Themes: Members of the Press, Prospectors and Land Rights
Main Cast: Glenn Ford, Maria Schell, Anne Baxter, Arthur O'Connell, Russ Tamblyn
Release Year: 1960
Country: US
Run Time: 147 minutes
Plot
The Oklahoma land rush of 1889 provides the starting point for this western drama, based on a novel by Edna Ferber. Yancey Cravat (Glenn Ford) is an impulsive, short-fused cowboy who has married an immigrant woman, Sabra (Maria Schell). Together, Yancey and Sabra claim a homestead, and Yancey starts a newspaper. While he doesn't have much of a head for business, Sabra does, and when she takes greater control of the paper, it grows into a profitable and influential journal. Eventually, Yancey becomes a well-recognized figure, and it's suggested that he run for public office. However, Yancey finds himself unable to support legislation that would steal more land and mineral rights away from the Native Americans who first settled the land. Cimarron was previously filmed in 1931; this version reduced the role of stereotyped black characters and has Native American actors playing the "Indians," including Eddie and Dawn Little Sky. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
There's no doubt that the land rush sequence in the 1960 version of Cimarron is one of the most exciting and stimulating sequences from the cinema of the period. Director Anthony Mann, cinematographer Robert Surtees and editor John D. Dunning, with an able assist from Franz Waxman's stirring score, make this segment striking, memorable and dramatic, a visual feast that keeps the heart pounding from start to finish. Had the rest of Cimarron had half of this sequence's impact, it would have been one of the finest films of the period. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Oh, there are things to like in it, including the way Mann uses his camera and the widescreen process to capture stunning vistas and give a truly epic feel to portions of the film. Glenn Ford is also well cast, and Maria Schell doesn't do poorly, and they're supported by solid turns from Mercedes McCambridcge, Arthur O'Connell and Anne Baxter, among others. But Mann isn't able to focus the dramatic throughline in the film. He may perhaps have been aiming for some interesting ambivalence and ambiguity in the characters, their actions and the perceptions of their actions by others, but what comes across is confusion and, ultimately, disinterest. The film goes on for too long; Arnold Shulman's screenplay gets bogged down several times, and character motivation becomes fuzzy. Still, when it works, it's gangbusters, and those sequences that do work make it worth viewing. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
The 1950s brought renewed interest in Edna Ferber's works. Show Boat , which had already been filmed in 1929 and 1936, was adapted in a highly successful film in 1951. So Big, which had previously been filmed in 1932 and Giant followed in 1953 and 1956, respectively. In 1960, MGM and Warner Bros. competed to film Ferber novels, Warner producing Ice Palace from a later novel, and MGM remaking Cimarron. These marked the end of the Ferber adaptations, at least until 2008.
The remake of Cimarron saw many changes from both the novel and especially the 1931 film. With the Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum, the script, written by Arnold Schulman, took a kinder approach to Native Americans. Schulman gave the people more dignity and recognized that they were losing land that was rightfully theirs through the 1893 land rush that was the film's centerpiece. He also introduced several minor characters, such as journalist Sam Pegler (Robert Keith) and Wes Jennings (Vic Morrow), a prominent member of the Cherokee Kid's (Russ Tamblyn) gang.
In a twist of irony, WB now owns this adaptation of Cimarron outright, by virtue of merging with Turner Entertainment (which had bought the pre-1986 MGM library) in 1996. They also own the region 1/4 rights to the 1931 film, under license from RKO Pictures.
