Cimarron

 

 

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I'm glad this is back in print - it's been a while since I've seen it, but it is a classic Glenn Ford role - the deep, rightous, but haunted cowboy. This is definately not a chick movie - the thought processes and emotions that Ford's character explores are no more understood by actual women than they are by his character's wife. My favorite scene is his return from the Spanish American War, and I also thought the ending was well done.

MGM presents "CIMARRON" (December 1960) (147 mins/Color) (Dolby digitally remastered) -- Our story line and plot, The epic saga of a frontier family, Cimarron starts with the Oklahoma Land Rush on 22 April 1889. The Cravet family builds their newspaper Oklahoma Wigwam into a business empire and Yancey Cravet is the adventurer-idealist who, to his wife's anger, spurns the opportunity to become governor since this means helping to defraud the indians of their land and oil --- Anthony Mann (Director), Robert Surtees (Cinematographer) and John D. Dunning (Film Editor), with the striking memorable score from Franz Waxman completely stirring the veins of drama, which will keep the heart pounding from the opening scenes to the end credits --- One character is expanded considerably from the 1931 film. Edna May Oliver was Mrs. Wyatt who was a pioneer woman whose husband we never did meet --- Here Mrs. Wyatt is played by Mercedes McCambridge who is married to Arthur O'Connell who is very important to the story. They're this hardscrabble share cropper family who get a real scrubby piece of land at the beginning of the land rush, mainly because O'Connell falls off the stagecoach right at the beginning of the land rush and Mercedes runs across the starting line and she claims the land right at the line --- Anthony Mann went from making westerns to epics, and with this film, he was in the best of both worlds --- Director Anthony Mann who got fired towards the end of the film's production did a very good job with both the cast and the spectacle. The Oklahoma land rush scene was as thrillingly done as it was in the 1931 version --- All the characters present in Edna Ferber's saga of the transforming of Oklahoma from territory to state made it from the first film --- The cast includes also such fine people as Anne Baxter, Edgar Buchanan, Russ Tamblyn, Vic Morrow, Aline McMahon, Robert Keith, Charles McGraw, all ably filling out parts from the original version. The land rush scene is every bit as good as the first time around --- All of them meet during the Oklahoma land rush and while Glenn and Maria are the leads, the story of the film is what happens to all of them.

Under the production staff of:
Anthony Mann - Director
Edmund Grainger - Producer
Edna Ferber - Book Author
Arnold Schulman - Screenwriter
Robert Surtees - Cinematographer
Franz Waxman - Composer (Music Score) / Songwriter
Paul Francis Webster - Songwriter
John D. Dunning - Editor
George W. Davis - Art Director
Addison Hehr - Art Director
Henry W. Grace - Set Designer
Hugh Hunt - Set Designer
Otto Siegel - Set Designer
Walter Plunkett - Costume Designer
William J. Tuttle - Makeup
Arnold A. Gillespie - Special Effects
Robert R. Hoag - Special Effects
Lee Le Blanc - Special Effects
Ridgeway Callow - First Assistant Director

SPECIAL FEATURES:
BIOS:
1. Glenn Ford (aka: Gwyllyn Samuel Newton Ford)
Date of Birth: 1 May 1916 - Sainte-Christine, Quebec, Canada
Date of Death30 August 2006, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles County, California

2. Maria Schell
Date of Birth: 15 January 1926 - Vienna, Austria
Date of Death: 26 April 2005 - Preitenegg, Carinthia, Austria

3. Anne Baxter
Date of Birth: 7 May 1923 - Michigan City, Indiana
Date of Death: 12 December 1985 - New York City, New York

4. Anthony Mann (Director)
Date of Birth: 30 June 1906 - San Diego, California
Date of Death: 29 April 1967 - Berlin, Germany

the cast includes:
Glenn Ford ... Yancey 'Cimarron' Cravat (editor, 'Oklahoma Wigwam')
Maria Schell ... Sabra Cravat born Venable
Anne Baxter ... Dixie Lee (owner, Dixie's Social Club)
Arthur O'Connell ... Tom Wyatt
Russ Tamblyn ... William Hardy aka The Cherokee Kid
Mercedes McCambridge ... Mrs. Sarah Wyatt
Vic Morrow ... Wes Jennings (Cherokee Kid gang)
Robert Keith ... Sam Pegler (owner, 'Oklahoma Wigwam')
Charles McGraw ... Bob Yountis
Harry Morgan ... Jessie Rickey (printer) (as Henry {Harry} Morgan)
David Opatoshu ... Sol Levy (shopkeeper)
Aline MacMahon ... Mrs. Mavis Pegler
Lili Darvas ... Felicia Venable (Sabra's mother)
Edgar Buchanan ... Judge Neal Hefner
Mary Wickes ... Mrs. Neal Hefner
Royal Dano ... Ike Howes (photographer)
L.Q. Jones ... Millis (Yountis' henchman)
George Brenlin ... Hoss Barry - Cherokee Kid gang
Vladimir Sokoloff ... Jacob Krubeckoff (sculptor)

Hats off and thanks to Les Adams (collector/guideslines for character identification), Chuck Anderson (Webmaster: The Old Corral/B-Westerns.Com), Boyd Magers (Western Clippings), Bobby J. Copeland (author of "Trail Talk"), Rhonda Lemons (Empire Publishing Inc) and Bob Nareau (author of "The Real Bob Steele") as they have rekindled my interest once again for B-Westerns and Serials --- If you're into the memories of B-Westerns with high drama, this is the one you've been anxiously waiting for --- please stand up and take a bow Western Classics --- all my heroes have been cowboys!

Total Time: 147 mins on DVD ~ Warner Home Video ~ (8/26/2008)

Ford is perfect for this role, and the story is told very well. Fantastic cinematography, including wagons and horses racing to claim land and Ford's strong moral stand at a party with big-time politicians trying to change his views. Timeless and powerful. I loved the ending and Anne Baxter's performance. A great plot with suspense and unpredictable consequences. Very handsome movie, with strong cast.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Magnificent film, one of the best westerns, very artistic
Ford is perfect in this role. The cinematography, including the wagons racing to claim their land, was outstanding. Read more

Published on Mar 23 2002

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