Tulsa (1949)

Set in the 1920s, after the death of her cattle rancher father (Harry Shannon), a young woman (Susan Hayward) vows revenge on the wealthy oil baron (Lloyd Gough) whose oil wells were responsible for her father's death. Instead, she finds herself bitten by the oil bug and revenge is forgotten as she becomes obsessed with oil profits and uses inherited drilling rights to make her known as The Oil Queen of Tulsa. While it's amusing to see Hayward as a greedy oil baroness who'll stop at nothing including betrayal as she climbs to the top of the oil hierarchy, this potboiler is really no more entertaining than an average episode of DYNASTY (which also dealt with oil) except that Hayward doesn't have Joan Collins' fabulous wardrobe. There is one thrilling oil wells on fire sequence that's pretty spectacular (the film received an Oscar nomination for special effects). Directed by Stuart Heisler. With Robert Preston, Pedro Armendariz, Chill Wills (whose contrived folksiness wears out very quickly), Lola Albright and Ed Begley.