The Oklahoma Kid (1939)

That was an excellent one.

Pretty Good

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

The movie is wonderful and true, an act of love in all its contradictions and complexity

Its a Western with all the right stuff going on. Horses, saloons, whiskey, shooting, love interest, good guys, bad guys and all the wild you can stand ala shoot em ups and lynchings. Add Bogart and Cagney and what is not to like or least want to go see? Formula sure thing Western and later on to become a must see when these two stars made it famous. Meanwhile, just enjoy the shots and lore of the early West before law and order and when people were just trying to figure things out as they went sometimes at the cost of their lives. I like seeing how towns were formed, curbs, sidewalks and how the building codes were non-existent. One fire could wipe out the whole town as the buildings are so close to one another. One significant scene is the Oklahoma land rush referred to as sooners where the first to reach a parcel fair and square claimed it for their own. Who wouldn't want a nice flat piece of land next to year round water, mountains, trees etc. The rush was on and for better or worse, the West was born. Violence would continue for decades until it was tamed. Good snack movie with a tasty drink here. Mount-up and lets ride

Fast, crackling, full-of-action western spectacular with some of the most vigorously directed and imaginatively handled action footage ever made. The land rush, one imagines, uses stock footage from Cimarron and it is true that one can spot the stunt men doubling for Bogart and Cagney in the forceful finale, but such stand-out scenes as Cagney's chase after the stage with its fantastic variety of inventive camera angles and clever cross-cutting as well as its inspired use of natural locations, the shoot-out with Bond on a freight train (marred slightly by use of a process screen), the attempted rescue and lynching, and the final confrontation between Stephens and Bogart are as exciting as anything of their kind.What makes this film especially exciting is that all this action is contained in the one film and in 80 minutes at that! In addition, this film has the advantage of its cast: Bogart makes an ideal western heavy and yet he was only once again to play a role even slightly similar and that was in Virginia City (1940). His only other western roles were in A Holy Terror in which he played foreman of the villain's ranch (he didn't know he was a villain) and Treasure of the Sierra Madre, a modern western set in Mexico. Cagney is in his element too as the personable, charmingly talkative, tough, law-unto-himself Kid. Among Bogart's henchmen it's nice to spot Ward Bond, Edward Pawley, Trevor Bardette (Pawley is especially convincing in his climactic scenes) and John Miljan as his smart lawyer and Arthur Aylesworth as a sombre, corrupted judge. On the other side of the fence are ranged Rosemary Lane, not the most beautiful heroine but a more realistic one and a pleasant change from the all glamor and no talent stereotype of the western girl. Donald Crisp plays an honest judge, the sort of role he could do standing on his head; Harvey Stephens is effective as the hero and Hugh Sothern has a meaty part as an empire builder. Charles Middleton is a lawyer on the right side for once and there is an amusing cameo by Ray Mayer as a frightened pianist.Bacon's direction is not only slick and assured but drives the film at a whipping pace. Production values are outstanding with vast sets, hordes of costumed extras, a Steiner music score, black-and- white photography by Wong Howe (though neither Howe nor Steiner have contributed their best work) and a fair amount of location shooting. The script has deftly combined most of the traditional elements of the western plot into a giant and extremely successful and effective block-buster.

Right up until the end the bad guys have the upper-hand - always - which kind of put into question the competence of the good guys. A couple of innocent-man-accused-of-a-crime plots are irritating. Some unnecessary dialogue in which various dull legal issues get debated. This is just a mediocre dumb old western, so what's this nonsense about trying to keep things "realistic"? Cagney's atypical presence in a western is one of the few - if not the only - entertaining thing about the movie. Somewhere around the middle there is a ridiculously-timed marriage proposal; sort of like "Where is the Kid hiding??!! Where is he?!... Oh, and by the way, will you marry me?"

If you can't picture James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart as gun totin' Western outlaws, then give yourself a treat and try "The Oklahoma Kid". Granted, neither actor appears as comfortable in their cowboy persona as they do as gangsters, but they manage to pull off a fairly credible and interesting story, with a rather talented cast around them.The setting is the 1883 land rush that civilizes the six million acre Oklahoma Territory known as the Cherokee Strip, and future site of the city of Tulsa. Cagney's entrance as the Oklahoma Kid is heralded by his hijacking of Whip McCord's (Bogart) plunder of a stagecoach carrying money in payment for Indian land. The Kid is the "good" outlaw, who for the remainder of the film plays out his secret identity of Jim Kincaid, who's businessman father (Hugh Sothern) and sheriff brother (Harvey Stephens) attempt to bring McCord and his gang to justice following their illegal land grab.Adding an element of romance to the story is the presence of Jane Hardwick (Rosemary Lane), daughter of Judge Hardwick (Donald Crisp), who's involved with sheriff Ned, but is immediately smitten with The Kid; Oklahoma endears himself to newcomers by asking them to "feel the air".When bully McCord frames John Kincaid for murder, he sends a phony letter to Judge Hardwick to get him out of town, so his own hand picked replacement can push through a guilty verdict. With time running out, The Kid is too late to stop the mob hanging of his father, and sets out to administer his own brand of justice on McCord's henchmen - Indian Joe, Curley, Handley (Ward Bond), and Doolin. The finale finds the Oklahoma Kid and McCord in a rather well staged barroom brawl that ends with the "good" bad guy on the winning end.OK, high drama it's not; for a truly memorable film of classic status in a Western setting with either of these stars, you'll have to turn to Bogart's "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". But if it's offbeat Cagney and Bogey you're after, this is a good place to start. You'll have a better time too if you go for the enjoyment factor and not for critical viewing, there's enough fun stuff here to take the edge off a rainy afternoon.