''Texas Rangers'' is a 2001 American
action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
Western film
The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...
directed by
Steve Miner
Stephen C. Miner (born June 18, 1951) is an American director of film and television, film producer, and a member of the Motion Picture Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is notable for his work in the horror genre, including ''Friday the 13th Part ...
and starring
James Van Der Beek
James William Van Der Beek (; born March 8, 1977) is an American actor best known for his portrayal of Dawson Leery in the WB series ''Dawson's Creek'' and Johnny "Mox" Moxon in '' Varsity Blues'' (1999). He played a fictionalized version of hi ...
,
Ashton Kutcher
Christopher Ashton Kutcher (; born February 7, 1978) is an American actor, producer, entrepreneur, and former model. He is the recipient of various accolades, including a People's Choice Award, and nominations for two Young Artist Awards, a S ...
,
Alfred Molina
Alfred Molina (born Alfredo Molina; 24 May 1953) is a British-American actor known for his work on the stage and screen. He first rose to prominence in the West End, earning a nomination for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Newcomer in a Pla ...
, and
Dylan McDermott
Dylan McDermott (born Mark Anthony McDermott; October 26, 1961) is an American actor. He is known for his role as lawyer and law firm head Bobby Donnell on the legal drama series ''The Practice'', which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best ...
. It follows a group of
Texas Rangers in the post-
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
era. The film is very loosely based upon the book ''Taming the Nueces Strip'' by George Durham, who based it on his own experiences serving in Captain
Leander McNelly
Leander Harvey McNelly (March 12, 1844 – September 4, 1877) was a Confederate officer and Texas Ranger captain. McNelly is best remembered for leading the "Special Force", a quasi-military branch of the Texas Rangers that operated in south Te ...
's Texas Ranger group as a young man. The film was panned by critics and was a box office bomb.
Plot
Ten years after the Civil War, the
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas heads the state government of Texas. The governor is the leader of the executive and legislative branch of the state government and is the commander in chief of the Texas Military. The current governor is Greg Abbott, who ...
asks
Leander McNelly
Leander Harvey McNelly (March 12, 1844 – September 4, 1877) was a Confederate officer and Texas Ranger captain. McNelly is best remembered for leading the "Special Force", a quasi-military branch of the Texas Rangers that operated in south Te ...
to recommission a company of Rangers to help uphold the law along the Mexican border. In a town, Lincoln Rogers Dunnison arrives by carriage to meet his family. Just as they are reunited,
John King Fisher
John King Fisher (October 1853 – March 11, 1884) was a gunslinger from the U.S. state of Texas during the heyday of the American Old West.
Early life and education
Fisher was born during October 1853 in Collin County, north of Dallas, Tex ...
and his gang arrive and kill several townspeople, including Lincoln's family, then steal cattle which are to be auctioned. After the attack, Lincoln wanders into an abandoned church and meets George Durham, a fellow survivor. George joins Lincoln on his way to Brownsville to join the Texas Rangers.
In Brownsville, Lincoln witnesses a man attempting to extort resources from the town to support his posse which will supposedly pursue Fisher's gang. McNelly arrives with the legitimate Rangers and is forced to kill the man, but invites any others to join the Rangers. Despite his ineptitude with weapons and not being from Texas, Lincoln shows determination to fight for justice and is accepted into the Rangers along with George and others. McNelly uses Lincoln as his secretary because of his education and reveals that he is dying, apparently of tuberculosis. Out on the trail, Fisher and his gang encounter a traveling circus and kidnap a beautiful Spanish woman.
After training in the field, a Ranger asks Lincoln to get him an appointment with McNelly because he wants to make better maps of the ill-charted Texas territory. Once in his tent, he reveals himself to be a Union assassin who wants to kill McNelly for Confederate crimes. McNelly kills the man, but Lincoln is shaken and tries to desert, believing himself responsible for endangering McNelly. McNelly convinces Lincoln to stay.
The Rangers get their first taste of combat against a small contingent and take two prisoners. Despite initially saying that anyone who surrendered would be tried, McNelly hangs the two survivors. Lincoln is offended by this apparent lack of justice. Later, when the Rangers catch up with the bulk of Fisher's gang, McNelly decides to attack despite the protests of his sergeants. The battle goes horribly as Fisher planned an ambush and several Rangers die. McNelly collects his survivors, including the Spanish girl, and heads for his friend Richard Dukes' ranch.
At the ranch, Lincoln and George compete for Caroline Dukes' affection and Sergeant Armstrong learns from the Spanish girl that Fisher is planning to raid Logan's ranch for cattle. The Rangers ride out, but when no raid occurs, McNelly realizes that the girl lied, and Fisher must be headed to Dukes' ranch. The Rangers discover that Dukes has been captured and Fisher has crossed the Rio Grande into Mexico. After pleading for her life as a victim, Lincoln convinces McNelly to do justice and release the girl. The Rangers then plot their attack on the Mexican fortress after McNelly dictates his will to Lincoln, in which he leaves him his possessions and effectively instates him as leader of the Rangers upon his death.
The Rangers attack the fort at dawn; the Fisher gang are asleep and hungover and are overpowered. Despite having men get behind the attacking Rangers through underground tunnels, the gang is defeated when Sergeant Bones captures a Gatling gun to use against them. Lincoln avenges his family by killing Fisher and saves McNelly's life in doing so. After the Rangers return to Dukes' ranch, McNelly implores Lincoln and George to keep the Rangers on the right side of justice with his dying breath. George stays behind with Caroline to work on the ranch and Lincoln rides off to lead the Rangers.
Cast
Production
The film's source was the book ''Taming of the Neuces Strip: The Story of McNelly's Rangers'' by George Durham.
In 1989,
Frank Price
Frank Price (born May 17, 1930) is a television writer and executive during the 1950s to 1970s, and a Hollywood studio chief in the 1980s. He held a number of executive positions including head of Universal TV in the 1970s; president, and later ...
at
Columbia optioned a story idea called ''Ranger'' from Scott Busby and Martin Copland based on the book ''A Texas Ranger'' by N. A. Jennings. Busby and Copland were hired to do the adaptation. A year later
John Milius
John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter, film director, and producer. He was a writer for the first two ''Dirty Harry'' films, received an Academy Award nomination as screenwriter of ''Apocalypse Now'' (1979), a ...
was on the project.
He wrote several drafts and was going to direct for Columbia, then
Savoy Pictures
Savoy Pictures Entertainment, Inc. was an American independent motion picture company in operation from 1992 to 1997. Among Savoy Pictures' noteworthy feature films were ''A Bronx Tale'', '' No Escape'', ''Last of the Dogmen'' and ''Serial Mom''. ...
.
In 1992 Milius said he hoped to make the film with a young cast for $15–17 million, which is "very reasonable today", he said:
It's very easy to make Westerns. Most of the people making decisions today are idiots who've probably never seen one, city-born people who feel that the here and now is most important. They don't like historical films of any kind, especially Westerns. Sci-fi is acceptable but history is not hip. Part of being modern is that anything from the past is dead. We live in an historical age. An enormous amount of people were interested in TV's '' The Civil War'' and ''Lonesome Dove
''Lonesome Dove'' is a 1985 Western novel by American writer Larry McMurtry. It is the first published book of the ''Lonesome Dove'' series, but the third installment in the series chronologically.
The story revolves around the relationships b ...
''--which Hollywood writes off as the great unwashed between the coasts. We're the only culture in history that builds a shrine and prostrates before the 14-year-old.[Beyond-The-Pale Riders Thompson, Anne. Film Comment28.4 (Jul 1992): 52.]
Milius added: "The best Westerns were love poems to this country, made by people in love with the country physically.
John Ford
John Martin Feeney (February 1, 1894 – August 31, 1973), known professionally as John Ford, was an American film director and naval officer. He is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. He ...
photographed the country the way you photograph a woman. He photographed the open spaces, gray clouds, light, red earth, trees, really sensuously. The country was the repository of endless promise. Any good Western is about promise".
Milius says he "got pretty close to making the film but they wouldn’t approve
Tommy Lee Jones
Tommy Lee Jones (born September 15, 1946) is an American actor and film director. He has received four Academy Award nominations, winning Best Supporting Actor for his performance as U.S. Marshal Samuel Gerard in the 1993 thriller film '' The ...
as the star, so I left it to go do ''Vikings''
film that ultimately was not made Another guy worked on it, the script was rewritten, but they were never able to get it made. They couldn’t attract the cast they wanted. So now these other characters
ob and Harvey Weinsteinbought it".
The film did not begin production until 1999. It was made by
Miramax
Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California.
It was initially a leadi ...
, who cast some young teen idols in the lead, including James Van Der Beek from ''
Varsity Blues''. Milius was replaced as director, and screenwriter
Ehren Kruger
Ehren Kruger (born October 5, 1972) is an American film screenwriter and producer. He is best known for writing three of the five installments in the original ''Transformers'' film series: '' Revenge of the Fallen'', '' Dark of the Moon'', and ' ...
was hired to do a rewrite on Milius's script.
Milius commented that "it was one of my best scripts, and I wasn't willing to sit there and proceed to dismantle it. Youth today have a sense of rightful entitlement. Their idea of great adventure is diving off bridges with bungee cords. They don't go and do something real-they're all interested in looking good and getting that BMW".
Milius said the Weinsteins "were really arrogant. They called me up and acted as if I should feel privileged to come back and ruin my own work. I told that asshole Bob Weinstein he was lucky to have it the way it was".
While filmed in 1999, the film was not released until 2001. Both Milius and Kruger were not credited on the final film.
The film is loosely based on the activities of
Leander H. McNelly and the ''Special Force'' of the Texas Rangers, but it takes considerable liberties with the historical record (McNelly is shown dying of
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...
shortly after the climax of the action, when in real life he had retired from the Rangers the year before;
John King Fisher
John King Fisher (October 1853 – March 11, 1884) was a gunslinger from the U.S. state of Texas during the heyday of the American Old West.
Early life and education
Fisher was born during October 1853 in Collin County, north of Dallas, Tex ...
was not actually killed by the Rangers, but came to an agreement with them).
Release
Box office
''Texas Rangers'' was a
box office bomb
A box-office bomb, or box-office disaster, is a film that is unprofitable or considered highly unsuccessful during its theatrical run. Although any film for which the production, marketing, and distribution costs combined exceed the revenue after ...
, earning only $763,740 on a budget of $38 million.
[
]
Reception
''Texas Rangers'' was panned by critics. On Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 2%, based on reviews from 51 critics. The website's consensus reads: "As far as westerns go, ''Texas Rangers'' is strictly mediocre stuff." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a score of 29 out of 100, based on 10 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".
John Milius claimed that Miramax "mutilated" his script: "They don't have any sense of responsibility. They'd make a film about anything if they thought it would make some money for them. I think they should give Harvey Weinstein resident of Miramaxto the Taliban. I'd like to see him on the other side. I'd like to hunt him down in a cave".
References
External links
*
*
Review of film
at Los Angeles Times
{{John Milius
2001 films
2001 Western (genre) films
American Civil War films
2000s English-language films
Films about the Texas Ranger Division
Films directed by Steve Miner
American adventure drama films
Films set in Texas
Films scored by Trevor Rabin
Dimension Films films
2000s American films