Cimarron

1931 "Terrific as all creation!"
5.8| 2h3m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 26 January 1931 Released
Producted By: RKO Radio Pictures
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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When the government opens up the Oklahoma territory for settlement, restless Yancey Cravat claims a plot of the free land for himself and moves his family there from Wichita. A newspaperman, lawyer, and just about everything else, Cravat soon becomes a leading citizen of the boom town of Osage. Once the town is established, however, he begins to feel confined once again, and heads for the Cherokee Strip, leaving his family behind. During this and other absences, his wife Sabra must learn to take care of herself and soon becomes prominent in her own right.

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Director

Wesley Ruggles

Production Companies

RKO Radio Pictures

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Cimarron Audience Reviews

Console best movie i've ever seen.
Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Jonah Abbott There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
SimonJack This 1931 movie of the epic 1929 Edna Ferber novel is itself an epic. "Cimarron" shows the historic Oklahoma Land Rush and ensuring settlement right up to the time that the audience then lived. The amassing of so many wagons, carts and types of old conveyances is historical in itself. And the portrayal of the boomtown rising out of the Western prairie is so close to the time that it's an authentic picture of the real life of the time and place.Indeed, this RKO film captured three Academy Awards Oscars, with four more nominations. It was the Best Picture of 1931. Richard Dix and Irene Dunne were nominated for best actor and actress, and gave superb performances. Some modern viewers may see Dix's flamboyance as over-acting. He did carry a little of his silent film mannerisms into his early sound films. But his Yancey Cravat is spot on the character that Edna Ferber created. And, Dunne's portrayal was superb as her character matured over the years. The 1960 production of "Cimarron" by MGM had a fine cast and did a good portrayal of the period. But the rise of the towns from the prairie seemed to miss the touch of authenticity that this film has. And, while all of the cast of the later film were fine, they didn't provide the edge that Dix and Dunne and company give in this original "Cimarron."Dix also starred in another movie around the land rush, "Cherokee Strip", in 1940. And Dix and Dunne starred together in another film. "Stingaree" is a 1934 RKO drama and comedy romance.Here are some favorite lines from the film. For more dialog, see the Quotes section under this IMDb Web page of the movie. Yancy Cravat, "Why, we've had enough of this Wichita. We're going' out to a brand new two-fisted, rip snortin' country full of Indians, rattlesnakes, gun toters and desperados. Whoopee!"Yancy Cravat, "There's loyalty, Sabra, that money can't buy."Yancy Cravat, "The second button on his coat is about the spot of his wishbone. Maybe a couple inches higher." Sol Levy, "Oh, they will always talk about Yancy. He's gonna be part of the history of the great Southwest. It's men like him that build the world. The rest of them, like me... well, we just come along and live in it."Yancy Cravat, "Dixie Lees have been stoned in the market place for 2,000 years. You've got to drive the devil out first."Mrs. Tracy Wyatt, "Sorry, Mr. Levy about you not being on the committee. But you see, we invited representatives of our principal families. One of my ancestors was a signer of the Declaration of Independence." Sol Levy, "Mmm hmmm. That's all right. A relative of mine, a fellow named Moses, wrote the Ten Commandments."
gavin6942 A newspaper editor settles in an Oklahoma boom town with his reluctant wife at the end of the nineteenth century.This film is something of an anomaly. Starting from an Edna Ferber novel, it was made into a western epic and was highly praised. The film received a ton of Oscar nominations, and even won Best Picture. The last western to do so until 1990's "Dances With Wolves" sixty years later. You would think it would be a massively powerful film.And yet, it has fallen hard. As of 2015, it is the lowest rated Best Picture on IMDb, with only a 6.0 rating. The rating is fair, but it means either this is the worst Best Picture ever made, or it was up against even worse films, or something...Not helping matters is the film's apparent rarity. It saw DVD release about a decade later than it should have, and as of 2015 still does not exist on Blu-ray. Nothing can be done for the story and acting, but it looks like the picture could be cleaned up some.
sinel-47034 Will Cimmaron ever end? Yes, but only after our heroine has lost her husband in a glorified wanderlust, both her children have married successfully—if you can call your daughter marrying a millionaire a success—and the heroic husband has one last chance of saving lives after a lifetime of adventure, killing bad guys, defending the downtrodden, knowing virtually everybody in Oklahoma, campaigning for Indian citizenship years before it was granted them, and probably three or four other heroic deeds that escape my mind at this moment.The Indians are portrayed as noble savages and the equal of whites—Cimmaron even marries one (notwithstanding his mother's objections, after all heroic Yancey approves)—and no opportunity is wasted to indict and condemn the ill treatment of the native race by the U.S. government; which is laudable in itself, yet seems ironic coming from the lips of a man who twice literally rushes in to newly "opened" Indian territory at the first moment of opportunity, the second time leaving his wife and children, only to see them at very brief intervals for the rest of his life. Certainly, for one who detests the treatment of Indians, he can't wait, for mere adventure's sake, to benefit from the forcible exploitation of those same Indians' lands. But perhaps I should not judge Yancey's activities too harshly. The author apparently does not see Yancey as a hypocrite and neither should we. After all, while most Americans today are appalled at the history of the white man's treatment of the red man (if they are aware of it), the question of giving any of the land we've taken back to the Indians is never considered, even though every non-native American in this country including, like me, the descendants of immigrants, has benefited, at least indirectly, from the exploitation of Indians.Perhaps I should take off my politically sensitive eyeglasses and see Cimmaron for what it is: a woman's fantasy about a frontier marriage between a highly successful woman and her erudite, but not entirely civilized, husband. She accepts his need for wanderlust, even if she doesn't understand it, and despite his absences of many years, she stays loyal to him all her life in a love that does not fail. In other words, a good but forgettable melodrama.
westerfield I'm disturbed that so many reviewers gave this film bad marks because it is not politically correct by today's standards. They should be rating the film on its effectiveness as a story. I found it compelling and believable. All of the principle actors gave one of their best performances. Certainly Stanley Fields and George Stone were never better. Irene Dunne carried off a range of impressions seldom matched on the screen. And Richard Dix did the opposite in just as admirable a way: maintaining character through numerous situations.But what is most important is that the film was not politically correct for its time - in a brave way. It showed the intolerance for blacks as something shameful and that color didn't matter when it came to courage. Showing the black teenager as a hero was almost unprecedented for the period.At a time when native Americans were portrayed in film merely as evil hoards, this film showed both their shameful treatment and nobility. And dared to show that marrying for love knows no racial barriers.And finally, far from being anti-feminist, it showed that any woman raised to be prejudiced and subservient could become a fair-minded, independent leader.The film did all of these things within the confines of the story without being preachy. That alone is a triumph of its time. Add to that the sweep of the film that didn't lose the personal stories and you get an Oscar worthy film.