to "go straight." Not too much to recommend but it's not horrible, so it's the type of film to watch when you're bored and feel like an oater, but not something worth seeking out or re-watching in particular.

This is my first recollection of Lloyd Nolan. He played "Polkadot Sam", the buddy who went wrong while Fred MacMurray and Jack Oakie became lawmen. Jack Oakie was the wise-crackin' comedy relief. Nolan's nickname came from the polka-dotted neckerchief he always wore. Wouldn't ya know it, Fred MacMurray had to gun him down at the end, and as he cradled his fallen former buddy in his arms we were treated to one of the tear-jerkinest death scenes ever in a western, on a par with Gary Cooper and Richard Arlen in "The Virginian". A lot of ridin' and shootin' made it a Saturday afternoon well spent.