Down Rio Grande Way (1942)

Slightly more elaborate than most Charles Starrett westerns Down Rio Grande Way is set in the mid19th century when the Republic of Texas was poised to join the Union Starrett plays Texas Ranger Steve Martin who is dispatched to a renegade Texas country that refuses to become part of the good old USA He discovers that the crux of the problem is a local tax collector who with the help of a crooked newspaper editor is systematically robbing the citizens of their hardearned cash all the while fomenting antiAmerican sentiments