Texas Rangers is a 2001 film directed by Steve Miner. It is about a group of Texas Rangers set in the post-American Civil War era.

Ten years after the Civil War has ended the Governor of Texas asks Leander McNelly (McDermott) to form a company of Rangers to help uphold the law among the Mexican border. With a few veterans of the War (Patrick, Travis), most of the recruits are young men, (Van Der Beek, Kutcher, Raymond) who have little or no experience with guns or policing crime. The antagonist of the story is John King Fisher (Molina) who is stealing cattle, killing the young rangers and fleeing into Mexico.

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 shortly after the climax of the action, when in real life he had retired from the Rangers the year before; King Fisher was not actually killed by the Rangers, but came to an agreement with them).

Jim Hawkins and Wahoo Jones are stagecoach robbers who head to Texas to find Sam McGee, their partner. Once there, low on funds, they join the Texas Rangers, come across Sam, and decide to run their game by sending Sam inside information. Meanwhile, though, in pacifying rebellious Indians, Jim and Wahoo start to take on the code of the Rangers, and the daughter of the Ranger's major sets her sights on Jim. Can there be honor among thieves, or are Jim, Wahoo, and Sam on a collision course? As a lawless frontier becomes a civilized land, which side will the boys chose? Written by

It's 1874 and the Texas Rangers have been reorganized. But Sam Bass has assembled a group of notorious outlaws into a gang the Rangers are unable to cope with. So the Ranger Major releases two men from prison who are familiar with the movements and locations used by Bass and his men and sends them out to find him. Written by Maurice VanAuken

Set during the American Civil War of the 1860s, 'Texas Rangers' is a story about a group of men (James Van Der Beek, Usher Raymond, Randy Travis, Ashton Kutcher, and Robert Patrick) determined to maintain peace and contain the chaos that is erupting on the Texan frontier. Native Americans are attempting to reclaim their land, Mexicans are pouring over the U.S. border, and renegade outlaws are tearing up the state, so the Texas Rangers swear to protect the innocent and their loved. To do so, they must be willing to maintain the peace where law enforcement cannot, fight while they are out-manned and out-armed by the opponent, and be willing to die for the freedom for which they fight. Written by Anna

The movie is set in 1875, a decade after the Civil War ended. During the war, the Texas Rangers had disbanded to fight for the Confederacy. At war's end, they were not reformed and the Union Army was occupying Texas, charged primarily with defending the State from Indian depredations. In the movie, the Governor of Texas asks Leander McNelly (Dylan McDermott)to form a company of Rangers to deal with the banditry along the Mexican border. Most of his company of Rangers are young men, orphans for the most part (James Van Der Beek, Ashton Kutcher) and a smattering of veterans of the late war (Robert Patrick, Randy Travis). Their prime target is the bandit King Fisher (Alfred Molina)who is stealing cattle, burning ranches, raping, looting, pillaging and otherwise breaking the law. Written by Marshal McGavin