Oklahoma Crude

Dismissed by critics as one of Stanley Kramer's later flops, OKLAHOMA CRUDE is not bad. It does, however, suffer from an identity crisis. Is it a comedy? Is it a drama? Is it a western? It's not really any of those. Nor, thankfully, is it one of Kramer's social issue epics. Faye Dunaway gives it her all as a demented wild-catter trying to get oil from a lone well while keeping the big time oil companies off her land. She's helped out by her ne'er do well father John Mills and a hapless drifter played by George C. Scott. Scott and Dunaway have great chemistry and Kramer wisely downplays any love story. However, although they make a scrappy team, they're not particularly likable. In fact, none of the characters in this film is very pleasant, therefore there's nobody to really root for.

Kramer, like his contemporaries Billy Wilder and Otto Preminger, seemed to have lost his way by the 1970s. OKLAHOMA CRUDE doesn't click as comedy or drama. The actors are poorly directed: Dunaway is completely humorless, while Scott plays his part as if he's in a broad farce. Jack Palance, as the villain, appears to be spoofing his own clenched jaw persona.