Cherokee Lansing
Susan Hayward
Cherokee Lansing
Tulsa
“Tempestuous loves! Lusty adventures! Violent hates!”
6.3
1949
1h 30m
Drama
Director: Stuart Heisler
Overview
It's Tulsa, Oklahoma at the start of the oil boom and Cherokee Lansing's rancher father is killed in a fight with the Tanner Oil Company. Cherokee plans revenge by bringing in her own wells with the help of oil expert Brad Brady and childhood friend Jim Redbird. When the oil and the money start gushing in, both Brad and Jim want to protect the land but Cherokee has different ideas. What started out as revenge for her father's death has turned into an obsession for wealth and power.
Cast
Brad Brady
Robert Preston
Brad Brady
Jim Redbird
Pedro Armendáriz
Jim Redbird
Bruce Tanner
Lloyd Gough
Bruce Tanner
Pinky Jimpson (Narrator)
Chill Wills
Pinky Jimpson (Narrator)
John J. 'Johnny' Brady (as Edward Begley)
Ed Begley
John J. 'Johnny' Brady (as Edward Begley)
Homer Triplette
Jimmy Conlin
Homer Triplette
Steve, Cherokee's Ranchhand
Roland Jack
Steve, Cherokee's Ranchhand
Nelse Lansing
Harry Shannon
Nelse Lansing
Candy Williams (uncredited)
Lola Albright
Candy Williams (uncredited)
Tooley (uncredited)
Paul E. Burns
Tooley (uncredited)
Oilman (uncredited)
John Dehner
Oilman (uncredited)
Reviews
John Chard
Seynatawnee means Red Hair, but to him it means Boss! Tulsa is directed by Stuart Heisler and adapted to screenplay by Frank S. Nugent and Curtis Kenyon from a Richard Wormser story. It stars Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Pedro Armendáriz, Lloyd Gough and Ed Begley. Music is by Frank Skinner and cinematography by Winton C. Hoch. It's Tulsa at the start of the oil boom and when Cherokee Lansing's (Hayward) rancher father is killed in a fight, she decides to take on the Tanner Oil Company by setting up her own oil wells. But at what cost to the grazing land of the ranchers? Perfect material for Hayward to get her teeth into, Tulsa is no great movie, but it a good one. Sensible ethics battle greed and revenge as Hayward's Cherokee Lensing lands in a male dominated industry and kicks ass whilst making the boys hearts sway. She's smart, confident and ambitious, but she's too driven to see the painfully obvious pitfalls of her motives, or even what she has become. It all builds to a furious climax, where fires rage both on land and in hearts, the American dream ablaze and crumbling, the effects and model work wonderfully pleasing. Slow in parts, too melodramatic in others, but Hayward, Preston, Gough and the finale more than make this worth your time. 7/10
Read full reviewCinemaSerf
This has a slightly incongruous conservation slant to it as it follows the battle between the oil drillers and the local, largely indigenous, Oklahoman farmers. Now forgetting the terrible song at the start from "Pinky" (Chill Wills) - who provides us with the optimistic narration; we are introduced to the honorable "Cherokee" (Susan Hayward) who is after compensation when her father is killed by flying debris from an oil derrick owned by "Tanner" (Lloyd Gough). Nothing doing says he, but when she comes into some oil leases that she can ill afford to exploit, he has enough of a fair-mined (and venal) spirit about him to lend her the cash. The remainder of this drama is all quite predicable, and though Hayward does enough as the woman conflicted by both the ecology of what they are doing and also with would be husband "Brad" (Robert Preston) versus the admiring local lad with a conscience "Jim" (Pedro Armendáriz), the rest of the cast just go through the motions. There are some decent visual effects towards the end as things hot up and there is an underlying message of reconciling progress with nature that shows even in 1949 people were thinking about balance. It's watchable enough.
Read full reviewFeaturettes (1)
Rare 1949 Parade of Hollywood Movie Stars to Promote Motion Picture Tulsa
Movies
Similar Movies
More movies you might want to watch next.
6.6
In Hell
2003 Movie
7.7
Rurouni Kenshin: The Beginning
2021 Movie
7.0
Riki-Oh: The Wall of Hell
1989 Movie
6.0
Lyvia's House
2024 Movie
6.8
ICHI
2008 Movie
2.3
Female Bank Teller: Rape Office
1985 Movie
5.5
The Affair of the Necklace
2001 Movie
6.6
Medea
1969 Movie
6.3
Brooklyn's Finest
2010 Movie
6.1
Levity
2003 Movie
7.1
Five Easy Pieces
1970 Movie
6.6
Made in Israel
2001 Movie