The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Director:

Gordon Douglas

Writer:

Kenneth Gamet (writer)

Release Date:

27 May 1949 (USA)

Genre:

Western

Plot:

When the Daltons are killed at Coffeeville, gang member Bill Doolin arriving late escapes but kills a man...

Plot Keywords:

Beautiful Woman | Gunfight | Character Name In Title

Cast

  (Credited cast)

Randolph Scott	...	Bill Doolin / Bill Daley
George Macready	...	Marshal Sam Hughes
Louise Allbritton	...	Rose of Cimarron
John Ireland	...	Bitter Creek
Virginia Huston	...	Elaine Burton
Charles Kemper	...	Thomas 'Arkansas' Jones
Noah Beery Jr.	...	Little Bill / Joe Smith
Dona Drake	...	Cattle Annie
Robert Barrat	...	Marshal Heck Thomas (as Robert H. Barrat)
Lee Patrick	...	Melissa Price
Griff Barnett	...	Deacon Burton
Frank Fenton	...	George Wakeman / Red Buck
Jock Mahoney	...	Tulsa Jack Blake (as Jack O'Mahoney)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Eddie Dunn	...	Engineer (scenes deleted)
Hank Patterson	...	Rancher (scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

The Great Manhunt (UK)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | USA:Approved (PCA #13649) | Sweden:(Banned)

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Producers-Actors Corporation

Quotes:

[Annie and Rose watch the men leave on another cattle drive]
Cattle Annie: I sure wish I was one of 'em.
Rose of Cimarron: But you can't be. All you can do is sit here...and hear that tune play...and watch them leave...and wonder if they're going to come back.
Cattle Annie: You're talking about love...I'm talking about cows!

Movie Connections:

Remade as The Cimarron Kid (1952)

Soundtrack:

Rock of Ages

Familiar western yarn has Randolph Scott trying to reform...

The big switch in THE DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA is that GEORGE MACREADY is on the side of the law as a U.S. Marshall, while RANDOLPH SCOTT strays far from the heroic cowboy image he played in so many previous westerns.

He's a hunted man, a fugitive wanted for murder during the era of the Dalton Brothers--and rightly concerned about his survival. As Bill Doolin, he forms his own gang of robbers. On the lam from some pursuers, he enters a church during service and meets a family of church-goers, falling in love with the deacon's daughter. Soon he has a farm, is married to the young lady (VIRGINIA HOUSTON) and wants to go straight and put the past behind him. That is, until his old friends from the Doolin gang show up in town and have other ideas.

When his wife learns his real identity, he rides off to rejoin the gang after a talk with her deacon father (GRIFF BARNETT). The western takes a darker turn, the action gets grittier, and the gang members--including NOAH BEERY, JR., JOHN IRELAND and JOCK MAHONEY--have a little more to do, including some energetic fight scenes well directed by Gordon Douglas.

With a good background score by George Duning, it's a better than average western with Scott in fine form as the ambiguous anti-hero.