In Search of Sam Bass
Outlaw Sam Bass (William Bishop) has drawn together a group of outlaws including Butch Cassidy (John Doucette) and The Sundance Kid (Ian MacDonald), which has lead to Maj. John B. Jones (John Litel) to reform the Texas Rangers to try and restore law and order. But Bass and his men are too much for the Texas Rangers to deal with as they are too organised which is why Maj. Jones arranges for his old friend, Johnny Carver (George Montgomery) to be released from prison, having been sentenced after being involved with the Raiders. Not that everyone is happy about having Carver and his fellow inmate Buff Smith (Noah Beery Jr.) released from prison to help the Rangers.
How did most good guys get a band of outlaws in the old westerns? Nine out of Ten times they often masqueraded as an outlaw to get in with the gang so that they can work from the inside. And what would they do if they knew they were going to rob a band? They would often hide the money first, going out the back door just before the bad guys rush in the front. And these are the sort of things which you will find in the 1951 western "The Texas Rangers" alongside a few other western cliches and character. On the subject of which there are various famous western characters in this movie amongst the bad guys but this movie uses them for its own means rather than being accurate to the history books as such some bad guys get killed in this movie whose exploits are well documented.
The thing is that it is hard to be down on "The Texas Rangers" as it is a nicely put together western with some nice cinematography and nice performances with George Montgomery delivering a reliable and strong performance as Johnny Carver. The thing is that the character of Johnny Carver and the other ones in this movie are only ordinary at best. It is the same with the action as it is good but certainly nothing special, just routine stuff from a routine western.
What this all boils down to is that "The Texas Rangers" is a solid western which fans of George Montgomery should enjoy. But this is as routine as they come with little in it out of the ordinary be it the characters, storyline or conflicts.
