THE OKLAHOMA KID
US, 1939, 85 minutes, Black and white.
James Cagney, Humphrey Bogart, Rosemary Lane, Donald Crisp, Ward Bond.
Directed by Lloyd Bacon.
This is an opportunity to see James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart together. It is also an opportunity to see James Cagney in the west – he was usually either a gangster or in musical comedy. Humphrey made very few westerns as well so this is an interesting occasion.
Humphrey Bogart is the villain who takes the money available for paying Indians for their land. He wants to get the rights to land and set up gambling. James Cagney is Jim Kincaid, the Oklahoma Kid, who confronts Bogart.
The film has the expected conventions – but does present a very lawless old west. The film was directed by Lloyd Bacon who directed a number of conventional films at Warner Brothers at this period.
1. How enjoyable was this western? was there anything that made it particularly interesting and different?
2. Comment on the styles of 1930s film making and photography, the narrative, the inheritance of silent days?
3. How good an example of the western genre was this? How much has it been used later? Did this film show signs of originality, of being part of a tradition?
4. What made it entertaining? What serious interest was there? The theme of law and order and its presentation in the 1930s?
5. Comment on the film's western themes and their presentation: the land rush and building empires, the role of the land, the building of the towns, the inevitability of deals, the criminals, the disorder, the need for law and order and justice?
6. How did this western seriousness parallel the gangsterism of the 30s? Cities and towns being owned in the west. and being owned in later times, the American heritage?
7. What insight into the nature of the west did the film give and its role in the heritage of America? How much are American traditions, even in the cities and in this century, similar to the west of the 19th century?
8. How interesting a hero was the kid? James Cagney's style and mystique? Was he convincingly presented as a hero? The innocent victim of the west? The importance of his philosophy of law as explained to the judge? His being presented as doing his own thing, the contrast with his father and brother? His trying to work within the law and his administering justice himself? The importance of the relationship with his father and Ned? The effect of the judge on the kid's behaviour? Jane’s effect and love? How convincing was his ride for the judge, his vengeance on the criminals his turning over a new leaf, his future? The mystique of such 'western heroes in American tradition?
9. How convincing a villain was Mc Cord? As a contrast with the Kid? Humphrey Bogart's style in the west and as a villain? His owning the town. his deals, his inciting the mob, his using the law, the inevitability of his death? The parallel between Mc Cord in Tulsa in the 19th century and the gangsters of the 1930s?
10. The importance of the picturing of justice and injustice? Kinkaid, the rigged trials the lynching etc? Audience response to this?
11.Ned and Jane in the film? Conventional characters or something more? Their contribution to the plot? Kincaid and his contribution to the plot? The judge as a man of justice in the west?
12.How much was cliche in the film and how much was original?
13.The heroics, the excitement, the humour, the standard sets? a good western?
