Al Jennings of Oklahoma

The subject of much folk lore and legend in the beginnings of Oklahoma statehood. Al Jennings brings shame and disappointment to his family by becoming an angry bank robber. After serving his sentence, he tries to walk the straight and narrow; and by studying the law, gains respect and becomes a footnote in the history of Oklahoma.

Sporadic action and distorted story inspired by truth. Cast includes: Dan Duryea, Dick Foran, James Millican, Gale Storm and Raymond Greenleaf.

Starring Dan Duryea as Al Jennings, this is another routine Columbia quickie, filmed in the foothills of southern California. The script and film look like they were put out in about 10 days, and boring clichés abound.

Al Jennings used to be a lawyer until circumstances forced him to kill a man and cross over to the other side of the law. From what I understand, this film had nothing to do with the real-life Al Jennings who served time in prison for armed robbery. He wasn't as romantic a cad as Duryea makes out to be.

And the fistfight scene between Duryea and John Dehner in the courtroom looked laughingly bad and amateurish. Awful. Truly awful...which is a real shame since Duryea has appeared in some excellent westerns like WINCHESTER '73 (1950), RIDE CLEAR OF DIABLO (1954) and NIGHT PASSAGE (1957).

With Dick Foran who stands around and smiles a lot, and Gail Storm as the love interest, this oater is pretty dull stuff with nothing to make it stand out from the dozens of others Columbia put out in the 50s.

2 out 10 for causing a few zzzz's...

I first became interested in this film after seeing a photo of the real Al Jennings in a magazine in the late 60s. The story is taken from one of Jennings books ,'Beating Back', published in 1914, and available to read online. As this is promoted as a true story, I wonder why changes were made to the way events happened; did it make for better viewing, and were the name changes done for legal reasons? Al Jennings was still alive when the film was released; he passed away in 1961, just months after the death of his wife. Firstly, Al's brother was killed by Temple Houston, not the John Marsden of the film: Al was not present at the time, but was sleeping, and alerted to the tragedy. He joined criminals while waiting for the time to exact his revenge on Houston. Secondly, his wife was named Maude E. Deayton, not Margot St.Claire. A fine performance from Dan Duryea, and a rare chance to see him in a leading role. Accurate or not, I give this 10 out of 10 for entertainment value. If you have enjoyed the exploits of Frank and Jesse James, and how two law abiding farmers were turned into bandits by the actions of the railway, then you will enjoy this film.

Do NOT expect this to be a factual docu-drama about the real life Al Jennings. It's fun, but as history and biographies go...look elsewhere for real information on the real and even the reel Al Jennings.

Al Jennings of Oklahoma is directed by Ray Nazaro and adapted to screenplay by George Bricker from the book co-written by Al Jennings and Will Irwin. It stars Dan Duryea, Gale Storm, Dick Foran, Gloria Henry, Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams and Raymond Greenleaf. Music is by Mischa Bakaleinikoff and cinematography by W. Howard Greene.

Al Jennings, as played here by Duryea, follows a life trajectory that sees him born into a legal family and thus take up the family trade. Known for his hot temper, it's not long before Al runs into trouble and burnt by the folly of the law when tragedy strikes his family, throws off his legal eagle clobber and turns to the outlaw life. Moving from robbing banks to robbing trains, and with the beautiful Gale Storm's token love interest holding his attention, Al and his brother Frank (Foran) decide to leave crime and go straight. But the past catches up with them and they inevitably end up serving time for their crimes. But there's another twist! The instability of the trial sees Al serve only 5 years of his life sentence and upon release becomes something of a prime mover in the Statehood of Oklahoma.

You sense it's all very romanticised from the actual life of Al Jennings, but in spite of some sub-standard acting and poorly scripted passages, it's still an enjoyable Oater. There's some decent stunt- work early on, a couple of rounds of knuckles (though the court room fight is not greatly constructed), chases, some gun-play and it's nice and colourful with Technicolor photography around the Chatsworth location shoot. So it's watchable enough, even if not very memorable then? Yes, that's about it really. 6/10