Tulsa

Let me get down to the story immediately...

It's 1920s Oklahoma, and the oil wells are...well, gushing. A young woman, orphaned when such a rig kills her cattle baron dad, sets out to get revenge on the oil owners but, instead, eventually winds up to be an oil baron herself. In the process, Cherokee Lansing (Susan Hayward) has three men vying for her affection: Brad Brady (Robert Preston), Bruce Tanner (Lloyd Gough), and Jim Redbird (Pedro Armendariz).

It's a well-photographed narrative, the special effects (for 1949) are very realistic, the acting is adequate (Susan Hayward shines, in my opinion) and the overall result is for a quite entertaining movie coupled with a glimpse into the recent past when the oil business was booming. And, I was glad to see Chill Wills again, who always gives a competent performance and who adds the requisite humour to an otherwise deadly serious affair...

The finale, showing one of the oil fields going up in flames, is quite a spectacle.

But this is more than an adventure movie about the oil business. It's also a politically correct conservation statement by Hollywood in response to the rapacious greed with which land was appropriated to feed awakening American industry. This, in 1949 – long before anybody started to think about peak oil, and the looming crisis that will come when the oil runs dry globally! Now that took guts…and a lot of money. Which makes me wonder how well this film did at the box office in 1949/1950...

So, I was amazed – even astounded – that Hollywood dared to take on the oil business then, so soon after the Second World War. Now that the predictions in that film are coming true, I think everybody should see this film. Might wake up a few more people about the coming end of the oil world as we know it...

Highly recommended. Get a copy and see it. Today, already!