From Daltons to Doolins. The Doolins of Oklahoma (AKA: The Great Manhunt) is directed by Gordon Douglas and written by Kenneth Garnet. It stars Randolph Scott, George Macready, Louise Albritton, John Ireland, Noah Beery Junior, Charles Kemper and Viginia Huston. Music is by George Duning and Paul Sawtell and cinematography by Charles Lawton Jr. After the fall of the Dalton Gang, Bill Doolin (Scott) becomes head of his own gang of outlaws. But with the law in hot pursuit and his yearning to start a new life, Doolin knows he is greatly up against it. Since it irritates many, it needs pointing out that if you are searching for a history lesson - a film full of real life fact - then look elsewhere. This is at best an interpretation of Bill Doolin the outlaw, where the makers get some things right and others not so. So just settle in for a Western movie, out to entertain with that bastion of the Western, Randy Scott, up front and central. Standard rules of 1940s/50s Westerns apply, meaning there is nothing new across the dusty plains here, outlaw wants to escape his past but circumstances refuse to let him do so. Cue moral and emotional conflict, chases, fisticuffs, shootings, robberies and macho posturing. The Doolin gang are here portrayed as lovable rogues, with main man Bill particularly exuding that fact, and it's here where the Production Code tempers the promise of something more biting in narrative thrust. The lady characters are unfortunately short changed in the writing, leaving the guys to carry the pic to safety conclusion. At production level there is much to admire. Lawton's black and white photography is crisp and detailed, the interiors atmospherically photographed, the exteriors gorgeously showcasing the Calif locations to full effect. Stunt work (with legendary Yakima Canutt on point detail) is high grade, exciting and authenticity rolled into one. While the crowning glory comes with the stampede at pic's finale, exhilarating is not overstating it. Cast can't be faulted, the ever watchable Scott surrounding by genre pros who don't know how to soil a Western, and with Douglas in the director's chair you got a man who knows his way around an honest Oater. No pulling up of trees here, and some familiarity does do it down for those in tight with the genre, but lots to like here. From the gunny opening salvo to the mighty stampede, and encompassing rueful closings, it's a treat regardless of historical lessons. 7/10
Marshall Jed Cooper survives a hanging, vowing revenge on the lynch mob that left him dangling. To carry out his oath for vengeance, he returns to his former job as a lawman. Before long, he's caught up with the nine men on his hit list and starts dispensing his own brand of Wild West justice.
A young couple escapes Ireland, dreaming of a new life during the land giveaway in Oklahoma. As they struggle to survive against betrayal and harsh winter conditions, they must fend off her parents who are determined to bring her back home.
A dark-themed and redesigned West End production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's seminal Broadway musical tells the story of farm girl Laurey and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud.
On the eve of retirement, Captain Nathan Brittles takes out a last patrol to stop an impending massive Indian attack. Encumbered by women who must be evacuated, Brittles finds his mission imperiled.
In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century, two young cowboys vie with a violent ranch hand and a traveling peddler for the hearts of the women they love.
The feuding Lanes and Whittakers are brought together with the help of Roy Rogers, when a business tycoon tries to play one family against the other.
A movie company comes to Oklahoma to convince legendary lawmen Bill Tilghman to star in a bank robbery silent film featuring real outlaws. Tilghman reluctantly agrees, not realizing everyone's lives will never be the same.
Cowboy Dan Somers and oilman Jim "Hunk" Gardner compete for oil lease rights on Indian land in Oklahoma, as well as for the favors of schoolteacher Cathy Allen.
In six months, the population of Cromwell, Oklahoma, has climbed from 500 to 10,000. Boom times have come to the oil-rich town. So has a new breed of criminal. You Know My Name is the fact-based story of Bill Tilghman, a lawman and former partner of Wyatt Earp confronted by an emerging era when outlaws run whiskey instead of cattle and are likely to tote a tommy gun as carry a six-gun. An ideally cast Sam Elliott plays Tilghman, whose life takes on a newfangled wrinkle of its own. Tilghman makes a moving picture of his Old West exploits; and the success of that silent film, The Passing of the Oklahoma Outlaws, spreads his reputation like a brushfire. But that reputation may mean nothing to a thug (Arliss Howard) who hides behind a badge.