User Reviews

Originally titled WAR OF THE WILDCATS. Rough and tough cowboy Dan Somers(John Wayne)battles a high and mighty land baron Jim Gardner(Albert Dekker)for not just land, but oil drilling rights around Sapulpa Oklahoma. Wayne as customary sides with the Native Americans in hopes of legally claiming, drilling and transporting the oil on their land. There is the obligatory romance to deal with thanks to Martha Scott. The eye popper is actually dance-hall girl Dale Evans. That's right! This vision of Miss Evans is...well...entertaining. Other cast members of this fast paced western: 'Gabby' Hayes, Paul Fix, Grant Withers and Sidney Blackmer as President Teddy Roosevelt. Real good black and white sagebrush tale. Pride, determination and fortitude...the Pioneer way.

I saw this under the title "War of the Wildcats", a reference to the 'wildcatting' oil barons of early Americana who cast their fate to drilling for the precious commodity in hopes of striking it rich. There are a couple of scenes in which we see a geyser of oil shooting up from a newly tapped well, and it always makes me wonder how they capped those things to get them under control. This was a typical film for John Wayne during his days with Republic Studios following the 'overnight' success brought about by his appearance in 1939's "Stagecoach". You could count on Wayne's rugged good looks to win out over any rival when it came to a being part of a romantic triangle, and so it is here as he eventually charms school teacher turned novelist Catherine Allen (Martha Scott) in a personal feud with oil baron James Gardner (Albert Dekker).

There was one scene in the picture where I had to do a double and triple take. Could that possibly have been Dale Evans leading a saloon number with a host of can-can dancers? Sure enough, it's Evans as the sexy Cuddles Walker with Roy Rogers nowhere in sight! I might not have recognized her but for the fact I just saw her in a similar scene in the Roy Rogers flick "Don't Fence Me In". If you can believe it, she's even sexier in that picture! Another Rogers mainstay on board here is Gabby Hayes, not so much a sidekick to Wayne's character, Dan Somers, but enough of a pal to be on his side every time the situation calls for it.

The finale to the picture is as much exciting as it is unbelievable if you stop and think about it. In a four month race against time, Somers must get ten thousand barrels of oil to market as his opponent Gardner pulls out all the stops to prevent it. When Gardner buys the pipeline that Dan would have used to transport his oil, his solution is to fill a bunch of wooden barrels and enclosed wagons with the stuff in order to beat the deadline. The high speed chase over rough terrain destroys a number of wagons, while Gardner's goons manage to sabotage some additional. Somers made it, but it sure didn't look to me like ten thousand gallons of oil could have possibly been stored in those rickety wagons, even if none of them got hijacked!

This is an earlier John Wayne movie. It is very well done. The good guy is of course John Wayne and the antagonist is played very well by Albert Dekker. Notice I say antagonist and not the bad guy. He is a ruthless businessman but that was the way it was back then, he has a softer side and unlike a lot of real bad guys of that time in the movies he has a bit of a conscious and treats his workers well. He and Wayne get in to a couple of knock down fights and they appear to have a mutual, all be it not a liking, for each other. Wayne has Indian connections in this one that lead to his being successful by the end of the movie. Of course he gets the girl too.

WAR OF THE WILDCATS is another black-and-white western of the early 1940s, starring the ever-likable John Wayne. This one's about land-grabbing and oil rights, featuring Wayne romancing a woman who is torn between his poor cowboy and a wealthy businessman who'll do anything to make a profit. The notable thing about this film is that it has a real lightness of touch that turns it into an out-and-out comedy in places.

Wayne shares plenty of repartee with the amusing and sparky Martha Scott and seems really comfortable with this fun and funny material. Albert Dekker's villain is better written than usual, being a fully-rounded character who is quite respectable and even engaging at times. The film has a fast pace and plenty of action, including an exciting large-scale chase and some good fights. It all feels very smooth and effortless.

One of several epic film stories about oil wildcatting released in the 1940s. I'm familiar with 3: the prior "Boomtown" and "Flowing Gold". and the later Tulsa". Each of these sports a gusher or two, and all except this one feature a spectacular oil field fire. While gushers provide dramatic evidence of a strike under high pressure, they aren't really what you want. They waste oil and contaminate the surrounding area, increase the risk of a fire, and , if offshore, will contaminate the marine environment.

The alternative title of "War of the Wildcats" correctly suggests competition to be king of the regional oil exploration and production businesses. Albert Dekker plays Jim Gardner: the established kingpin of the oil exploration business in Oklahoma, and an obvious candidate to be the chief villain in a fight with a consortium of small oil producers, farmers and Aboriginal Americans for a share of the riches. John Wayne, as Dan Somers, although lacking experience in oil exploration, is elected leader of the consortium. This turns out to be a fortuitous choice when the two go to Washington to plead their case before the president(T.R.). Although Gardner, with his vast experience and material advantages, might seem the overwhelming choice, Dan fought with the rough riders in Cuba, and T.R. remembers him. Also, Dan offers the Aboriginal Americans a 50% stake in the profits vs. Gardner's 12 1/2 %. T.R. wants to make sure the Aboriginal Americans get their fair share, thus decides in favor of the consortium. However, if they fail to deliver a given quantity of oil after 4 months, the concession will be transferred to Gardner, thus providing him with the incentive to impede their ability to deliver in time. Toward this end, Gardner buys the oil pipeline from this region to the Tulsa refinery, thus forcing the consortium to transport their oil in wooden tanker wagons and makeshift containers in wagons(Where did they all of a sudden get all of these wagons?).In addition, the Cherokee Kid, who sometimes works for Gardner, has his independent reason to want to sabotage the consortium's efforts.

As you might expect, a woman is also involved in the competition for oil rights. Martha Scott plays a schoolteacher and novelist from the east , who wants some experience living in the west. At first, she brushes off romantic overtures from the two men. But, eventually she is caught in a passionate kiss with Gardner out in the moonlight in a wilderness area. But, she then sharply changes her attitude, gets out of the buggy, and walks along the road until Wayne, in his buggy, picks her up. Seems something Gardner said led her to believe that his intention was for her to become his mistress, rather than wife, upsetting her.

Gardner's men try to sabotage the oil wagons by creating a sizable blaze out along the road. But, most of the wagons get through unscathed. Also, a pair of Gardner's men tinkered with some of the wagons, making them unhitch during their travels, wrecking quite a few. That mad dash to the refinery was the action highlight of the film.

Dale Evans leads a troupe of singer/dancers in a stage show in the saloon. Best remembered for her inclusion in the later TV series: The Roy Rogers Show, in her early career, she was mostly a singer.

John Wayne fans will want to see this superior Republic offering, featuring a rather young Wayne. Dekker provides a rather appealing villain, in most respects, except toward the end.

. . . following his first Tour of Duty in the Philippines (BACK TO BATAAN and THEY WERE EXPENDABLE were his subsequent Filipino forays). Big Oil tries to cheat the Native Americans IN OLD OKLAHOMA, but just as pharmacist Wayne gunned down all the would-be Gold Rush claim jumpers IN OLD CALIF0RNIA, cowboy Wayne guns down all the oil field saboteurs here. When the oil's not being pumped, Wayne finds time to fall for a lady novelist, just as he'd later do in WITHOUT RESERVATIONS. But despite this confluence of "old" states, Pacific TDY's, writer chicks, and reservations, the main focus here is on Oil Industry Shenanigans. We've all experienced these personally: Gas was 89 cents per gallon during the Clinton Presidency, and it was a same price--at least for awhile--with Obama in the White House. But when Oil Giant Enron bribed the U.S. Supreme Court Rich People Party "Justices" to appoint a patently Unconstitutional team of TWO Texas Oil Men Election LOSERS to our Highest Offices, the price of gas stayed North of $4 per gallon for Eight Longggg Years, as all Heck broke loose with 9-11, Katrina, Iraq, and Afghanistan murdering many thousands of Americans (who'd be alive Today if the Rich People's Party had not prevented Clinton from serving four terms in office, as did our great leader FDR). If Wayne had been around 15 years ago, no doubt he'd have gunned down all of these Oil Crooks!

Rogell's 'War …', a sex comedy (until it switches to a rural drama and the characters sometimes get a bit sententious) replete with exciting love innuendo and genuinely good one-liners, has that ineffable uplifting quality known as zest, or gusto; very dynamic, at the twilight of the cherished West, when the land of the farmers, cowboys, Indians and wry coach-drivers becomes the land of the upcoming oilmen, a comedy of the later West, if you will (yet this typology is secondary here, as Jim behaves like the usual ruthless rich, regardless of the spring of his income), and not at all a screwball, because it's another genre altogether: a rivalry drama, well handled and flawlessly written on its own unassuming terms, the storyline remaining a look at love, and in this it's nicely written, and also well directed, by Rogell. When angered, the oilman looked like a saner Atwill; but he is not maligned as a villain (at least at first, up until the ride to Tulsa, then we get less certain about his even basic honor), but instead comes across as a genuinely limited person, naturally unable to understand what's outside the range of his daily life, and this seems reasonable. Martha Scott's character seems a bit dry, which she's supposed to be, and then her performance changes accordingly, as we get to know her, and she gets accustomed to her new place; but there's a minus: the schoolteacher is also a bit unlovable, a bit trite. This of course depends on what one is drawn to feel towards the actress herself and her character such as it is.

But then, who are the titular wildcats? It seems like not only the girl, but also her two rival pursuers are such wildcats. Dekker is annoying, as prescribed by the script, it's his job to look that.

Teddy R. is a cartoon. There are also villains, so that the community looks plausible.

'War of the Wildcats' is not a Western (and certainly not a kids' movie!), of course (Somers plays as an archetypal twilight cowboy, drifter, gunman, adventurer, eventually turned oilman and settled), but a blend of comedy and drama to be enjoyed by Western buffs.

There are a few twists, psychologically intriguing (Catherine's turns, even Jim's honor, up to his showing an uglier side of his soul). Jim comes across rather as a limited person, unable to understand the girl, not as a double-crosser; but then things change and, if he's cleared of the Cherokee misdeed, he becomes the handler of some really ugly schemes meant to derail the farmers' business. The ride to Tulsa was a romp.

The director, Rogell, knew his craft, his trade. Him, and Wayne, and most of the cast give this movie a pleasurable humane quality, also aided by the complexity of the script and by the production values, and the movie is charming, and even stylish in its way. Good movie.

The playful Wayne reminded me of Gibson in his comedy roles. And thank you for reading this, if you did.