Cimarron (1960 film): Difference between revisions

Cimarron
Cimarron
Directed by	Anthony Mann
Written by	Arnold Schulman
Produced by	Edmund Grainger
Starring	Glenn Ford; Maria Schell; Anne Baxter; Harry Morgan
Cinematography	Robert Surtees
Edited by	John D. Dunning
Music by	Franz Waxman
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release dates	February 16, 1961, New York, NY
Running time	147 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	approx. $20M (US)

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Cimarron is a 1960 western film based on the Edna Ferber novel Cimarron, featuring Glenn Ford and Maria Schell. It was directed by Anthony Mann, known for his westerns and film noirs.

Ferber's novel was previously adapted in 1931; that version won three Academy Awards.

Cimarron was the first of three epics (the others being El Cid and The Fall of the Roman Empire) Mann directed. Despite high production costs and an experienced cast of western veterans, stage actors, and future stars, the film was released with little fanfare.^{[citation needed]}

Plot

Sabra Cravat's (Maria Schell) wealthy Kansas City parents try to dissuade her from participating in a land run in the Oklahoma territory with her new husband Yancey (Glenn Ford), but she is adamant. During the journey, Sabra's knowledge of her husband's character deepens, and when he lends one of his covered wagons to Tom (Arthur O' Connell) and Sarah Wyatt (Mercedes McCambridge) and their large, destitute family, she experiences his generosity.

Upon arriving in Oklahoma and meeting many of Yancey's friends, including a lady of the evening named Dixie Lee(Anne Baxter), she discovers that he is something of an adventurer. Sabra has her first disagreement with Yancey, however, when he staunchly defends an American Indian family whose wagon has been overturned by a group of angry men. Even though a Cavalry officer states that Ben and Arita Red Feather have the right to participate in the land run, Sabra, a French American, wonders aloud whether Yancey should have risked injury just to help some Indians.

At high noon on 22 April 1889, thousands of settlers, who hope to claim 160 acres of free land, race wildly on horseback, wagon, bicycle, and stagecoach across the prairie. Tom is pushed off the stagecoach, whereupon a frantic Sarah plants a stake into the arid dirt near the starting line. Sam Pegler (Robert Keith), an idealistic newspaper owner from Osage, is killed during the run, and Ben is lassoed to the ground by a bigoted roughneck named Bob Yountis (Charles McGraw). After Dixie, angry at Yancey for having married another woman, vengefully claims the land that Yancey had wanted, he decides to forget about ranching and over Sam's newspaper. The printer, Jesse Rickey (Henry Harry Morgan), remains in Osage with the paper, the Oklahoma Wigwam, while Sam's widow Mavis (Aline MacMahon) sadly returns home.

Some time later, Yountis and William Hardy (Russ Tamblyn), a young troublemaker known as " The Kid, " terrorize a Jewish peddler named Sol Levy (David Opatoshu). Yancey rescues Sol, but The Kid, whose father had been Yancey's friend, refuses to listen to the older man's advice and rides away with his rowdy companions. One night, Yountis, leading a band of Indian-hating townspeople, lynches Ben and destroys his home. Outraged, Yancey shoots Yountis and then brings Arita and her baby to the Cravat house. When the three arrive home, they discover that Sabra has given birth to a baby boy, whom they named Cimarron.

Several years pass, and The Kid, now a feared outlaw, reluctantly joins cohorts in robbing the Osage bank. Cornered, the robbers take refuge in the schoolhouse, but when his buddy, Wes Jennings (Vic Morrow) tries to make a child their hostage, The Kid intervenes and is shot. Yancey shoots Wes, thereby earning a large reward, but when he remorsefully tears up the checks, Sabra accuses him of cheating Cim of his future. Dixie confesses that she still loves Yancey, and when he gently rejects her, she sells her farm and opens a "social club". Meanwhile, Arita's little daughter Ruby is ejected from the schoolhouse. Yancey files a protest, but the townspeople refuses to allow an Indian to attend school. Yancey charges that they are keeping their children's blood pure, but their heads empty.

Soon afterward, Yancey leaves town to participate in another land rush, to the bitter disappointment of his wife. During his five-year absence, Sabra obtains a loan from Sol, who has fallen in love with her. Sabra learns from Dixie that Yancey, who spent several years in Alaska, is now a Rough Rider in Cuba. Dixie also confesses that it is Sabra, not her, whom Yancey loves. That year, Yancey returns, promising to make amends for his absence. Sabra and Cim accept him, and the years pass.

One day Yancey excitedly reports that oil has been discovered on the Indian reservation. Tom, whose own oil-rich land has made him wealthy, laughs and says that it is he, not the Indians, who owns the oil rights. Yancey writes in his paper that Tom has swindled the Indians, and the story is reported all over the country. Sabra, meanwhile, worries that Cim is becoming serious about Ruby, whom she considers unfit for her son, but when Yancey tells her that he has been nominated for governor of the territory, she beams. In Washington, she estatically dresses for a party, but Yancey learns Tom and his powerful friends will name him governor only if he agrees to cooperate with them. Yancey rejects the post, whereupon Sabra orders him to leave her. Later, Sol, now a successful merchant, lends Sabra a large sum, and she builds the paper into a major enterprise. When Cim informs her that he has married Ruby and is on his way to Oregon, Sabra bitterly complains that he is throwing his life away and then dismisses him from the house.

Ten years later, in 1914, Sabra sits at a desk composing an editorial for the newspaper's 25th anniversary. Sol and Tom want her to be the model for a sculpture exemplifying the pioneer spirit, but Sabra protests that the man who ran away from her was the true pioneer. At a surprise anniversary party, Sabra is reunited with her son and his family. She pays tribute to her husband, claiming that she still hopes for his return, but that day, war is declared.

In December, Sabra rereads the letter she has recieved from Yancey, in which he again apologizes for being a disappointment to her. On the table is an open telegram stating that her husband has been killed in action.

Reception

The movie lost $3,618,000 at the box office.^[1]

In 1961 the film was nominated for Best Art Direction (George W. Davis, Addison Hehr, Henry Grace, Hugh Hunt, and Otto Siegel) and Best Sound (Franklin Milton),^[2]^[3] but failed to win either. While the 1931 adaptation is arguably the better and more successful of the two, the 1960 remake receives more attention and is still broadcast on television.

Cast

Glenn Ford as Yancey Cravat
Maria Schell as Sabra Cravat
Anne Baxter as Dixie Lee
Harry Morgan as Jessie Rickey
Russ Tamblyn as The Cherokee Kid
Lili Darvas as Felicia Venable
Arthur O'Connell as Tom Wyatt
Mercedes McCambridge as Mrs. Sarah Wyatt
Vic Morrow as Wes Jennings
Robert Keith as Sam Pegler
Aline MacMahon as Mrs. Pegler
Charles McGraw as Bob Yountis
David Opatoshu as Sol Levy
Edgar Buchanan as Judge Neal Hefner
Mary Wickes as Mrs. Neal Hefner

References

^ 'The Eddie Mannix Ledger’, Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles
^ "The 33rd Academy Awards (1961) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-22.
^ "NY Times: Cimarron". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-12-24.

External links

[Mannix-1] 'The Eddie Mannix Ledger’, Margaret Herrick Library, Center for Motion Picture Study, Los Angeles

[Oscars1961-2] "The 33rd Academy Awards (1961) Nominees and Winners". oscars.org. Retrieved 2011-08-22.

[NY_Times-3] "NY Times: Cimarron". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-12-24.

[1]

[2]

[3]

@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 ''Cimarron'' was the first of three epics (the others being ''[[El Cid (film)|El Cid]]'' and ''[[The Fall of the Roman Empire (film)|The Fall of the Roman Empire]]'') Mann directed. Despite high production costs and an experienced cast of western veterans, stage actors, and future stars, the film was released with little fanfare.{{Citation needed|date=October 2009}}
-==Background==
+==Plot==
-The 1950s brought renewed interest in [[Edna Ferber|Edna Ferber's]] works. ''[[Show Boat (novel)|Show Boat]]'', which had already been filmed in 1929 and 1936, was adapted in a highly successful film in 1951. ''[[So Big (1953 film)|So Big]]'', which had previously been filmed in 1932, and ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' followed in 1953 and 1956, respectively. In 1960, [[Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM]] and [[Warner Bros.]] competed to film Ferber novels, Warner producing ''[[Ice Palace (film)|Ice Palace]]'' from a later novel, and MGM remaking ''Cimarron''. These marked the end of the Ferber adaptations, at least until 2008.
+Sabra Cravat's ([[Maria Schell]]) wealthy [[Kansas City]] parents try to dissuade her from participating in a land run in the [[Oklahoma territory]] with her new husband Yancey ([[Glenn Ford]]), but she is adamant. During the journey, Sabra's knowledge of her husband's character deepens, and when he lends one of his covered wagons to Tom ([[Arthur O' Connell]]) and Sarah Wyatt ([[Mercedes McCambridge]]) and their large, destitute family, she experiences his generosity.
-The remake of ''Cimarron'' saw many changes from both the novel and especially the 1931 film of the same name. With the [[Civil Rights Movement]] gaining momentum, the script, written by [[Arnold Schulman]], took a kinder approach to [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]]. Schulman gave the people more dignity and recognized that they were losing land that was rightfully theirs through the [[Oklahoma Land Race|1893 land rush]] that was the film's centerpiece. He also introduced several minor characters, such as journalist Sam Pegler ([[Robert Keith (actor)|Robert Keith]]) and Wes Jennings ([[Vic Morrow]]), a prominent member of the Cherokee Kid's ([[Russ Tamblyn]]) gang.
+Upon arriving in Oklahoma and meeting many of Yancey's friends, including a lady of the evening named Dixie Lee([[Anne Baxter]]), she discovers that he is something of an adventurer. Sabra has her first disagreement with Yancey, however, when he staunchly defends an [[American Indian]] family whose wagon has been overturned by a group of angry men. Even though a Cavalry officer states that Ben and Arita Red Feather have the right to participate in the land run, Sabra, a French American, wonders aloud whether Yancey should have risked injury just to help some Indians.
-In Anne Baxter's memoir, ''Intermission'',<ref name="Intermission">{{cite book|title=Intermission: A True Tale|author=Anne Baxter|isbn=0-399-11577-3|publisher=G.P.Putnam's Sons, New York|format=Hardback|year=1976|page=196}}</ref> it was implied Ford and Schell were very close during filming but had fallen out by the time of the [[Oklahoma City|Oklahoma]] premiere in late 1960, for "ugly private reasons", and were not on speaking terms.
+At high noon on 22 April 1889, thousands of settlers, who hope to claim 160 acres of free land, race wildly on horseback, wagon, bicycle, and stagecoach across the prairie. Tom is pushed off the stagecoach, whereupon a frantic Sarah plants a stake into the arid dirt near the starting line. Sam Pegler ([[Robert Keith]]), an idealistic newspaper owner from [[Osage]], is killed during the run, and Ben is lassoed to the ground by a bigoted roughneck named Bob Yountis ([[Charles McGraw]]). After Dixie, angry at Yancey for having married another woman, vengefully claims the land that Yancey had wanted, he decides to forget about ranching and over Sam's newspaper. The printer, Jesse Rickey ([[Henry Harry Morgan]]), remains in Osage with the paper, the Oklahoma Wigwam, while Sam's widow Mavis ([[Aline MacMahon]]) sadly returns home.
+Some time later, Yountis and William Hardy ([[Russ Tamblyn]]), a young troublemaker known as " The Kid, " terrorize a Jewish peddler named Sol Levy ([[David Opatoshu]]). Yancey rescues Sol, but The Kid, whose father had been Yancey's friend, refuses to listen to the older man's advice and rides away with his rowdy companions. One night, Yountis, leading a band of Indian-hating townspeople, lynches Ben and destroys his home. Outraged, Yancey shoots Yountis and then brings Arita and her baby to the Cravat house. When the three arrive home, they discover that Sabra has given birth to a baby boy, whom they named Cimarron.
+Several years pass, and The Kid, now a feared outlaw, reluctantly joins cohorts in robbing the Osage bank. Cornered, the robbers take refuge in the schoolhouse, but when his buddy, Wes Jennings ([[Vic Morrow]]) tries to make a child their hostage, The Kid intervenes and is shot. Yancey shoots Wes, thereby earning a large reward, but when he remorsefully tears up the checks, Sabra accuses him of cheating Cim of his future. Dixie confesses that she still loves Yancey, and when he gently rejects her, she sells her farm and opens a "[[social club]]". Meanwhile, Arita's little daughter Ruby is ejected from the schoolhouse. Yancey files a protest, but the townspeople refuses to allow an Indian to attend school. Yancey charges that they are keeping their children's blood pure, but their heads empty.
+Soon afterward, Yancey leaves town to participate in another [[land rush]], to the bitter disappointment of his wife. During his five-year absence, Sabra obtains a loan from Sol, who has fallen in love with her. Sabra learns from Dixie that Yancey, who spent several years in [[Alaska]], is now a [[Rough Rider]] in [[Cuba]]. Dixie also confesses that it is Sabra, not her, whom Yancey loves. That year, Yancey returns, promising to make amends for his absence. Sabra and Cim accept him, and the years pass.
+One day Yancey excitedly reports that oil has been discovered on the Indian reservation. Tom, whose own oil-rich land has made him wealthy, laughs and says that it is he, not the Indians, who owns the oil rights. Yancey writes in his paper that Tom has swindled the Indians, and the story is reported all over the country. Sabra, meanwhile, worries that Cim is becoming serious about Ruby, whom she considers unfit for her son, but when Yancey tells her that he has been nominated for governor of the territory, she beams. In [[Washington]], she estatically dresses for a party, but Yancey learns Tom and his powerful friends will name him governor only if he agrees to cooperate with them. Yancey rejects the post, whereupon Sabra orders him to leave her. Later, Sol, now a successful merchant, lends Sabra a large sum, and she builds the paper into a major enterprise. When Cim informs her that he has married Ruby and is on his way to [[Oregon]], Sabra bitterly complains that he is throwing his life away and then dismisses him from the house.
+Ten years later, in 1914, Sabra sits at a desk composing an editorial for the newspaper's 25th anniversary. Sol and Tom want her to be the model for a sculpture exemplifying the pioneer spirit, but Sabra protests that the man who ran away from her was the true pioneer. At a surprise anniversary party, Sabra is reunited with her son and his family. She pays tribute to her husband, claiming that she still hopes for his return, but that day, war is declared.
+In December, Sabra rereads the letter she has recieved from Yancey, in which he again apologizes for being a disappointment to her. On the table is an open telegram stating that her husband has been killed in action.
 ==Reception==