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When the government opens up the Oklahoma territory for settlement, restless Yancey Cravat 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 must learn to take care of herself and soon becomes prominent in her own right.
Cimarrón, Vilda västerns betvingare, I pionieri del west, La Ruée vers l'Ouest, Σίμαρρον, Pioniere des wilden Westens, 시마론, Симаррон, Сімаррон, 壮志千秋, 壯志千秋, シマロン
“Cimarron” might not be one of the worst films ever made, but it’s certainly one of the worst to ever win an Oscar for Best Picture.
Director Wesley Ruggles’ work may as well be subtitled “The White Man’s Burden of the Frontier.” The first Western to win top prize at the Academy Awards, “Cimarron” is the most detestable sort of trail blazer.
There are plenty of heavy-handed representations of American Indians throughout the first half of the twentieth century in cinema. At best, these insensitivities can be read as laziness — using native tribes as a faceless villain to antagonise white settlers.
“Cimarron” is far from a best case circumstance. It might, actually, be among the worst.
I didn't think it was possible so soon, but I'm starting to regret deciding to go through all the best picture winners. I know they (hopefully) aren't all this bad, but holy hell!
His ambition was to tame and settle the west … but at the cost of those who loved him, he was unable to allow himself to settle in return.
"Sugar, if we all took root and squatted, there would never be any new country."
Coming into Cimarron I had heard about its reputation for being one of the most dated and disliked Best Picture winners of all time. There is no denying the presence of offensive stereotypes that were unfortunately common for that era of filmmaking, including its caricatured depiction of a black character named Isaiah, misogynistic storytelling, and the prejudice many of the characters have toward native Americans. But as a whole for a…
Here's a perfect example of an Oscar-winning film that has aged badly. At the time of its release, this RKO adaptation of Edna Ferber's 1929 novel was all the rage. It portrays the development of the Oklahoma Territory from its initial settlement in 1889 through statehood in 1907 to women's suffrage and the election of the first Oklahoma female to Congress in 1929. But racial stereotypes, corny dialog and stiff acting date it terribly, and there isn't much to commend it to modern audiences.
One of the few scenes that still does have the power to captivate is the opening Oklahoma Land Rush, with hundreds of horses, wagons and buggies racing across the dusty…
The Oklahoma land rush in the first ten minutes of the film is pretty much the only good part of the film. After that the film is filled with things that have aged badly and are no longer acceptable. The amount of straight racism is overwhelming during much of the film. The acting is pretty over the top and the dialogue isn’t really good either.
It’s a dated movie with a rather boring plot. I think it’s just about Oklahoma becoming a state maybe?
it’s funny to think that apparently 90 years ago this was widely loved by a lot of people. people lauded this film and possibly moaned when the film ended up bombing due to the box office (because rko pictures decided to invest a lot of money despite releasing during the great depression). but apparently the reaction was so big and loud that the academy noticed and eventually the film won best picture. now 90 years later this film is now known as one of the most under deserved best picture winners and overall a poorly aged film.
and honestly i agree with that sentiment. beyond the first 8 minutes spectacle of the oklahoma…
A dreadful cinematic manifestation of manifest destiny, Cimarron tells the story of the United States frontier through the journey of a mythical American couple. The central figure, Yancey Cravat, excels at literally everything that he tries — over the course of the film’s forty-odd years, he serves as a settler, a newspaper editor, a gunslinger, a preacher, a lawyer, and a political activist. Domesticity proves to be his only weakness, as no moment of tranquil security at home can tame his restless American spirit — he must keep pushing his glorious country toward new endeavors.
His wife Sabra hails from a deeply racist family, whom she rebels against by joining her husband on the frontier. This act of defiance ultimately does…
you know a movie is going to be fucking boring when the trailer is just an MGM employee talking about getting a free movie ticket with the purchase of a box of Quaker Oats
A bit creaky and dated, but there were plenty of good moments sprinkled throughout to keep me interested. Must have been quite liberal/progressive for its time, although some of the themes it explores have become more mainstream as our history is more and more interrogated (one might say impugned). Can't say I liked it as much or found it as entertaining as the other big Western of the era, The Big Trail, but it was fine. It certainly fits in with other Best Picture winners, though. Had a rather epic scope that would probably be adapted today as a limited series instead of a feature film.
Yep, this has aged as well as moldy cheese. Randomly I was struck recently with the idea to check out a film that infamously has been known in the 21st century to be one of the worst Best Picture winners of all time. By design I've avoided all the other candidates for that category (no Green Brook, Driving Miss Daisy, the Crash from the early 2000's, etc.) so comparisons can't be done on my part. That said, this was just mediocre rather than a rancid sort of bad.
Thing is, this started off well. This follows the amusingly named Yancey Cravat and his family through the years as they move from Wichita to the just-opened Oklahoma Territory where a mad…
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