User reviews

This film took me by complete surprise with great acting by veteran actors, Susan Hayward, (Cherokee Lansing) and Robert Preston, (Brad Brady). The film starts out with Cherokee and her father who raise cattle on their ranches in Tulsa, Oklahoma and one day they find all their cattle dying along a stream of water and as they smell the water, they realize the oil refining business was contaminating the soil and killing the cattle. Cherokee goes with her father to tell them about what their oil business is doing to their cattle and while they are talking, an oil structure struck oil and a large part of a building fell on her father and killed him. It was from this point in the film when Cherokee Lansing decided to get revenge for her father's death and declares war on the oil men and their owners. There is plenty of action and even some romance. There is great photography of a fire burning through an oil field and people risking their lives in order to save their oil fields and friends and family.

Susan storms into Scarlett O'Hara territory with this meller substituting oil field for plantations and the Civil War. If you have ever seen her test for Scarlett it was obvious at the time she wasn't ready, but ten years on she is in full command of the screen and tears into this part with her customary brio mopping the floor with anyone who gets in her way. She has a few touching moments with Chill Wills' character but otherwise is tough as nails and furiously driven. Not a great picture but a good one with Robert Preston a strong co-star and a great cast of character actors but indifferent direction, if you are a fan of Susan though it is unmissable.

Let me get down to the story immediately...

It's 1920s Oklahoma, and the oil wells are...well, gushing. A young woman, orphaned when such a rig kills her cattle baron dad, sets out to get revenge on the oil owners but, instead, eventually winds up to be an oil baron herself. In the process, Cherokee Lansing (Susan Hayward) has three men vying for her affection: Brad Brady (Robert Preston), Bruce Tanner (Lloyd Gough), and Jim Redbird (Pedro Armendariz).

It's a well-photographed narrative, the special effects (for 1949) are very realistic, the acting is adequate (Susan Hayward shines, in my opinion) and the overall result is for a quite entertaining movie coupled with a glimpse into the recent past when the oil business was booming. And, I was glad to see Chill Wills again, who always gives a competent performance and who adds the requisite humour to an otherwise deadly serious affair...

The finale, showing one of the oil fields going up in flames, is quite a spectacle.

But this is more than an adventure movie about the oil business. It's also a politically correct conservation statement by Hollywood in response to the rapacious greed with which land was appropriated to feed awakening American industry. This, in 1949 – long before anybody started to think about peak oil, and the looming crisis that will come when the oil runs dry globally! Now that took guts…and a lot of money. Which makes me wonder how well this film did at the box office in 1949/1950...

So, I was amazed – even astounded – that Hollywood dared to take on the oil business then, so soon after the Second World War. Now that the predictions in that film are coming true, I think everybody should see this film. Might wake up a few more people about the coming end of the oil world as we know it...

Highly recommended. Get a copy and see it. Today, already!

No need to repeat the plot. Darn few actresses can dominate a "man's picture" like Tulsa the way Susan Hayward does. What an exceptional combination of beauty and boldness she was. The production values of this non-studio project are unusually well targeted. Without them, the movie would be little more than a good programmer instead of the sleeper it is. Credit those values (special effects, location shooting, etc.) to producer Walter Wanger, who proved he had an eye for quality material, both big budget and small, e.g. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956). Credit too, under-rated director Stuart Heisler with a sense of pacing and an ability to redeem difficult material with intelligent touches, e.g. Beachhead (1954), Storm Warning (1951), etc.

I especially like the nightmare montage of Redbird's (Armendariz) after he's set fire to the wells. Up to that point, the derricks have been portrayed as stately umbilical cords of wealth and progress, the life's blood of the city and state. So it's a surprise to see them suddenly depicted as hulking black monsters threatening everything around them. Contrast that dark depiction with the uncritically sunny, yet thematically similar, mega-hit Giant (1956). It doesn't take much extrapolation to update Redbird's vision to the oil-based crisis of today; at the same time, the values that evolve among the movie's characters show a surprising sensitivity to the need for a sustainable environment.

I also like the way Indian Charlie Lightfoot (Yowlatchie) is shown as excelling at white man ways by becoming a shrewd businessman. Too often Hollywood portrayed Indians at extremes, either as bloodthirsty savages or as noble primitives, but rarely as 3-dimensional human beings. The screenplay may pander at times, especially with Pinky (Wills), but it's also unusually well-rounded for its period. I guess my only reservation is with the splendid special effects. Those burning oil fields are just so incredibly hot, it's impossible to see Brady (Preston) enter the inferno with little more than a squirt of water. Nonetheless, in my little book, the movie is a definite sleeper. True, as the lovelorn outsider, Pedro Armendariz is no quirky James Dean. Yet, despite its relative obscurity, Tulsa is as well-acted and carries as much depth as its sprawling, better-known counterpart, Giant.

Susan Hayward doesn't back down when it comes to protecting what is hers. Her character is embroiled in the early wars between wildcat oil drillers and cattle ranchers in Oklahoma. A pretty fast paced movie that stays busy. The oil field fire is a tremendous sight. Chill Wills, Robert Preston and Ed Begley round out the super cast.

Tulsa, Oklahoma is an oil boom town. Cherokee Lansing (Susan Hayward) is a wild daughter to her loving rancher father. His cattle are getting killed by the oil. He goes to a Tanner Petroleum Corp well about the pollution. He is killed by an explosive gusher. Cherokee vows revenge on Bruce Tanner (Lloyd Gough) who refuses to pay for the cattle, let along for her father's death. She starts her own wells with the help of geologist book expert Brad Brady (Robert Preston) and childhood native friend Jim Redbird (Pedro Armendáriz). They want to drill environmentally with fewer wells but they face opposition from Tanner. Cherokee refuse to drill less than Tanner but Jim doesn't go along. Her ambition soon takes over and she wants to build more wells on Jim's property. Jim revolts and sets the wells on fire.

It's mostly a weak movie with the exception of Susan Hayward. She really shows her star persona. The oil well work is interesting. It's a big oil romantic melodrama. The movie is passable and then the place blows up. The fire is quite impressive. The special effects are a solid mix of miniatures, rear projections, real stunts and explosions.

Susan Hayward's father Harry Shannon is killed in an accident at an oil well near his property. He'd gone there to protest the oil getting into his stream and killing off his cattle. Sue is filled the revenge for getting even with Lloyd Gough, the owner of the oil company that was responsible for the accident.

The lure of easy oil money makes her change her mind real fast. If you can't beat 'em join 'em. Her good friend Pedro Armendariz holds out on her. He wants to still maintain his cattle ranch and only take out a moderate amount of petroleum. Geologist Robert Preston agrees with him.

Tulsa was one of the last productions of Eagle-Lion Studios which was a company that was a hybrid from Universal Pictures here and J. Arthur Rank in Great Britain. It may have been the biggest one filmed and it sure had a spectacular oil fire sequence as a climax.

I wish it had a better story to go with it. I simply could not buy Susan Hayward's sudden change of heart from wanting revenge for her father to succumbing to greed. The motivation in the script was simply not there.

This was a poor relation to a much better film named Boom Town that MGM did about oil wildcatting. See that one instead.

The Plot: It's Tulsa, Oklahoma at the start of the oil boom and Cherokee Lansing's rancher father is killed in a fight with the Tanner Oil Company.

Cherokee plans revenge by bringing in her own wells with the help of oil expert Brad Brady and childhood friend Jim Redbird.

When the oil and the money start gushing in, both Brad and Jim want to protect the land but Cherokee has different ideas.

What started out as revenge for her father's death has turned into an obsession for wealth and power.

This is a very dated movie. I mean there's a guy riding horseback in a suit! It was interesting to me to see Chill Wills from the 40s. I know him from his 60s and 70s Westerns when he was a craggy old son of a gun.

The movie is rather slow and the topic is not really explored in a smart or effective way. It's not that it's a bad movie, it's just rather trivial.

After a while you just kinda space out because it's not all that compelling.

I had no preconceived notion of this film, but it was on a 4 movie DVD set I bought for another movie in the set. Popped it on, and was I surprised. This movie is VERY good. Nicely photographed in color, NEVER boring, well written with a doozy of a disaster at the end that is quite impressive using 1949 special effects. Film concerns the boom town of Tulsa in 1920's and the greed of people and overproduction of oil wells, infringing on the farmers land and poisoning the waterways killing the cattle herds. Nicest bit of the film was the conservation angle about too much oil in boom times ruins the land for the future when they dry up. Good movie.

Tulsa is directed by Stuart Heisler and adapted to screenplay by Frank S. Nugent and Curtis Kenyon from a Richard Wormser story. It stars Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Pedro Armendáriz, Lloyd Gough and Ed Begley. Music is by Frank Skinner and cinematography by Winton C. Hoch.

It's Tulsa at the start of the oil boom and when Cherokee Lansing's (Hayward) rancher father is killed in a fight, she decides to take on the Tanner Oil Company by setting up her own oil wells. But at what cost to the grazing land of the ranchers?

Perfect material for Hayward to get her teeth into, Tulsa is no great movie, but it a good one. Sensible ethics battle greed and revenge as Hayward's Cherokee Lensing lands in a male dominated industry and kicks ass whilst making the boys hearts sway. She's smart, confident and ambitious, but she's too driven to see the painfully obvious pitfalls of her motives, or even what she has become. It all builds to a furious climax, where fires rage both on land and in hearts, the American dream ablaze and crumbling, the effects and model work wonderfully pleasing.

Slow in parts, too melodramatic in others, but Hayward, Preston, Gough and the finale more than make this worth your time. 7/10

Boy, was this a very predictable film and some of the poorest acting of 1949, but it had one great redeeming feature, namely, the very beautiful Susan Hayward who looked so lovely in Technicolor and quite frankly, acted very well considering some of the lines she was required to say. Robert Preston had very little to do, but the fight scene at the Oil Rig was so amateurish one could see the punches missing by about 6 inches, while Chill Wills was obviously rehearsing for his role in "GIANT" (albeit made several years later). The action scene as the climax of the movies was not very good, even for the year it was made. Poor old Pedro Armendariz was sadly miscast. but struggled through manfully.

In the early 1920's there was the inevitable clash between the cattle ranchers and the burgeoning oil drillers in Oklahoma. This account of that clash, filmed in color, is fast moving and interesting. It revolves around Susan Hayward's character, and Hayward is marvelous as always, and how she has to learn to adapt to the inevitable changes being wrought by the explosion of oil money. The climactic oil field fire is well done indeed. Recommended.

Susan Hayward is perfectly cast as Cherokee "Cherry" Lansing, a cattle rancher's daughter in 1920s Oklahoma with a need to succeed. She lucks into land leases which are ripe for wildcat oil-drilling, quickly taking on her benefactor's professor son as a partner to combat her main competitor, a wealthy oil baron who owns the land neighboring hers. Brawling, robust tale filmed in rich Technicolor, skillfully written by Curtis Kenyon and Frank Nugent and tightly directed by Stuart Heisler. Hayward is backed solidly by a fine supporting cast, including Robert Preston in a Rhett Butler mustache and Pedro Armendáriz as an Indian kindred spirit whose friendship comes to mean everything in the end. Some of the comedic overtures are corny, and the noisy climax goes on too long; otherwise, an engrossing, entertaining, well-oiled mix of history, romance, ambition, and pride. **1/2 from ****

My summary is NOT an insult. It's just pointing out that of all the actresses of her day, Susan Hayward made a name for herself playing tough, tough ladies...the type to never allow themselves to be pushed around by any man...a real feminist hero of her era in films. And here, once again, she plays such a tough cookie!

When the film begins, the oil industry in Oklahoma is in its infancy. There naturally is a conflict brewing between oil men who want to put up wells everywhere and ranchers...and Cherokee (Hayward) is the daughter of one of the ranchers. When her father and some cattle are accidentally killed due to the wells, she is on htre warpath. But, instead of fighting the oil companies and trying to stop them, she jumps into the oil business herself. Despite a slow start, she and her new partner, Brad (Robert Preston), make it big. However, as Cherokee gets richer, she becomes harder and greedier and ends up hurting the men who love her. Is there any redemption for this hard-hearted woman?

This is a decent film...but it also lacks depth. This is because Cherokee's change at the end of the film is way too fast and way too unlike who she'd become. Enjoyable...but it could have been better. As for the ending, despite making little sense, it was awfully spectacular!

In the "oil capital of the world" of Tulsa, Okalahoma, pretty red-haired Susan Hayward (as Cherokee "Cherry" Lansing) is devastated to witness the accidental death of her rancher father. Moreover, Ms. Hayward is denied $20,000 restitution for her father's crushing death, because the oil company says he was "trespassing". After inheriting some oil leases of her own, Hayward gets a chance to get even with the industry responsible for her dad's demise. With the help of tough oilman Robert Preston (Brad "Broncho" Brady), Hayward becomes the oil queen tycoon of Tulsa. Then, wealth and power threaten to corrupt Hayward's character...

John Fulton's "Special Photographic Effects" were deservedly noted at the annual "Academy Awards"; the fiery Technicolor, and Hayward's "modeling" turns, are the film's main attractions. Walter Wanger's production of Richard Wormser's story has an admirable conservation message; however, it is bogged down by simplistic stereotypical predictability. Pedro Armendáriz (as Jim Redbird) does as well as he can in the contrived "brave Indian with a crazy streak" role. Lloyd Gough (as Bruce Tanner) is quite an effective human oil slick. And, gum-chewing "cousin" Chill Wills (as Pinky Jimpson) offers a most memorable "Will Rogers"-type characterization; he also narrates, and sings a nice title song.

****** Tulsa (4/13/49) Stuart Heisler ~ Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Chill Wills

One reviewer posted: "nicest bit of the film was the conservation angle about too much oil in boom times ruins the land for the future when they dry up." What a hoot! Evidently, this posted has mistaken the "conservative" and the "liberal" perspectives, and that certainly makes the poster a conservative. In reality, it's a liberal view not to waste natural resources - correct during the 20's time-frame of the film; true during the 40s, when the film was produced - and it is true today. The conservative perspective is to "take the money and run", that is: it's a flee market. Throughout the film, greedy conservatives are willing to destroy the environment, in order to maximize their profits. The liberals lobby for restraint and governmental regulation, to prevent the destruction of the environment. From a scientific perspective, the film is inaccurate. Specifically, uncompressed oil does not explode. Regardless, that mistake does not detract from the power of the film.

(1949) Tulsa DRAMA

Susan Hayward as Cherokee Lansing has her father, a cattle rancher dies as a result of some accident regarding some oil wells, she seeks compensation for the cattle and so forth, but goes absolutely nowhere, until she comes across a different oil tycoon, who while drunk coincidentally signs all of his properties to her. And as soon as he dies she becomes motivated to discover oil once the other oil tycoon, Bruce Tanner (Lloyd Gough) the one whose somewhat responsible for her fathers death) pressing her to sell all the leases to him. She refuses and decides to get into the business herself and Tulsa is the place where it starts!

Not a great, but an okay film, whereas the female protagonist, Cherokee Lansing (Susan Hayward) doesn't really do anything about her father's death, and prefers to either go into business with him or seek his advice, doesn't seem realistic to me, but the way it's made almost seem like it was based on a true story.

The chemistry of the triangle is really good here, with Gough a worthy rival for Preston of fickle Hayward's affections with moral and character at the root of the question. Ed Begley is excellent in an early role. And, Pedro Armendariz steals the film as an American Indian who feels forced into action when promised conservation guidelines are reckless thrown aside for the profitability of the oil drillers. Very much worth watching

Susan Hayward is Cherokee Lansing in "Tulsa" from Eagle Lion Films in 1949. Hayward worked hard for years, and finally got the oscar about ten years after this film; Robert Preston co-stars as "Brady", her oil well foreman. It's a showdown between the cattlemen and the new oil industry that was busting out all over. Everyone needed that oil, and there was no stopping it. This story has been told several times in several films over the years. Little guy up against the big, rich oilman. A couple songs by Chill Wills... apparently they wanted the awesome Hoagy Carmichael, but couldn't get him. Carmichael was amazing in To Have and Have Not.... check it out!. Tulsa is a good film. story about wild catters looking for oil. Directed by Stuart Heisler, who had worked with Hayward on two other films. Sadly, Susan Hayward was one of the many big stars who died early from cancer after filming "Conqueror" in Utah. shady.

Susan Hayward plays a woman named Cherokee, to convince the audience she's part Native American. If she was fully white, the audience would never accept a love triangle between Robert Preston and Pedro Armendariz, a Mexican playing a full Native American. As it is, the film doesn't really treat Pedro with the same respect and chances that it gives to Robert Preston. Susan lives in Tulsa, Arizona, and the majority of the film is the pursuit of discovering oil on her land. It's incredibly boring. If you want to watch an oil movie, watch Giant. Neither she nor Robert are portrayed as particularly good people, so how are you supposed to root for either of them? Add in the proverbial "aw-shucks" hick character played by Chill Wills, and you'll find yourself leaving the room for more popcorn without pressing pause.

Until I watched Tulsa, I thought Susan Hayward was immune to the slew of bad movies most actors make in his or her lifetime. She's one of my all-time favorite actresses, but even she has made some doozies. Save your time and watch a good Susan Hayward movie instead.