At a period in the 1930s when Western theme films were relegated to low-budget B movies, Paramount studios financed an A Western for Vidor at $625,000 (lowered to $450,000 when star Gary Cooper was replaced with Fred MacMurray in the lead role.) "The Texas Rangers", Vidor's second and final film for Paramount reduced, but did not abandon, the level of sadistic and lawless violence evidenced in his "Billy the Kid". Vidor presents a morality play where the low-cunning of the outlaws "cum" vigilantes heroes is turned to the service of law-and-order when they kill their erstwhile accomplice in crime – the "Polka Dot Bandit.".