''Oklahoma Crude'' is a 1973 American comedy-drama

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

film directed by Stanley Kramer in

Panavision Panavision is an American motion picture equipment company founded in 1953 specializing in cameras and lenses, based in Woodland Hills, California. Formed by Robert Gottschalk as a small partnership to create anamorphic projection lenses dur ...

. It stars

George C. Scott George Campbell Scott (October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999) was an American actor, director, and producer who had a celebrated career on both stage and screen. With a gruff demeanor and commanding presence, Scott became known for his port ...

Faye Dunaway Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress. She is the recipient of many accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, three Golden Globe Awards, and a BAFTA Award. In 2011, the government of France mad ...

John Mills Sir John Mills (born Lewis Ernest Watts Mills; 22 February 190823 April 2005) was an English actor who appeared in more than 120 films in a career spanning seven decades. He excelled on camera as an appealing British everyman who often portra ...

and

Jack Palance Jack Palance ( ; born Volodymyr Palahniuk ( uk, Володимир Палагню́к); February 18, 1919 – November 10, 2006) was an American actor known for playing tough guys and villains. He was nominated for three Academy Awards, all fo ...

. It was entered into the

8th Moscow International Film Festival The 8th Moscow International Film Festival was held from 10 to 23 July 1973. The Golden Prizes were awarded to the Soviet film '' That Sweet Word: Liberty!'' directed by Vytautas Žalakevičius and the Bulgarian film ''Affection'' directed by Lud ...

where Kramer won the Golden Prize for Direction. The song " Send a Little Love My Way", sung by

Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian singer. Her albums, consisting primarily of pop, country, and adult contemporary music, have sold over 55 million copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray was the fir ...

, was featured in the film and was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song The Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song is a Golden Globe Award that was awarded for the first time in 1962 and has been awarded annually since 1965 by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. The award is presented to the songwriters of a ...

in 1973.

Plot

In 1913, Lena Doyle is the owner of a small tract of land outside Almira, Oklahoma that contains a prominent hill. Lena believes the hill is a dome above a large pool of oil and runs a "wild cat" drilling operation, but her derrick has yet to yield anything. Her only employee is Jimmy, a young Native American. One day, Lena's estranged father, Cleon Doyle, shows up and offers to help, but she refuses. Cleon nevertheless tries to hire men to guard Lena's property, but he is shunned, as no one wants to stand in the way of "Pan Okie", or Pan Oklahoma Oil & Gas, which is the most powerful oil company in the region and Almira's principal benefactor. Only one man,

Spanish-American War Spanish Americans ( es, españoles estadounidenses, ''hispanoestadounidenses'', or ''hispanonorteamericanos'') are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly from Spain. They are the longest-established European American group in th ...

veteran Noble "Mase" Mason, accepts. Lena is wary of Mason, but allows him to work for her while continuing to reject her father. One night during a downpour, Walter C. Hellman, a retired US Army captain employed by Pan Oklahoma as a fixer, arrives and demands Lena sell her tract to the company. She declines, and Hellman orders his henchmen to beat her and Jimmy, who dies from his injuries. Mason offers to abandon Lena for a $200 bribe, but Hellman disparages him as a spineless opportunist and not only refuses to pay, but has him beaten as well. Cleon nurses Lena and Mason back to health while Hellman illegally occupies and works Lena's tract. In Almira, Lena and Cleon, who are now reconciled, are informed by a lawyer that Lena's case against Pan Oklahoma is hopeless because the company has influence over the judges, but he suggests that she could take back her land by force and justify it as self-defense. Together, Lena, Cleon, and Mason assault Hellman's workers with shotguns and grenades, scaring them off and reclaiming the tract. The next day, Hellman returns with Henry H. Wilcox, the son of Pan Oklahoma's owner, and a larger group of men, threatening to "besiege" Lena's property unless she agrees to sell. She again refuses him. Hellman has the tract encircled and placed under constant guard, but is restrained from taking more violent action by Wilcox. Other oil companies learn of the squabble and send their own representatives to monitor the tract, hoping to take advantage. As the siege stretches on, Mason is forced to sneak into the Pan Oklahoma camp to steal food and drink, earning Lena's gratitude. Soon after, Lena's derrick is affected by a blow out and the drill cable breaks. Against Lena's wishes, Cleon climbs the derrick to replace the cable, wearing a metal plate on his back as protection from Hellman's gunmen. The cable is replaced, but on the way down Cleon loses his plate and is shot dead. In the wake of the tragedy, Lena pursues a romantic relationship with Mason. Finally, Lena's derrick strikes oil, and the various oil company representatives flock to buy it. She settles on the somewhat high price of $2.50 per barrel, but the frenzied representatives accept. Unfortunately, the oil gush abruptly stops; Lena only drilled a small, worthless pocket of oil, and her well is a bust. Hellman and the other oil men immediately pack up and leave. Lena and Mason muse about looking for oil in Mexico, but Mason declares he wants to leave the oil business behind. As he walks away, Lena calls for him.

Cast

as Noble "Mase" Mason *

as Lena Doyle *

as Cleon Doyle *

as Walter C. Hellman *

William Lucking William Lucking (June 17, 1941 – October 18, 2021) was an American film, television, and stage actor, best known for his role as Piney Winston in '' Sons of Anarchy'' (2008–2011), and for his movie roles in '' The Magnificent Seven Ride!'' ...

as Marion * Harvey Jason as Henry H. Wilcox * Ted Gehring as Wobbly *

Cliff Osmond Cliff Osmond (born Clifford Osman Ebrahim; February 26, 1937 – December 22, 2012) was an American character actor and television screenwriter. A parallel career as an acting teacher coincided with his other activities. Early life Osmond wa ...

as Massive Man *

Rafael Campos Rafael Campos (13 May 1936 – 9 July 1985) was an actor from the Dominican Republic whose credits include ''Blackboard Jungle'' (1955), '' Dino'' (1957), '' The Light in the Forest'' (1958), ''Slumber Party '57'' (1976), ''The Astro-Zombies'' (1 ...

as Jimmy *

Woodrow Parfrey Sydney Woodrow Parfrey (October 5, 1922 – July 29, 1984) was an American film and television actor from the 1950s to the early 1980s. He is often remembered as "one of TV's great slimeball villains". Early life Parfrey was born on October 5, ...

as Lawyer * John Hudkins as Bloom *

Harvey Parry Harvey Parry (April 23, 1900 - September 18, 1985) was an American stuntman and actor whose career spanned the silent era and the disaster movie genre of the 1970s. Born on April 23, 1900 in San Francisco, California, Parry had been an Associatio ...

as Bliss * Bob Herron as Dulling (as Dullnig) * Jerry Brown as Rucker * Jim Burk as Moody * Henry Wills as Walker * Hal Smith as C. R. Miller * Cody Bearpaw as Indian * James Jeter as Stapp * Larry D. Mann as Deke Watson * John Dierkes as Farmer * Karl Lukas as Hobo #1 * Wayne Storm as Hobo #2 *

Billy Varga William Joe Varga (January 10, 1919 – January 11, 2013), billed as Count Billy Varga, was an American professional wrestler and actor. He was born to Rose and Joe Varga; his father was a professional wrestler in Europe known as Count Joseph V ...

as Cook

Production

Despite the title, the movie was filmed in Stockton, California. Assured by the locals that the weather was mild and temperate, the only thing it didn't do was snow. Filming from September to November 1972, the temperature went from 110 degrees to so cold the actors had to put ice cubes in their mouths to keep their breath from showing up on screen (the movie supposedly took place during the summer).

Reception

In the ''

Chicago Sun-Times The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' is a daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Since 2022, it is the flagship paper of Chicago Public Media, and has the second largest circulation among Chicago newspapers, after the ''Chicago ...

'', film critic Roger Ebert wrote:

We have seen this relationship many times in the movies, most memorably in '' The African Queen''. The buried plot is always the same: Beautiful woman and uncultured man find themselves thrown together in a colorful enterprise. They have nothing in common except the enterprise, they think, but gradually their co-operation breeds respect, affection and finally love. Class barriers fall as the sun sets and romantic music swells... tanleyKramer, to give him his due, has handled the ending on a restrained note that seems just right; we don't get slow-motion shots of lovers running across a meadow (or an oil field) into each other's arms.

References

External links