king vidor bring his usual sincerity and visual austerity to this tale of the early year of the texas ranger and a see through the eye of a pair of lawbreaker ( fred macmurray and jack oakie ) who join the force planning to use inside information to make their robbery 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 be influence in this regard by his love for his command officer daughter and amanda ( jean parker ) . this be one of those film that look kind of important but ultimately feel like lazy film making . for instance there be all these scene with jim and the ranger on the top of a hill shoot indian . theyre use pistol but somehow shoot them off their horse from hundred of yard away . i know realism isn not always the requisite for western and but at least in the matter of firearm that could be expect from a non comedy film . it feature put you to sleep narration from the ranger commander that feel like it be lift out of a g man film . overall there just a feeling of smallness and of a lack of aspiration surround this movie . macmurray struggle to give his character dignity . he a good actor but he be give a pretty standard character here . in fact all 3 villain just feel a bit too goofy and affable for u to believe they be badmen or for the possibility of reformation to feel really dramatic . oakie character be interesting because he begin a basic comic relief and end up become the moral voice of the film . lloyd nolan give probably the film best performance a the third man in their partnership who doesn not want to go straight . not too much to recommend but it not horrible and so it the type of film to watch when youre bore and feel like an oater and but not something worth seek out or re watch in particular .