Flowing Gold

This movie reminds you of Boom Town, with Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy fighting each other sometimes and then being friends again. That was an "A" picture and this one is a "B" picture. This one stars John Garfield and Pat O'Brien as two oil workers, who both fall in love with Francis Farmer. Garfield is wanted for murder and running from the cops but O'Brien won't turn him in. Garfield and Farmer are always fighting with each other but it's pretty obvious that their in love. O'Brien is also in love with Farmer but he's too late. Their isn't too much else to the plot and this was one of Garfield's lesser films. Pat O'Brien is his usual self and Farmer's career went downhill after this film.

I'm one of those people that think John Garfield could do no wrong. If had been alive, I would have numbered among the 10,000-strong throngs at his stupendous funeral.

Sure, this movie has been done in many guises before. But how many remember the others? Why do we continue to watch a movie when we know precisely how it's going to end? Something else has to string you in. It has to be something you've never seen before and yet seems so familiar that you can't help but see it anyway.

I say: How many will remember what John Garfield could add - in bushels - to any simply wrought movie? Why, his charm and rough exterior could convince a lamb to go to slaughter.

Enough cannot be said about "Jules" as they used to call him. One in a million, they say. I'll say that to the Nth degree until they beat me down. No actor could relate to the common man like he did. Others were prettier, more dashing, taller or a dozen other things.

But no one, ever again, will be a John Garfield.

This small box office hit stars two likeable actors and one of the most beautiful women to ever star in the movies in Frances Farmer. She had a tragic life which was properly portrayed by Frances look-alike Jessica Lange. John Garfield at this point in time was churning out the same character over and over again; id est, the hard-boiled rugged type who has more than his share of hard knocks in life. Thus, he is suspiscious of everyone, out for himself and on the run from the cops. That is how the movie begins in our search to find the flowing gold, oil. This movie is essentially a poor man's Boom Town, that box office Smash that starred Gable and Tracy, Colbert and Lamarr. That said, it has its own originalities and a truly exciting finale where Garfield drives a truck across a land slide. Never boring but it never amounts to much either.

Frances Farmer never looked lovelier in this adventure/drama about wildcat oilmen trying to beat the lease deadline and bring in an oil well. John Garfield once again is on the lam for a self-defense murder, hooking up with Pat O'Brien and Farmer's father (Raymond Walburn), and constantly apprehensive about the police looking to find him. You can guess what happens - a love triangle between Garfield and O'Brien for Farmer is inevitable. Some minimal comedy is provided by Walburn, Tom Kennedy, Cliff Edwards, and Edwards' fiancée, Jody Gilbert, but I greatly enjoyed some of the special effects, particularly the very exciting oil fire sequence near the end. At one point there's also a most impressive shot of a gusher coming in with the oil rushing towards the camera mounted on top of the derrick. I wondered how that was done without ruining the camera. Still, the stars make the movie worth looking into.

Fugitive Garfield is befriended by oil field boss O'Brien, but ends up falling for his friend's girl, Farmer.

Two-fisted action film with a generous helping of pretty good comedy relief. Okay, you've probably seen it all before and can tick off the romantic subplot by the numbers. Still, it's hard not to watch since the action is so well done. Warner Bros. in particular recycled the plot in the following year's Manpower (1941). Nonethrless, the premise of good buddies falling for the same girl has built-in appeal that's hard to resist. Garfield and O'Brien do their macho thing as oil field roughnecks, while Frances Farmer of the perpetual-lovely-smile proves she's a true Hollywood rebel by refusing to pluck her eyebrows.

And get a load of that roaring, nightmare river, not a place to drop a fishing line unless you're angling for the Loch Ness monster. Heck, the riverside road doesn't even have a guard rail—no wonder the crane driver wants to bail. Studio special effects really did a great visual job with that one. In fact, the movie manages the look and feel of a real oil field minus the usual process shots, at least that I could spot. I guess that says something for the often overlooked role of producer, in this case the big enchilada himself, Jack Warner.

And get a load too of Jodie Gilbert as Tillie the man-eating barber or is it barberess. Either way, she'll make you rethink women as the weaker sex. If I were husband Cliff Edwards, I'd be hiring a bodyguard fast. Anyhow it's a colorful and amusing supporting cast, none of which to take seriously, much like the movie itself. The 80-minutes may not be Oscar bait, but the sum-total again shows how old Hollywood with all its flaws could still turn out good lively entertainment.