Review of Man from Oklahoma

The Whittakers and Lanes of Oklahoma have been feuding since they came to the state in1889. Roy and Gabby Hayes are Whittakers, while Maude Eburne, as Grandma and Dale Evans, as Peggy, are Lanes........The beginning finds Roy and the Sons of the Pioneers, from Oklahoma, auditioning for a spot on a NYC radio program as country/western singers, believe it or not. Meanwhile, once neighbor, Dale is singing swing music at a fancy NYC nightclub. Roy gets a telegram from Gabby's brother that Gabby has had a stroke and is in a bad way. So, Roy and the boys decide they should ignore their new contract and visit Gabby. Only problem is they are broke. So, they go to Dale's nightclub and plead for travel money. She very reluctantly loans them the money.........When they arrive in Oklahoma, they discover that Dale had taken the same train, with no explanation. All are surprised to find Gabby perfectly healthy, after his brother, at the train station, had assured them that he was in a bad way. Seems Gabby wanted some help in countering the Lanes, whom he claimed were guilty of various depredations against him, including stealing horses. As Roy discovers, the horse thief actually is Jim Gardner, who has bought water drilling rights on part of the Lane estate, in Lone valley. Roy finds horses from both the Whittakers and Lanes there. Perhaps , Gardner is trying to foment friction between the 2. He wants to buy both the Lane and Whittaker halves of the valley. Roy notes that should end the fighting between the Whittakers and Lanes. However, Roy meets Little Bird: new wife of the oil-rich Chief Red Feather. She's selling water to Gardner. This greatly puzzles Roy, as Gardner is supposed to be drilling for water. Thus, Roy sneaks to Gardner's camp. After distracting the workers, he checks out the pump area, and finds petroleum. Now, he knows why Gardner is so anxious to buy the valley. But, Gardner may not have to buy it. Incongruously, Grandma Lane has offered her side of the valley to the winner of the annual wagon race. Not to be outdone by a Lane, Gabby likewise offers his half to the winner. Neither knows that oil has been discovered in the valley........ Gardner has his men sneak to the Whittaker's barn, where the wagons are kept, and set it ablaze. All the wagons are destroyed. Roy gets the idea to borrow several water wagons from Little Bird. She agrees. Gabby will drive one, but, for some reason(?), Roy opts out of driving the other. Half way through the race, the driver of the remaining Lane wagon quits, saying it's too dangerous, having seen several wagons wreck. Unclear why Roy, Dale and Grandma are beside the road at this point? Anyway, it's decided that Roy will take over, thus a Whittaker will drive a Lane wagon. Roy offers to split the prize with Dale, if he wins. Well, close to the finish line, Roy is clearly in the lead, with Gardner's wagon next. But, suddenly his wagon detaches from the horses, and the wagon turns over. Luckily, Roy isn't seriously hurt. Gardner's rig is declared the winner. However, during the evening festivities, a newsreel of the race is shown. Included is a segment showing a man jumping from Gardner's wagon to the flatbed of Roy's buckboard, then going underneath the wagon and messing with something. When the race judge sees this, he declares Garner's rig disqualified, and Roy the winner, even though he never crossed the finish line. The Whittakers and Lanes are happy, even though this result seems to restore things to their previous status. Roy and Dale look like a couple in the making, potentially starting out their life together oil rich.........As reviewer bkoganbing pointed out, parts of the wagon race appear to have been taken from the John Wayne film "In Old Oklahoma", which also involved petroleum. I particularly remember the large brush fires on either side of the road, engineered by the bad guys. Also, the many rigs that fell apart and crashed along the way, and the grinding of axels from parallel wagons. Despite the many very unlikely coincidences or other happenings in this film, I rate it as entertaining.