Oklahoma Crude (1973)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Stanley Kramer

Writer:

Marc Norman (written by)

Release Date:

24 August 1973 (Denmark)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Tagline:

A wild raunchy rip-roaring yarn!

Plot:

It's oil boom time in Oklahoma and Lena Doyle, a hard-bitten, cyncial feminist has a fight on her hands:...

Plot Keywords:

Oil | Oklahoma | Oil Company | Misanthrope | Rifle

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 1 win

Cast

George C. Scott	...	Noble 'Mase' Mason
Faye Dunaway	...	Lena Doyle
John Mills	...	Cleon Doyle
Jack Palance	...	Hellman
William Lucking	...	Marion
Harvey Jason	...	Wilcox
Ted Gehring	...	Wobbly
Cliff Osmond	...	Massive Man
Rafael Campos	...	Jimmy
Woodrow Parfrey	...	Lawyer
John Hudkins	...	Bloom
Harvey Parry	...	Bliss
Bob Herron	...	Dulling
Jerry Brown	...	Rucker
Jim Burk	...	Moody

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

California, USA

Company:

Stanley Kramer Productions

Quotes:

Mason: [holding a shotgun under Hellman's jaw and pissing down Hellman's leg] Businessmen do this to each other all the time.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Times Square (1980)

Soundtrack:

Send a Little Love My Way

So-So

Dismissed by critics as one of Stanley Kramer's later flops, OKLAHOMA CRUDE is not bad. It does, however, suffer from an identity crisis. Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Is it a western? It's not really any of those. Nor, thankfully, is it one of Kramer's social issue epics. Faye Dunaway gives it her all as a demented wild-catter trying to get oil from a lone well while keeping the big time oil companies off her land. She's helped out by her ne'er do well father John Mills and a hapless drifter played by George C. Scott. Scott and Dunaway have great chemistry and Kramer wisely downplays any love story. However, although they make a scrappy team, they're not particularly likable. In fact, none of the characters in this film is very pleasant, therefore there's nobody to really root for.

Kramer, like his contemporaries Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger, seemed to have lost his way by the 1970s. OKLAHOMA CRUDE doesn't click as comedy or drama. The actors are poorly directed: Dunaway is completely humorless, while Scott plays his part as if he's in a broad farce. Jack Palance, as the villain, appears to be spoofing his own clenched jaw persona.