Cimarron, 1931

Considered the first Western to win the Academy Award, Cimarron is an ambitious adaptation of the Edna Farber novel of the same name. It has a some charm, bringing us into the world of the Okalahoma territory during the land rush, but it moves along at a snails pace. The movie was made still in the early years of “talkies” and it has its roots in silent films with stiff dialogue. The movie follows the lives of Yancey Cravat and his family over a 40 year period as they move west into the Oklahoma territory, start a newspaper and become some of the most popular citizens of the Cimarron territory (Oklahoma).

The film opens the morning of the Oklahoma land rush and Yancey Cravat a well known newspaperman is set to stake his claim in the territory. By some misfortune Cravat does not get his piece of land but returns to Wichita to get his wife and infant son to return to Oklahoma. He decides to settle in one of the largest boomtowns called Osage (fictional). When they arrive Yancey quickly realizes that he is around many of his old pals, other frontier adventurers.

Yancey decides to do what he knows best and that is start a newspaper. His paper quickly becomes a success and he becomes the unofficial mayor the town. He also becomes Forrest Gump, a major player in every event that happens in town.

First there is an outlaw gang that terrorizes many of the local citizens and businesses. Out of nowhere a gun fight erupts and Yancey leaps from his office to go out on the street and engage in the gunfight. He ends up shooting down the head of the gang and being hailed as a hero by the towns people. Yancey is now the most well known citizen in all of the Oklahoma territory.

Now things get positively confusing. The movie had a good linear story line to this point but now it breaks off into a wild screenplay that has no direction. Yancey somehow becomes the preacher for the towns church because of his ability to bring everyone together. This storyline lasts about 3 minutes. I guess this is Yancey’s fate, but he is always looking for a new challenge.

At this point the movie takes a dramatic shift, only adding to the confusion.. Yancey wants to now explore the Cherokee strip, a new land rush area of Oklahoma. He tries to convince his wife to leave but she declines and he takes off for three years. Now the character of Ms. Sabra Cravat’s character goes from being an obedient wife to a newspaper tycoon like her husband.

If none of this is making sense, just wait until you watch the movie. Sabra has now raised her family and has two adult children. Yancey returns from nowhere, saying he has no land in the Cherokee strip. Literally the day he returns there is major trial have to do with some Indian relations and somehow Yancey becomes the defense lawyer and dramatically wins the case. Yancey and Sabra’s marriage is teetering on the brink because she has now established herself.

Yancey is soon back established as the towns preeminent citizen. So much so, that Oklahoma is receiving statehood and the townspeople want him to run for governor as part of the progressive party. Though Yancey is intrigued he feels he would have to compromise his belief structure in order to be governor so he declines, but his wife is interested in the world of politics. Oklahoma is getting statehood mainly because of the discovery of oil. Again Yancey cannot resist and he runs off to be an oil man.

Sabra again becomes the head of the family and follows in her husbands footsteps, getting involved in politics. Eventually she is elected as the first female congressmen. Her kids are grown, her husband is gone and she is now the most popular person in Osage. The movie wraps up with a big dinner honoring Sabra and her accomplishments, but there is one final twist that is so ludicrous to try and describe would make your head hurt.

As you can tell from this synopsis, I was not big fan of the movie. What’s worse is I think there is a movie in there somewhere, but it was just all a big jumbled mess. Like I said earlier the movie never found its way and stayed on a storyline. The scenery and set pieces were ambitious for the time, including the opening land rush scenes, but the movie just didn’t work. It’s the first true clunker on the list and I give it only a 1.