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Soon after John Woo's World War II epic Windtalkers moved from Nov. 9 to June 14, 2002, Fox pushed up the Bosnia-set Behind Enemy Lines from Jan. 18 to Nov. 30 in the wake of successful test screenings. Audiences no doubt whooped and hollered at the sight of a stranded U.S. Navy aviator kicking enemy butt, in this case Serbian rebels.

Then there's Texas Rangers, a post-Civil War Western left to gather dust on the shelf for almost two years by Miramax's genre arm, Dimension. Originally scheduled for an April 2001 release, Texas Rangers will now ride into a mere 400 theaters for what seems like a hit-and-run release prior to being dumped quickly into video stores. Dimension also failed to screen Texas Rangers for critics, perhaps further evidence that it is worse than this summer's MTV-ish American Outlaws.

Texas Rangers almost serves as a who's who of today's hottest TV stars, considering Dylan McDermott (The Practice), James Van Der Beek (Dawson's Creek), Ashton Kutcher (That '70s Show and Oded Fehr (UC: Undercover) climbed into their chaps to retell how the famous law enforcement agency came into existence. Rachael Leigh Cook rounds out the cast, but having endured such recent flops as Get Carter and Josie and the Pussycats, her presence isn't going to help that much. Expect Texas Rangers to rope in not even a quarter of American Outlaws' $4.8 million debut.

If Texas Rangers will leave all involved feeling saddle sore, Behind Enemy Lines should satisfy those in need of an adrenaline-charged jolt of mindless jingoism a la Rambo: First Blood Part II. Owen Wilson must fend for himself after Serbian rebels shoot down his plane. Commanding officer Gene Hackman defies orders--and threatens a potential peace accord--to rescue Wilson.

Hackman knows how it feels to be shot down and hunted by enemy troops, in his case by the Viet Cong. His Bat 21, however, flopped back in 1988.

Fox might be confident about Behind Enemy Lines, but Wilson needs to dodge more than a sniper's bullet. The post-Thanksgiving weekend chews up and spits out new releases without mercy. Sylvester Stallone's 1996 disaster epic Daylight opened to a catastrophic $10 million and ended up with just $32.9 million.

Such blatant patriotism doesn't always play well in a time of war. Flight of the Intruder opened on the eve of 1991's Allied attack against Iraq, but the Vietnam-era thriller made only $14.2 million total as audiences stayed glued to CNN to watch the Gulf War unfold.

Also, audiences might experience an overwhelming sense of déjà vu watching Behind Enemy Lines, which arrives one week after Spy Game. Tony Scott's political thriller, with retiring CIA operative Robert Redford trying to save protégé Brad Pitt from execution at the hands of the Chinese, plays more like the thinking-person's version of Behind Enemy Lines. What it will come down to is whether audiences want to see two major stars or watch all hell break loose in the wake of a downed U.S. Navy fighter plane.