The Boy from Oklahoma

"The Boy from Oklahoma" is a nice easy going western. It's nothing we haven't seen before but it has an appealing quality to it. Will Rogers Jr isn't the strongest screen presence but he does a pretty good job. "The Boy from Oklahoma" takes a while to get going but once it does it's worth the watch.

After about the first ten minutes of this movie, realization dawned - the 1950s television show, "Sugarfoot" was based upon this good-natured Will Rogers, Jr., Michael Curtiz oater of a young lawyer wanna-be attending school via correspondence; the hero's name, Tom Brewster is only the beginning.

The screenplay for this movie and the pilot of "Sugarfoot," titled "Brannigan's Boots" is so close that even the co-stars of "Boy" appear as their same characters in "Brannigan!" For example, Sheb Wooley plays the foreman of the mayor's ranch, Pete Martin, in both movie and TV show. Also doing double duty is Slim Pickens as Shorty!

Some of the dialog is also word for word although the television version is somewhat annotated and a few changes are evident. The movie Tom Brewster doesn't use a gun, instead, he's quick with a rope, as was his father in real life, that wicked twine twirler and American icon, Will Rogers. In fact, this Tom can't use a gun whereas the television Tom as portrayed by Will Hutchins, can and does, when the need arises. The movie Tom gets the heroine, or at least her promise that she'll wait for him; while the TV Tom must push on, leaving the pretty young thing to pine after what might have been.

"Boy From Oklahoma" is well-filmed in color; has a likable hero in the junior Rogers and spawned a pretty darned good TV show to boot! (Uh, no pun intended)!

What a waste this parodic western, involving a tenderfoot - Will Rogers - becoming a sheriff against his will. Totally uninteresting for me, but after all why not...It is not without qualities, but it is not a real western, only the surroundings are. In the tenderfoot topic I prefered Jack Lemmon in Delmer Daves' COWBOY, or Dan Duryea in BOUNTY KILLER, but those two last westerns were not comedies; COWBOY just a bit light hearted but far far more interesting than this one in terms of character study and above all change during the story. DESTRY was also a western with a tenderfoot scheme, and also better than this film. But because it is from Michael Curtiz, I won't say it's a lousy film, because Curtiz was a great Hollywood vet at Warner during the previous decades.

The Boy from Oklahoma is out of Warner Brothers and directed by Michael Curtiz. Adapted to screenplay by Frank Davis and Winston Miller from a Michael Fessier story, it stars Will Rogers Jr., Nancy Olson, Anthony Caruso, Wallace Ford, Merv Griffin, Clem Bevans, Slim Pickens and Lon Chaney Jr. Filmed in WarnerColor at the Warner Ranch in Calabasas, cinematography is by Robert Burks and music is by Max Steiner.

Scared of guns and afraid of girls...what kind of sheriff are you?

It would spawn the TV series Sugarfoot a couple of years down the line, as it stands on its own terms it's an odd Oater but one that's practically impossible to dislike. Rogers Junior is Tom Brewster, a pacifist man studying law who rides into town and becomes embroiled in the dastardly machinations of town weasel Barney Turlock (Caruso). He's hopeless with a gun, but dandy with a rope, and in spite of his goofy appearance, he's well stocked in the brain department.

It very much has shades of James Stewart's Destry Rides Again, with Rogers coming off as a weaker version, both in vocal delivery and character gait. He even is tee-total like Stewart was in Destry, only he has a penchant for Sarsaparilla as opposed to Stewart's love of Milk. Yet Rogers suits this material, OK! It's a bit of a stretch that he could romance Nancy Olson and outwit Billy the Kid, but he engages in an offbeat way and the film is better for it.

In truth the pic is a strange blend of comedy and drama, where characters shift in and out of each respective genre on a regular basis. The production is mixed as well, where crude back projection work is countered by some nifty action and camera flourishes by the wily Curtiz. In a strong year for Westerns, and a year of transition for Warner Brothers, The Boy from Oklahoma is way down the list of must sees of 1954. But for Western fans there is more than enough here to warrant inspection on a time waster basis. 6.5/10

1954's "The Boy from Oklahoma" is something of a misnomer, for the 42 year old Will Rogers Jr. Was certainly no 'boy,' but he's admittedly well cast as Tom Brewster, a laconic wannabe lawyer earning his keep as the new sheriff of Bluerock, New Mexico Territory, circa 1880 (on the heels of his own father's biopic "The Will Rogers Story"). His roping ability entrances the local youth but his lack of experience with a gun is the sole reason he was appointed by crooked mayor Barney Turlock (Anthony Caruso), the man responsible for the demise of his predecessor. More adept with firearms is the late sheriff's daughter Katie (Nancy Olson), who brands Brewster a coward for not packing a weapon, but grudgingly accedes that his easy going nature and quick wit manage to ease tensions with such belligerent drunks as Crazy Charlie (Lon Chaney), perfectly happy to spend a night behind bars rather than go home to a nagging wife. As he begins to unravel the mystery behind her father's death, the new lawman gets more than he bargained for in Turlock's employ. An excellent supporting cast includes Wallace Ford as the boozing postmaster, Sheb Wooley and Slim Pickens as Turlock henchmen, Lon Chaney in for just one scene, shooting up the local saloon in an effort to purge the town from sin, surrendering peacefully to the sheriff much to Katie's astonishment. The premise was good enough to inspire a TV series in 1957, Will Hutchins replacing Rogers as Tom Brewster, its pilot a virtual remake of this feature film.