A Lei do Mais Forte

Remember in GOODFELLAS when Joe Pesci goes crazy with a gun (at his servant's expense) saying 'What's the film with Bogart as a cowboy?" The replie is "Shane?" He retorts "Shane?! No, Oklahoma Kid!" He was refering to this odd misfit, but enjoyable western.

James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart look as well suited in the old west as Gabby Hayes and Lash LaRue would look in a Manhattan speakeasy, but these two pros have fun with the film anyway. Their bar-room brawl with each other is a hum-dinger, and you have to get a load of Cagney singing a Spanish lullaby to a baby.

The Oklahoma Kid is a curio, more fun to think about than actually see. It is a western with James Cagney as a cowboy and Humphrey Bogart his black-clad nemesis. There is some humor in it, but it was made too early to be consciously campy; and as it was produced by Warner Brothers it has a fast, urban pace, but alas lacks the sophistication its dynamic star duo need to elevate it to clasic status, or even make it a good movie. It is not, by the way, a comedy, and is played straight much of the time. Neither star is at home on the range, and Cagney looks silly in a cowboy hat. On the other hand James Wong Howe's photography has some stunning compositions, and has about it, in its contrasting use of black and gray, a twilight quality that is very appealing but, like so much in this movie, not too appropriate for a western.

I was never sure about either James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart being in westerns but "The Oklahoma Kid" is not too bad. It has a brief running time, a fair measure of action and incident, the music is perfectly tolerable and at least Cagney and Bogart have a proper one on one confrontation at the end. I bought this film on video in the early 1990s and I enjoyed it then. Cagney is a "Robin Hood" type of hero who hides his true identity behind the name "The Oklahoma Kid." Bogart is a killer and dishonest businessman who wants to turn the local town into a place of sin, corruption and degradation. Cagney stated in his memoirs that he added little bits of dialogue in order to relive his boredom! What he included certainly does the film no harm.

Interesting western with an offbeat Warner Bros. cast that's more at home in a gangster picture than a cowboy shoot-'em-up. Humphrey Bogart plays the villain, a stagecoach robber turned corrupt saloon owner. He wears a black hat so we know he's no good. James Cagney plays the cocky anti-hero, as quick with his guns as he is with his fists. He also shows how good he is with babies and even gets to sing! Rosemary Lane is the pretty girl who can't resist Cagney's charms. Donald Crisp is her father. Ward Bond, Harvey Stephens, Edward Pawley, and Charles Middleton are among the others in the cast. There's drama, humor, action, and romance. Yeah, it's admittedly a corny movie but pretty entertaining, especially for fans of the two leads. This won't be confused for a John Ford western but it's fun for what it is.

One of my favorite movie lines of all time is from The Oklahoma Kid where James Cagney expounds on his philosophy of life to Donald Crisp in a saloon as the land rush is starting.

The rest of the film is your usual fast paced Cagney film, just set out west instead of the big city. It was the first western for both Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. Cagney did a fine western in the Fifties Run for Cover and replaced Spencer Tracy in another one, Tribute to a Bad Man.

Bogey did one other western, Virginia City, and next to that Whip McCord of the panhandle is an Oscar winning part. I'm not denigrating his work on Oklahoma Kid, but Bogart used to cringe whenever Virginia City was mentioned and that chintzy Mexican accent he was forced to adopt for that film.

In Oklahoma Kid, he's the leader of a group of outlaws who've jumped the starting gun and put up a claim at the spot Hugh Sothern and son Harvey Stephens want to start a town. Rather than go to court which would tie them up for years, they agree to Bogart's terms to give him control of the vice industries of the town that would become Tulsa.

Bogart's actions are those of a what was called a Sooner, one who jumped the starting gun and cheated in the land rush. The term is what gave Oklahoma its state nickname of The Sooner state. Although I've never understood why the state nickname glorifies illegal activity.

So good and honest Hugh and Harvey just take it on the chin until the corruption gets way out of hand.

But Hugh has another son, a lone wolf sort of character that's taken the outlaw path. That be James Cagney who settles things in his own way, the way Cagney usually does in films.

The western after a period of doldrums in the early thirties when it was mostly B picture fare was making a comeback as a feature attraction. All the studios were starting to make them.

Warners had two big ones in 1939, this one and Dodge City. Errol Flynn in the latter scored better with the public than Cagney did, so Flynn got to do more westerns. Cagney and Bogey went back to the city streets except for Bogey's ill conceived visit to Virginia City.

But Oklahoma Kid is not a bad film and fans of the two stars will not be disappointed.