Miracle in East Texas

This is the light-hearted story of two prospectors - read swindlers - bilking widows out of money in an "oil well fortune" scheme, who, accidentally, struck black gold in Cornville, Texas.

Doc Boyd and DH "Dad" Everett, who have a practiced and tried "dry well" oil swindle actually strike oil in East Texas, and economically rejuvenate the whole region.

This movie does not attempt to glorify, or demonize, any of the themes presented. Oil exploration, Small-Time Hucksters, and even religious conversions are all on the table and are presented in a mildly positive light, where positive virtues of dignity and self-respect override self-preservation and greed.

There are the feel-good vibes that come from the "Support your local gunfighter" locales and music, as well as the hapless swindlers reminiscent of "The Producers".

The closest it got to preachy was when the poor black and white folks started working together on the Bethel well, which could have been shown without being noted, to stronger effect.

The star quality is there, without over-whelming the story, which is well-written, well-acted, and well-made. Just now, while writing this review, I realized that the CGI special effects were so well done, and so well integrated, that you don't even notice them.

I believe also, that this was movie-studio quality made on a relatively low budget, by people that know how to get the shot they need, with what they have on hand. Special shout-out to the overhead drone shots, that were absolutely gorgeous without being horrendously expensive.

Not only is this poorly written and even more terribly acted & directed, being from East Texas, 4th generation in the oil business having studied both the recorded history and heard some of it straight from the horse's mouth, I can tell you the movie is pure fiction. It's hilarious one of the reviews says "You can feel the passion and the atmosphere that is East Texas in the film through the cast and story." The author knew little to nothing about the East Texas Oil Field, certainly no first hand knowledge, and it's clear from the story line. None of the cast is from East Texas. They didn't even film the movie in the US, much less Texas or East Texas. They didn't interview or consult with anyone who actually witnessed the oil boom that the movie claims to be about. The fact that it took someone like Sorbo, a F-list failed actor, to act, direct, and cast multiple family members, just to get the book made into a movie shows you how bad the story is. There are a lot of amazing, unbelievable things that happened and stories that came out of East Texas and that era in particular. I hope someday we see a more realistic, honest version of the history told on the big screen. Most people don't even realize that without the East Texas Oil Field we likely couldn't have won WW2.

Yea there were a lot swindlers and conartists here, and there still are, overselling shares in drilling deals and running a number of other types of cons. But they didn't operate like they do in the movie. A whole lot of people did get swindled but the vast majority of them weren't poor old widows. They weren't the conmens' preferred or targeted marks. Most of the "investments" came from average joes looking to get rich quick. I'm sure a few widows and good people did get taken, but there's an old saying here that usually holds true: "It's hard to cheat an honest man". That's not to blame any victims, but when something seems to good to be true (and these deals always did), it always is, and most honest folks know that and that you can't get something for nothing. The widows and families that had the gushers hit on their property rarely got ripped off. It was usually people who weren't involved in the oil business or lived outside of the area and didn't have their boots on the ground here. Most of the people whose property they drilled wells on were already established landowners and by the time the East Texas boom happened, it'd already been happening in other parts of Texas for 20-30 years, so most people either knew what they were doing or knew someone who did. Most of those families are still very wealthy generations later, still collecting royalty checks from those same original wells.

And if a swindler did get caught before they had a chance to skip town and change their name, they rarely faced any real consequences, especially not on the criminal side. They may have been sued civilly but no one ever got much money back, if any. Even if they won a judgment, they couldn't collect. That money is usually gone, spent faster than they made it, spent lavishly and used to pay off earlier victims they scammed to keep them quiet. Almost none of them had any kind of life changing revelation and turned their life around, or ever offered to return any money if they did hit oil because even then they didn't have it to return. If any of them did have, or claim to have, a "born again" awakening, it either didn't last very long or it was just a cover to save their butts so they could do it again.

Had the misfortune to see this "movie". Kevin Sorbo has to be the absolute worst actor on the face of the earth. I could go on and on about how terrible his acting was, but I'll reserve it for your own opinion. The story lacked content, not well written and quite boring. Just another story about a dried-up swindler who is looking to rejuvenate himself, like Sorbo's acting career.. The gist of the story is that two con men try to convince a group of widows to invest in worthless oil wells during the Great Depression. Don't like the story line, didn't care for the movie. At all. 15 more charactlers...

An excellent movie brought to life by Dan Gordon! The acting and directing is excellent.

These days politics invades every part of life, including entertainment. That HAS to be the reason for all the negative reviews. You can actually feel the hatred coming through the words in their reviews. More than likely, most of those reviewers have not even seen the movie, just doing the reviews to damage the film and the actors because they don't agree with their perceived politics. They would probably enjoy the mindless super hero movies, rather than movies with substance.

The movie is dramatic, funny, and has a really good plot. A very enjoyable movie that is devoid of sex and offensive language which is very hard to find these days.

Do yourself a favor, see this movie, you won't regret it!

Solid story, solid cast and acting. It works. Leave the politics at home when reviewing. You can feel the passion and the atmosphere that is East Texas in the film through the cast and story. You can tell this was a work of love. The story is somewhat predictable but not enough to spoil the film nor the ending. With a plot from Dan Gordon (Wyatt Earp, Murder in the First, the Hurricane, Highlander, Tank and others) you've got a good script to start and good directing from Kevin Sorbo. Throw in a good cast that loves to work and bring magic to the audience and you've got a good film. It's a film that works.