Review of the Movie, Tulsa

Recently, I watched a movie from my husband's ever-growing collection of 1950s movies. I grabbed a movie titled "Tulsa" off the shelf and popped it into our VHS.

Shortly into the movie, I realized this was a story about the conflict between drilling for oil and the impact of this on land and water conservation. Now, realize this movie was made in 1949. So, for Hollywood to take on the oil companies, when they were helping an economy brought to its knees not too many years prior, took some nerve.

Tulsa stars Susan Hayward as Cherokee Lansing, the daughter of a cattleman, and Robert Preston as geologist, Bill Brady. The movie begins with Cherokee and her father, a cattleman, finding dead cattle along a stream. When they smell the water, they discover it smells like oil and realize the nearby oil refining business is contaminating the soil and killing cattle. Cherokee goes with her father to confront the oily owner, Bruce Tanner, played by Lloyd Gough. While they are talking, an oil structure strikes oil and part of a building falls on her father killing him. Cherokee files suit for the death of her father and their cattle. She loses the lawsuit as the court decides that she and her Father were trespassing.

Cherokee decides to get revenge for her father's death by getting into the oil business and beating Tanner at his own game.

However, she soon finds the lure of money and power overcoming her scruples against devastation of land and water. Near the end of the film, she breaks a promise to her childhood friend, an Indian, Jim Redbird (played by Pedro Armendariz). She had persuaded Redbird to allow drilling on his property in exchange for royalties, but, on the condition that the oil wells be spaced out enough to allow pasture for his cows.. Jim wants to still maintain his cattle ranch and only take out a moderate amount of petroleum. Geologist Bill Brady agrees with him. She goes to court, now in partnership with Bruce Tanner, to get an injunction against Redbird after Redbird takes pot shots at operators trying to drill more wells on his property.

The judge orders Redbird to allow the drilling and tells him if he doesn't allow it, he will order a mental competency hearing for him. In the judge's words, anyone who would turn down that kind of money must be crazy. Redbird leaves the courtroom, drives around his property and stops at a stream where he finds dead cattle. He throws a match in the stream and the stream ignites as it is full of oil. The fire spreads and sets the oil derricks on fire.

Meantime, Cherokee comes to her senses and goes to find Jim to tell him there will be no more wells dug on his property. By this time, the fire is widespread. Fire trucks, friends, neighbors, and oil men arrive, all trying to put the fire out. Cherokee finds Jim unconscious in the middle of a blaze. Bill Brady.rescues both of them by driving through the blaze as firemen hose him and his jeep down with water.

Tulsa was one of the last productions of Eagle-Lion Studios, a hybrid from Universal Pictures in the USA, and J. Arthur Rank in Great Britain. Although, perhaps not intended, the contrast between scenes of the beautiful land without oil wells and the ugliness of it afterwards when littered with oil wells serves as a pointed reminder for conservation.

For those who enjoy drama, romance, action, and conflict, I highly recommend this movie. In fact, this would be a great movie for a remake, as the subject of oil versus conservation is now in the news due to the BP oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico.

Sources:

Tulsa, MCMXCIII UAV, Charlotte, NC