Cimarron (1931)

Beginning with the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush, the film follows a rugged newspaper man (Richard Dix) and his wife (Irene Dunne) for more than forty years as Oklahoma grows from a smattering of makeshift camps to a state. Based on the novel by Edna Ferber (GIANT) and directed by Wesley Ruggles (SEE HERE PRIVATE HARGROVE). This big budget (it was RKO's most expensive film to date) is a sprawling western epic that won a best picture Oscar as well as for its screenplay. I found it on the clunky side myself and its two main characters irritating. The uncharismatic Richard Dix, who gives a terrible performance, thinks so little of his wife and children that he allows his wanderlust to keep him away from home for years at a time. Meanwhile at home, wife Dunne allows her bigotry to run wild as she makes racist comments on the Indian populace and attempts to drive an unfortunate prostitute (Estelle Taylor) out of town for her "immorality". The opening land rush scene is impressive, so much so that Ron Howard used it as the template for his expanded Oklahoma land rush sequence in FAR AND AWAY. Highly praised by critics when it opened in 1931, contemporary reevaluations haven't been kind to its stodgy film making and dated stereotypes. Remade in 1960. With Edna May Oliver, Roscoe Ates and Eugene Jackson.