Review: Oklahoma Crude


Mean-spirited loner Faye Dunaway is a small landowner who begrudgingly takes on the help of drifter George C. Scott when thuggish oil company rep Jack Palance (as hateful as ever) puts pressure on her. British veteran Sir John Mills is her ne’er-do-well father whom she scorns continually.



Not-bad, well-acted 1973 Stanley Kramer (“The Defiant Ones”, “Not as a Stranger”, “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner”) comedy-drama-western is a bit similar at times to the earlier “Lucy Gallant”, but slightly more feminist in its approach. The earlier film tried hard, but it was 1955 after all. By the 1970s, things had changed somewhat. This one gets bogged down as Palance et al just seem to stand around waiting a lot. After one hell of an imposing entrance I thought he was gonna be a major badass (as he was in “Shane” and particularly “Barabbas”), but his character gets short shrift after that. Still, Dunaway (whose character pretty much stays the same throughout, thankfully), Scott and old scene-stealer Mills are all good and it’s pretty watchable most of the way, especially for Dunaway fans such as myself. Scripted by Marc Norman (“Breakout”, “The Killer Elite”), it’s far from a top-shelf western, but it’s not bad I guess. I just wish it gave Palance more to do.



Rating: C+

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