Description: Starring James Van Der Beek (TV's DAWSON'S CREEK, VARSITY BLUES) and Dylan McDermott (TV's THE PRACTICE) alongside Ashton Kutcher (TV's THAT '70s SHOW) and Usher Raymond (THE FACULTY) ... After the Civil War, Texas is at the mercy of murderous bandits! From the chaos emerges a group of young cowboys summoned to reform the Texas Rangers and restore order! Under the fearless leadership of Leander McNelly (McDermott), the new Rangers find themselves severely outgunned and outgunned, but unmatched for courage and determination. From the director of HALLOWEEN: H20 and featuring Rachael Leigh Cook (SHE'S ALL THAT) and Robert Patrick (SPY KIDS).
Amazon.com: If you want to see James Van Der Beek and Ashton Kutcher decked out in cowboy hats and leather chaps, Texas Rangers is the movie for you. Van Der Beek is a young recruit out to avenge his family, who were shot down by bandits; Dylan McDermott is the loose cannon commander of the Texas Rangers unit that's out to track those bandits down. Along for the ride are Kutcher, Usher Raymond, Robert Patrick, Randy Travis, and a host of other good-looking young actors. Rachael Leigh Cook provides some assurance that everything is appropriately heterosexual, though a scene in which Kutcher jumps into a washtub with Van Der Beek may raise some eyebrows. Head bandit Alfred Molina grins with nonchalance as his men gun down innocent bystanders. No one in the cast even attempts to speak with a credible Texas accent, but everyone's hair is exquisitely mussed. --Bret Fetzer
James Van der Beek fan Good movie to see for those who are a James Van der Beek fan (star of Dawson's Creek). James does an excellent job in this movie and seems to fit his role perfectly. I'm not a big Dylan McDermott fan but he does a good job as well in this movie. I would definitely recommend this movie to others.
good enough for the big screen the story, characters, actors, and scenery are great! and the action is some of the best I've seen in ANY western!
this is a must see, that I'm sure you'll want to keep
Run, Don't Walk ... Away from this Movie I will start out saying I am a native Texan and have some bias in my review of this movie. That said, this movie is a very fragrant pile of horse manure. The movie claims to be based on fact, and then throws all the fact out the window to tell a sickeningly PC morality tale. Be aware that the only "facts" in this movie are some of the character names. Here is a list of some of the more glaring inaccuracies:
1. McNelly's Special Force of Rangers was not a bunch of kids. They were mostly seasoned frontiersman, and George Durham stated in his book that the only reason he was allowed to join was that his father had served under McNelly in the Civil War.
2. King Fisher might have been ( and probably was ) a criminal. However he was also the elected sheriff of his county and highly thought of by many in the area. McNelly tried to arrest him several times, but could never make it stick due to lack of evidence. The two certainly never had a pistol duel. King Fisher was asassinated, along with the famous gunfighter Ben Thompson, coming out of a theater in San Antonio, TX many years later. And he certainly never massacred the citizens of a town.
3. Captain Richard King ( called Duke in the movie) was never captured by bandits and was certainly never hung by them. The name change is probably the result of the King Ranch not wanting anything to do with this travesty of a movie.
4. There were no African American Rangers serving with McNelly. The only black man with the force was the cook. ( Stereotypical, but true ) I imagine Usher's character was added to boost ticket sales and to placate Hollywood's PC paranoia. I don't know who dreamed up the "scout" and "rifleman" ranks, but it's complete b.s., they were simply rangers.
5. This movie was filmed in Canada, which looks nothing like South Texas. I live in South Texas, and it is semi-arid brush country. Not very photogenic, I assume.
6. The main culprit behind all the unrest along the border at that time was a man named Juan Nepomuncio Cortinas. He was a former bandit, Governor of the state of Tamualipas, and a general in the Mexican army. The bandit gangs were encouraged and sanctioned by the Mexican government, not Anglo outlaws.
There are other gaffs, but I am tired of listing them. My main gripe is the portrayal of McNelly and his men being loose cannons who just didn't give peace a chance. The border was in a state of undeclared warfare at this time and McNelly did what had to be done to stop it. He was not a cop, he and his men were soldiers. The Rangers at that time were not a law enforcement agency, that came later. ( They also didn't wear badges.) In short, read George Durham's "Taming the Nueces Strip" or Walter P. Webb's "The Texas Ranger's" for the real story. Toss the movie in the pasture for fertilizer.
I LOVE THIS MOVIE!!! i watch a lot of movies and although i don't write much reviews,but i just had to write one for this movie...i like it so much that i watched it maybe every day for a week!!!..:))...it's one of the best movies i've ever seen,maybe not good in a sense of art or whatever,but it's a story for the heart and i love it...i can say that the caracters of James Van Der Beek and Dylan McDermot are so cool and sexy and although i dont know the history about the Texas rangers,i did like the theme...anyway,cool movie....................
Distorting Texas Rangers History I've read quite a few books lately about the Texas Rangers, including 'Taming the Nueces Strip' by George Durham, on which this film is supposedly based, and 'Texas Ranger' by N A Jennings, on whom the character of Lincoln Rogers Dunnison is obviously based. Jennings' book, as he himself admitted, is not wholly truthful, yet his character (Dunnison) is made the hero of the film, while Durham's character (given his real name) is a foil to Dunnison. Jennings lasted two years in the Rangers before going back east and never rose above private (and secretary to McNelly), while Durham lasted a whole lot longer and fought alongside McNelly with distinction. Yet in the movie Durham is made to look an excitable idiot, while Dunnison becomes a Ranger captain. Why the scriptwriters should have chosen to do this is a mystery.
Dylan McDermott as Captain Leander McNelly gives a very good performance, as does Robert Patrick as Sergeant John Armstrong (who captured John Wesley Hardin in later years). Alfred Molina's performance as a grinning King Fisher is neither menacing or cruel - just inept. The real King Fisher was confronted by McNelly but always escaped justice at the time.
The young McNelly made his reputation as a leader in the Civil War and further enhanced his reputation as a Ranger captain in the Nueces Strip. He once led a daring (and illegal) raid into Mexico to retrieve stolen Texas cattle from bandits but his men were never massacred by bandits, despite a few close shaves in Mexico.
Jesus Sandoval was a vengeful sadist, whose wife had been killed by Mexican bandits, but this character hardly figured in the movie (his gruesome exploits could not have been shown anyway).
The true story of McNelly and his rangers in the strip of land between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River in Texas has all the ingredients for a great action movie, so why did the director and scriptwriters put together this distorted tale? I just don't get it. I enjoyed watching the movie and was stirred by the final scene, where the rangers ride out from the Dukes (King) ranch, but all too often I was annoyed by the tampering with history and King Fisher figuring far too large in the story.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tailipoe
Trevor
