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Reel Rangers:

Films of the Texas Centennial

by Bill O'Neal

   Throughout 1936, Texans conducted a lengthy Centennial celebration. Capitalizing on the publicity generated by the Texas Centennial, Hollywood set more than the usual number of films on the Lone Star frontier, including several which involved Texas Rangers.

Texas-born Gene Autry, vaulting to stardom in 1936 as a singing cowboy, filmed The Big Show at the State Fairgrounds in Dallas. It was the first of many Autry movies to benefit from a special location, and Centennial parade scenes included various celebrations and mounted Texas Rangers.

Columbia Pictures decided in 1936 to make a western star of Bob Allen, a former college athlete whose real name was Irving Theodore Baehr. Columbia planned to showcase Allen with a Texas Ranger series: six B westerns that would be released in 1936 and 1937. The first Bob Allen movie was The Unknown Ranger, in which the hero works undercover to thwart a gang of cattle rustlers. Before the year ended Rio Grande Ranger was released. The remaining four films–Ranger Courage, Law of the Ranger, Reckless Ranger, and The Rangers Step In–opened in theaters in 1937. There was little response to Allen, however, and his contract was not renewed.

The most ambitious Ranger movie of 1936 was produced by Paramount and directed by King Vidor, a noted filmmaker from Texas. Paramount hoped to star Gary Cooper in The Texas Rangers, but the lanky star was unavailable. The leading role was then assigned to Fred MacMurray. An excellent cast also included Jack Oakie, Lloyd Nolan, Gabby Hayes, Jean Parker, and veteran villain Fred Kohler.

MacMurray and Oakie play train robbers who try to elude capture by joining the Texas Rangers. Action sequences involve Native Americans, and MacMurray and Oakie become respected Rangers. But they encounter Lloyd Nolan, who once had been an outlaw friend. Nolan now becomes a notorious bandit, and MacMurray and Oakie are assigned to pursue him. MacMurray refuses to go after his old pal, but Oakie obeys and is shot by Nolan. MacMurray then hunts down Nolan, managing also to win the hand of Jean Parker.

The screenwriter claimed that his script was based on official records of the Rangers, but the storyline seems to draw more on Hollywood conventions than Ranger archives. Filled with action, The Texas Rangers was a solid hit with audiences around the Lone Star State and everywhere else that fast-paced Westerns were appreciated.

In 1940 Paramount released a sequel, Texas Rangers Ride Again. A tale about "modern" (ca. 1940) cattle rustlers, the movie mixes automobiles and radios with the traditional horses and six-guns. Broderick Crawford plays a Texas Ranger and a youthful Anthony Quinn is a ranch foreman. But the rest of the cast is undistinguished and Texas Rangers Rides Again had a lackluster reception.

Even though the sequel was unsuccessful, the original script of The Texas Rangers was good enough to rate a remake. Paramount released the new version in 1949 as Streets of Laredo starring handsome William Holden and beefy William Bendix as the outlaws who are transformed into Texas Rangers. Their old bandit pal is played with murderous wickedness by MacDonald Carey, who is clad in black. Pretty Mona Freeman is Holden’s sweetheart, while bad guy Alfonso Bedoya is cheerfully wicked. Although the Native Americans are removed from this version, the storyline otherwise remains the same. A chilling moment involves Bendix and Carey, seated across a table from each other. Carey cold-bloodedly shoots his former comrade beneath the table. But Holden, aided by his rifle-wielding sweetheart, takes revenge on the evil Carey.

Filmed in color with a haunting musical score, Streets of Laredo is filled with action and Ranger camaraderie, and remains an enjoyable movie. The Texas Rangers was the best Ranger film of the Texas Centennial year, and Streets of Laredo brought this Ranger tale to a later generation of moviegoers.

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