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The big switch in THE DOOLINS OF OKLAHOMA is that GEORGE MACREADY is on the side of the law as a U.S. Marshall, while RANDOLPH SCOTT strays far from the heroic cowboy image he played in so many previous westerns.

He's a hunted man, a fugitive wanted for murder during the era of the Dalton Brothers--and rightly concerned about his survival. As Bill Doolin, he forms his own gang of robbers. On the lam from some pursuers, he enters a church during service and meets a family of church-goers, falling in love with the deacon's daughter. Soon he has a farm, is married to the young lady (VIRGINIA HOUSTON) and wants to go straight and put the past behind him. That is, until his old friends from the Doolin gang show up in town and have other ideas.

When his wife learns his real identity, he rides off to rejoin the gang after a talk with her deacon father (GRIFF BARNETT). The western takes a darker turn, the action gets grittier, and the gang members--including NOAH BEERY, JR., JOHN IRELAND and JOCK MAHONEY--have a little more to do, including some energetic fight scenes well directed by Gordon Douglas.

With a good background score by George Duning, it's a better than average western with Scott in fine form as the ambiguous anti-hero.

Good Scott western, with lots of action, interesting characters, and a solid script. Doolin (Scott) may be a bankrobber but he's also capable of noble deeds. In short, he's a good-bad guy of the sort the iron-jawed Scott could play to perfection. Here he leads a gang of outlaws whose members are known to us by name. Funny thing about the movies. Even bad guys can be humanized enough so that we care about them. That happens more or less with these gang members.

And get a load of the familiar Alabama Hills that Scott and Buddy Boetticher explored in their great Ranown series of oaters. Director Douglas does some effective staging with the Neolithic slabs, worthy of Boetticher. There're some other good touches by Douglas. I especially like the little boy who stares Scott down in church. I don't think I've seen anything quite like it. Surprisingly, veteran screen baddie George Macready plays a federal marshal, which took some getting used to. And what a sweetheart Virginia Huston is. Who wouldn't give up a life of crime for her. It's that element, I think, that lends the ending such poignancy.

All in all, it's a well done 90-minutes by Columbia, somewhere between an A-production and a B. I'm just sorry Scott never got the recognition as a western star that he deserved.

A laconic black & white western, rather simple by Randolph Scott's standards, the action including lots of riding about and and an eye-watering punch-up.

An excellent supporting cast includes a feisty young Dona Drake and George MacReady refreshingly playing a goodie for once.

Riding on the Wrong Side of the Law, Randolph Scott Plays a Gang Member, Bank Robber On the Run.

The Violence is Cutting Edge with Plenty of Gun-Battles and some Brutal Fisticuffs.

In Act II Scott Tries to Get Married and Settle Down.

But HIs Past and Marshal George Macready with His Relentless Posse will Have None of it.

Action-Packed with High-Contrast Cinematography Filled with Guns Blazing and Hoses at a Gallop.

It's an Energetic Entry in the Genre and the Tone Foreshadows the New Decades Dedication to Make the Western More Adult.

Not Quite Up-There with the Films Scott did with Budd Boetticher but it is an Above Average Movie.

With Help from a Good Supporting Cast....

Macready (who also surprisingly does voice-over) John Ireland, Noah Beery Jr., Jock Mahoney, and Virginia Huston.

A Big Production that Climaxes with a Massive Horse Herd Stampede.

If it has a Weakness its the Comedy Relief of Charles Kemper and Dona Drake.

The Film Pulls Few Punches and One Gets the Sense that the Approach here was to Ratchet Things Up a Notch and it Shows.

You Will Find Some Stuff You Won't See in Any Other Randolph Scott Westerns.

A Must-See for Western Fans and for All Others....

Worth a Watch.

A year after hunting down Bill Doolin in Return of the Badmen, Randolph Scott makes a rare appearance on the wrong side of the law as the same notorious outlaw in The Doolins of Oklahoma. The writers pay only passing attantion to the facts in this solid programmer efficiently directed by Gordon Douglas, and Scott makes a hugely sympathetic hero, who is tricked back into a life of crime by his old gang after going straight with preacher's daughter Virginia Huston.