ma-cortes Edna Feber's saga about newspaper editor and his reluctant wife settle in an Oklahoma boom town along with his fiery ex-girlfriend at the end of the nineteenth century . The picture has an opening credits prologue : At high noon April 22, 1889 a section of the last unsettled territories in America was to be given free to the first people who claimed it. They came from the north and they came from the south and they came from across the sea. In just one day an entire territory would be settled. A new state would be born. They called it Oklahoma. As when the government opens up the Oklahoma territory for settlement, restless Yancey Cravat (Glenn Ford) claims a plot of the free land for himself and moves his family there from Wichita. A newspaperman, lawyer, and just about everything else, Cravat soon becomes a leading citizen of the boom town of Osage. Once the town is established, however, he begins to feel confined once again, and heads for the Cherokee Strip, leaving his family behind. During this and other absences, his wife Sabra (Maria Schell) must learn to take care of herself and soon becomes prominent in her own right.This impressive epic/historic Western contains thrills , action , shootouts and soap opera . The picture deals with historical deeds as forty years of social and urban progress in American life from 1889-1929 ; the effects of empire building and the Way West are seen through the life of a progressive newspaper editor/lawyer in Oklahoma, and the wife who resents his longing for the excitement of the frontier in the years after the Oklahoma land rush. It results to be a remake to ¨Cimarron¨ (1931) that had Oscar Winner for best picture and best screenplay , being directed by Wesley Ruggles with Richard Dix , Irene Dunne and Estelle Taylor . Yancey Cravat, the character well played by Glenn Ford, was based on real-life lawyer and gunfighter Temple Houston - the son of Sam Houston, who was portrayed in Man of conquest (1939) starred by Richard Dix and upon whom the 1960s western TV series Temple Houston (1963) was based . Nice acting by Anne Baxter , in her memoir "Intermission," Anne Baxter hints that Ford and Schell had become very close during production, but by the time the movie premiered in Oklahoma, the two were not speaking to each other . Secondary cast is frankly excellent , with plenty of familiar faces such as Arthur O'Connell , Russ Tamblyn , Mercedes McCambridge , Vic Morrow ,Robert Keith , Charles McGraw , Harry Morgan, David Opatoshu , Vladimir Sokoloff , Mary Wickes , Edgar Buchanan , L.Q. Jones , Royal Dano and special mention to veteran Aline MacMahon Overwhelming production design by George W. Davis , among others ; in fact , the land rush scene took a long time to film, using thousands extras, several cameramen, still photographers and a lot of camera assistants . Colorful and evocative cinematography in Cinemascope by Robert Surtees , a magnificent cameraman expert on super-productions . Rousing and breathtaking musical score by classic composer Franz Waxman . This sprawling ¨Soaper¨ picture was lavishly produced by Edmund Grangier and professionally directed by Anthony Mann , though this director was fired near the end of filming and replaced by Charles Walters . Rating : 6 . Decent epic western though overlong and some moments turns out to be indifferent and boring , but it is still worthwhile watching .

Fred E. Black For all Glenn Ford Fans, this is a must see, his great horsemanship is legendary, playing a man living by his own code of ethics in a day when greed over land, oil, and money transformed the American West into a industrialized and mechanized part of this country. This is what killed the cowboy, the Indian, and the farmer towards the end of the 19th century. Glen Ford should have got the Oscar for his performance, as well as an Oscar for Maria Schell who played his wife. The portrayal of the Oklahoma Indians is subdued at best, every time it surfaced in the film it was pushed to the side and made sublime, like we should already know their plight...however the leading character Yancy, was a champion for their causes, education, land struggles, and civil rights...the screenplay just leaves that part hanging and sporadically tosses in small talk concerning the Indians leaving any understanding up to the viewers own research.... Being a movie over 90 minutes I understand why this was not covered, it would take a whole other film to cover it, and another time... another time

thomreid I haven't seen this all the way thru since 1965; but have seen bits and pieces of it on TCM (thank God for them). Maria Schell is fine as Sabra,and Glenn Ford sporadically shines and then falls flat as an epic hero. I like the other epic qualities, as well as the excellent supporting cast that seems to carry the movie along. I also noticed during the sequence with the train coming in supposedly carrying Yancey from the Spanish American War: the big bell tower in the background is from "Raintree County" (1957). Good music score.

doug-balch This movie is an almost complete failure. Anthony Mann directed, but his signature style is absent.Here's what I liked:Overall, this is a very big budget production and there are some nice period costumes, sets and props, including some functioning early automobiles.The Oklahoma land rush scene is fantastic. This is really the only reason to watch this movie.Anne Baxter is pretty sexy, but doesn't have much to do. I would like to have seen her role expanded.Is this the only Western that ever had a Jewish character? Only one I can remember. Anyway, some hard hitting Civil Rights stuff, especially the anti-lynching part.I don't know where to start with the negatives:It felt more like a soap opera than a Western.I like Glenn Ford, but this role is just way, way too big for him. Doesn't even begin to pull it off.The lead German girl was awful.There's basically no heavy. A couple of racists who aren't well characterized at all, that's it.All kinds of crazy, inexplicable plot transitions, none worse than when Glenn Ford simply disappears halfway through the movie. What?