Sugar, if we all took root and squatted, there would never be any new country.
Cimarron (1931) - watched 8/15/24
Director: Wesley Ruggles
Writer: Howard Estabrook
Starring: Richard Dix, Irene Dunne, Estelle Taylor, George E. Stone
Available to watch? Rent or buy on most platforms
First Time Watch? Yes
Folks, I’ve had a rough go at it for the past couple of weeks. Without getting into much detail (because I’m trying to be more mysterious on the internet), between some personal hardships and a ton of work-related stress, it hasn’t been easy for me to get in front of my laptop screen and start to wonder like Carrie Bradshaw. I haven’t had time to wonder!! It’s a travesty, really, because I love to wonder.
It also felt so poorly timed, just as I was hitting my stride with a routine for this newsletter, life happened. It happened hard. Watching these films and digging into their history has started to rewire my brain chemistry1—doing something you enjoy, who knew? And as someone who does frequently abandon projects before they can have even a fighting chance of finishing, the last thing I want to do is let this slip away from me.
All that to say—sorry for the radio silence! Things are calming down in my world (and I have time off from my 9-to-5 coming up, mercifully) and I’m looking forward to getting back in the groove and spending some more time with these movies and to engage with others who have seen them. I also deeply, deeply appreciate everyone who’s subscribed and shared and interacted with my posts so far. I love you!!! I know that’s intense but I do not care!!
And, yes, I am avoiding getting into the synopsis and review for my next film, Cimarron, because it was a stinker. How’d you guess?
It's men like him that build the world. The rest of them, like me... why, we just come along and live in it.
Set during the Oklahoma Land Rush in the late 1880s and spanning over 40 years, Cimarron tells the story of Yancey Cravat (Richard Dix), an ambitious newspaper editor, and his wife, Sabra (Irene Dunne), as they set out from Kansas with their infant son to join the hordes of people clamoring to claim a piece of the land.
The land that Yancey initially seeks out is swiped by a wily woman named Dixie Lee, who we’re kind of led to believe will get in the way of Yancey and Sabra’s relationship, but that never really materializes in the way that you’d think it would. Instead, we get two hours of Yancey and his family establishing themselves and the town of Osage. Yancey sets up a newspaper in town called the Oklahoma Wigwam, but he is also a lawyer. And also a minister. And also law enforcement? It honestly seems like Yancey can just kind of do whatever he wants and get away with it. Such is the life of a white man at the turn of the century.
Yancey is also basically a deadbeat husband and father. He frequently leaves his family to chase land rush after land rush, leaving Sabra in charge of the newspaper in his absence. At one point, Yancey leaves and doesn’t return until five years later. He returns to represent Dixie Lee in court after she has been arrested for being a public nuisance, which Sabra vehemently disapproves of. Yancey ends up winning the case in one of the most overacted courtroom scenes ever, and shortly thereafter Yancey leaves again to chase the oil boom.
Life goes on for several years without Yancey in Osage—his children grow up and get married, and Sabra becomes the first woman in Congress, representing the state of Oklahoma. Still unaware of Yancey’s whereabouts, Sabra begins her duties as Congresswoman by touring some nearby oil fields. There is a devastating explosion, and Sabra learns that one man selflessly saved some other drillers from certain death.
That man? Yancey.
Sabra rushes to be by his side, holding him as he dies of his injuries. In the town of Osage, a statue of Yancey is unveiled.
Did you have to kill him? — No, I could have let him kill me.
When I started this project, I was asked about my decision to review the Best Picture nominees in chronological order. The truth was that I hadn’t really considered doing this in any other way—it made the most sense to me to start from the beginning and work my way up to modern times. I wanted to get a sense of each era of film history and actually see the evolution and progress. Jumping around in time didn’t make much sense to me, structurally. Once I decided to do this in roughly chronological order, I never gave it a second thought.
Now that I’ve gotten to the end of the 4th Academy Awards, I’m starting to see why maybe someone wouldn’t want to do it this way.
A lot of these early films… are simply boring! And on top of that, they’re racist! This should not be shocking to anyone, and not that it’s shocking to me, per se, but it does get daunting to watch so many stinkers in such a short amount of time. Not to mention, the marketing for this movie really got me good. Judging by the theatrical poster, I thought I was in for a wild, stunning, adventurous western. Instead what I got was Manifest Destiny: The Movie.
I get the feeling this was a fairly “progressive” piece at the time. You have Yancey, who speaks his mind on the treatment of Native Americans, while simultaneously benefitting from their oppression and eradication. The politics of this movie are messy and in a lot of ways don’t make a lick of sense from a modern perspective. It relies on stereotypes and only allows you to get to know any non-white characters on a surface level. The most egregious example of this is the character of Isaiah, a young black boy and the Cravat family’s servant. We only see Isaiah as either a glorified accessory or the butt of a stereotypical joke (he literally gets excited over seeing a cart full of watermelons when they arrive in Osage… yeah, seriously). When Isaiah dies after being shot during a shootout, no one comes to his aid. No one even seems to realize or care that he’s gone, and he’s never mentioned again.
Toward the end of the movie, when Yancey and Sabra’s son marries a Native American woman who used to work for the family, it feels like the movie is going out of its way to say “See? Look how accepting we are now! It felt grimy and unearned. Most of what we’re supposed to accept as triumph for the main characters feels grimy and unearned. I didn’t care about these people—I actively hated them, in fact.
While not as nakedly abhorrent as Trader Horn, I still struggle to find many good things to say about this movie. If I had to find something I enjoyed about it… I guess it was cool seeing George E. Stone pop up again, his 4th Best Picture nominated film so far.2 I also enjoyed the character of Tracey Wyatt, played by Edna May Oliver, who provided some much-needed comedic relief that didn’t feel like it came at anyone else’s expense.
Otherwise, I think it goes without saying that Cimarron would absolutely not be my pick for Best Picture in 1931. It was, hm. A rough year, let’s say. If I had to pick a best picture out of the nominees chosen (and I do have to, this is an obligation I’ve imposed upon myself) I guess I’d have to go with Skippy, which seems especially bleak considering it’s a film that left me in tears and devastated for what felt like days. Listen, they didn’t call it The Great Depression for nothin’!!!
As tough as it might be in these moments, watching these stretches of films that make me want to crawl into my own butt and die, I don’t see myself straying from the chronological structure for this project. For one thing, I feel like I’m already too deep into it to switch things up now. Plus, I know that for every run of stinky movies that I hate, there are going to be many more clusters of films that I love. Y’all don’t even know how annoyingly enthusiastic I’m going to get once we hit the New Hollywood era. You’ve been warned!!
Never is a long time.
Quick Facts:
Nominated for 7 Academy Awards, won 3
Best Picture (won)
Best Adaptation (Howard Estabrook, won)
Best Art Direction (Max Rée, won)
Best Director (Wesley Ruggles)
Best Actor (Richard Dix)
Best Actress (Irene Dunne)
Best Cinematography (Edward Cronjager)
First western to win Best Picture, out of four so far. The other three are Dances With Wolves, Unforgiven, and No Country for Old Men
The first film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture while also earning the greatest number of total Oscar wins for the year, and the first Best Picture Oscar winner to win Best Adapted Screenplay.
Stray Observations:
During the land rush scene a guy rides through on a penny farthing… such a hilarious visual
Very minor character Dabney (played by Tyrone Brereton) is a QUEEEEEEEN
Yet another character with a stutter played for laughs
This town is full of the most annoying people. All bullies!
I hate this damn hummus-named ass lady
I can’t believe this whole fuckin’ time we’re following some guy named Yancey
These people are just a bunch of functioning alcoholics with guns
Say “sugar” one more damn time…
My Rating: ⭐½
Next Up: Arrowsmith (1931)
I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s curing my depression, but it’s getting close!!
The other three were 7th Heaven, The Racket, and The Front Page.