Producer Walter Wanger and director Stuart Heisler shared a Special Effects Academy Award nomination for the action in this average (Technicolor) romance drama set in 1920's Oklahoma. It begins like an advertisement for the titled city and the oil business but ends by making a case for land conservation.Lovely Susan Hayward plays Cherokee Lansing, the daughter of a rancher that was accidentally killed by oilmen such that she ambitiously pursues revenge on the responsible party, Bruce Tanner (Lloyd Gough), with help from Native American Jim Redbird (Pedro Armendáriz) and Brad Brady (Robert Preston), the son of an "oil- catter" (Ed Begley) who'd left his leases to her.All three men are romantically interested in Cherokee. Chill Wills narrates and plays a colorful character named Pinky Jimpson, a blood cousin of Cherokee that calls everyone else "cousin" as a term of endearment. Jimmy Conlin appears briefly as the wildcatter's accountant Homer Triplette.Brad is the engineer that helps Cherokee strike oil on Jim's land in the nick of time (e.g. before Tanner forecloses on her) but is then driven by her newfound wealth and greed such that she and Bruce become partners. Distraught with the reality that his land will soon become unfit for ranching per all the oil derricks to be built there, Jim starts a fire that quickly spreads and consumes much of the Lansing-Tanner oilfields before all the primary characters work together to stop it.The raging fires and explosions to create the necessary fire line contributed to the Oscar nominated effects. Selmer Jackson is among those who appear uncredited.

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

It's perhaps ironic that I chose to watch this film on the day it was announced that Larry Hagman died, the iconic J.R. Ewing of TV 'Dallas' fame who became the poster child for greedy oil barons everywhere. I'm curious why this film doesn't have more reviews, as most folks writing about it express their surprise at how intriguing the story line is. It's not like the movie is hard to find, it has a ubiquitous presence in bargain bins and large film compilations to make it quite readily available.Susan Hayward is the dominant force in the story, daughter of a cattle baron who alternates loyalties as the picture progresses between cattle ranchers and those leading the charge in the fledgling oil industry. The character who surprised me the most was old Charlie Lightfoot (Chief Yowlachie) who quickly abandoned his native culture's pride in the land to capitalize on a quick buck. Robert Preston, Pedro Armendariz and Lloyd Gough are all effective as on again/off again business allies and rivals, as well as competitors for Cherokee Lansing's (Hayward) affections.From today's standpoint, it's interesting to examine the mindset that once existed regarding oil as a finite resource subject to running out at a particular point in time. Modern day discoveries and new technologies are set to insure that our country's vast untapped resources will soon make us the new Saudi Arabia in both oil and natural gas production with hundreds of years of supply at current usage rates. Plenty of time to develop alternative energy resources if left to private enterprise entrepreneurs instead of the government picking winners and losers, or as is mostly the case - losers.

Where were the Barnes and Ewing families of "Dallas" fame when this took place? It's the 1920's, and narrator Chill Wills explains how Tulsa became the oil capital of the world because of the conglomerate of various oil companies facing the need to be responsible for nature as well as profits. Native American Pedro Pedro Armendáriz wants to keep his property out of the hands of oil men, but childhood pal Susan Hayward (whom he secretly loves) convinces him to get involved. Along the way, Hayward falls for genealogist Robert Preston (pre-"Music Man") and keeps him guessing whether or not she'll choose him while becoming the next Alexis Carrington of her day over ruthless oilman Lloyd Gough, who could care less about the cows he kills with the oil infested waters they drink out of.Yes, this pre-cursor to the two top nighttime soaps of the 1980's (that ironically dealt with the oil industry in Dallas Texas and Denver Colorado) were when they were at their best. Hayward hit the top of the female stars in 1949 with "House of Strangers" and "My Foolish Heart", and the colorful part in "Tulsa" was a dynamic part for her. Preston plays one of his few romantic roles prior to Broadway fame, while Chill Wills offers comic relief. Ed Begley, who played a ruthless businessman in Tennessee Williams' "Sweet Bird of Youth", has an important bit part that moves the plot forward, and the lovable Jimmy Conlin is his sidekick. Great color photography, and a fantastic "White Heat" style ending are other pluses.