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James Cagney writes about "The Oklahoma Kid', his first western film, in his fascinating autobiography, Cagney By Cagney. It seems the original picture was the idea of screen writer Edward Paramore ( 1895-1956 ) who conceived the idea of doing a story particularly modelled after Kit Carson. Cagney and Paramore researched it and Cagney came up with some pretty exciting things he wanted to do. Warner's pulled Paramore off the script and without a word to Cagney changed the director. When he got the final script he writes; It had as much to do with actual history as the Katzenjammer Kids. It had become a typical horse opera, just another programmer. But James Cagney manages to make this film entertaining by adding his typical charming and sentimental touches, such as his character Jim Kincaid " feeling the fresh air with his finger tips " and singing his own father's favourite song, " I Don't Want To Play In Your Yard." He even got to do a fancy rope trick. In one scene Cagney is standing on a rock while a bunch of bad guys led by Humphrey Bogart and Ward Bond pound by on their horses, and Cagney's character is supposed to launch a lariat around the neck of Ward Bond's horse. Naturally, such trick roping was done by an expert, but on this occasion Cagney asked the wrangler doing the roping, to show him just how it did it. He showed him the looping and general mechanics of the procedure, and Cagney thought just for the hell of it he'd try the trick himself, never dreaming it would work. As Bogart and Ward came in on the shot riding their horses past the rock, Cagney threw the loop button-bright right over the neck of Ward's horse. He held on to the rope for just a brief second, then let go-otherwise he would have taken Ward Bond right off his perch. Cagney writes; The director, Lloyd Bacon, yelled "Cut!" "Why didn't you hang on?" Lloyd asked me. "What did you want me to do-kill Ward?" Lloyd said merrily, "Why not?" The wrangler was weary of Cagney's claims of never doing any rope tricks in his life. And every time he saw that wrangler thereafter he always said " So you never threw a rope before?" Cagney's reply; "So help me, never did." Although Cagney didn't think much of the picture, it was appreciated by audiences and praised by critics of the time. Anyone who loves James Cagney along with a solid cast of fine actors, Humphrey Bogart, Donald Crisp, Rosemary Lane, Ward Bond, will find watching this film, a lot of fun and very entertaining.

If you can't picture James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart as gun totin' Western outlaws, then give yourself a treat and try "The Oklahoma Kid". Granted, neither actor appears as comfortable in their cowboy persona as they do as gangsters, but they manage to pull off a fairly credible and interesting story, with a rather talented cast around them.

The setting is the 1883 land rush that civilizes the six million acre Oklahoma Territory known as the Cherokee Strip, and future site of the city of Tulsa. Cagney's entrance as the Oklahoma Kid is heralded by his hijacking of Whip McCord's (Bogart) plunder of a stagecoach carrying money in payment for Indian land. The Kid is the "good" outlaw, who for the remainder of the film plays out his secret identity of Jim Kincaid, who's businessman father (Hugh Sothern) and sheriff brother (Harvey Stephens) attempt to bring McCord and his gang to justice following their illegal land grab.

Adding an element of romance to the story is the presence of Jane Hardwick (Rosemary Lane), daughter of Judge Hardwick (Donald Crisp), who's involved with sheriff Ned, but is immediately smitten with The Kid; Oklahoma endears himself to newcomers by asking them to "feel the air".

When bully McCord frames John Kincaid for murder, he sends a phony letter to Judge Hardwick to get him out of town, so his own hand picked replacement can push through a guilty verdict. With time running out, The Kid is too late to stop the mob hanging of his father, and sets out to administer his own brand of justice on McCord's henchmen - Indian Joe, Curley, Handley (Ward Bond), and Doolin. The finale finds the Oklahoma Kid and McCord in a rather well staged barroom brawl that ends with the "good" bad guy on the winning end.

OK, high drama it's not; for a truly memorable film of classic status in a Western setting with either of these stars, you'll have to turn to Bogart's "Treasure of the Sierra Madre". But if it's offbeat Cagney and Bogey you're after, this is a good place to start. You'll have a better time too if you go for the enjoyment factor and not for critical viewing, there's enough fun stuff here to take the edge off a rainy afternoon.

'The Oklahoma Kid' is competent but slightly disappointing star western memorable for the clash in this guise of its protagonists, more usually seen as gangsters…

The film is generally far more to the living of the Western traditionalists, and it never once allows its size to create an atmosphere of self-importance… Nevertheless it maintains a pleasant tongue-in-cheek approach which makes the occasional tragic moments stand out in even greater relief…

But even with two such big names on hand, 'The Oklahoma Kid' moves tediously against the colorful backgrounds of a colorful era… Cagney—who makes his own law with his fast draw— brings his cheeky personality to the West without making the slightest change in his standard characterization… Bogart plays it without even the mordant sense of humor that he usually brings to his gangster roles… As a sinister figure all in black, he gives an equally unconvincing performance as an outlaw gang leader who deceitfully obtains saloon and gambling rights in return for letting Cagney's father and brother have rights to a site on which they plan to build a town

THE OKLAHOMA KID is a somewhat unusual western in that it stars the inimitable pairing of James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart, two actors best known for their roles in contemporary gangster movies. Cagney is the titular character, a Robin Hood-style lone cowboy who has a bounty on his head, while Bogart is part of a ruthless gang who use violence and murder to hold sway over a small town. The first half of this production is a little slow, but the strong production values see it through, and Cagney burns up the screen as always. It gets good in the second half when it transforms into a revenge flick with all of the showdowns a genre fan could wish for.

This movie, although not a bad none, strikes a strange note. Bogart and Cagney, the well established Big City hardboiled guys seem to have lost their way in the Warner building and in order not to waste the day, take what they find and try to play it serious, whereas the whole thing has something of a tongue in cheek cameo show. The whole thing centers around the Oklahoma Land Rush and the revenge exacted by the title hero, played by Cagney, to the bad guys having killed his father. And by this, whitewashing himself and get back into his family and to his girl. Cagney all in bright with a cowboy hat, that could serve as a family sun cover and Bogart, the all-black sneering villain, confront each other in well-known form. And Cagney could still survive him at this point in his career. For "Camp" lovers only.

Throughout this somewhat cheesy, but entertaining, western, stars James Cagney and Humphry Bogart wear the same western garb. Cagney's outfit is basically light-colored, if not white. Bogey is dressed in coal black from hat to toe. Both are considered outlaws, but which one do you suppose is considered basically a decent human being, while the other is characterized as incurably evil?

This is one of 3 films in the late '30s in which Cagney and Bogey were both cast in leading roles. As usual, Cagney's character is considered dominant over Bogey's role. Of these 3 films, Bogey's role here is the most important, being of equal importance to Cagney's character. Cagney's character: Jim Kincaid, sometimes known as 'the Oklahoma Kid', is considered the black sheep of the prominent Kincaid family in the fledging town of Tulsa, OK. For the most part, he stays away from his father, John, and law-abiding brother, Ned. Actually, what he does with most of his time isn't clear. He seems to have an aversion to hard physical work, and no ambition to become a leading citizen. Hardly anyone knows he is a Kincaid, until later in the film. As Jim, Cagney is his usual cocky self. He always operates alone in all his endeavors, a strange sort of loner. He sometimes severely strains credulity in besting large groups of men. In contrast, Bogey always is the head of a gang, always on the lookout for a way to pull some robbery or illegal deal. With the ambition of becoming the illicit 'town boss' of Tulsa.

The screenplay begins with the opening of a portion of the Indian Oklahoma territory to white settlers. Bogey and his gang become 'sooners', jumping the gun in getting an illegal headstart in the rush to claim a section of land. Thus, they claim the land that John Kincaid and his friends wanted to build a town on. However, Bogey is willing to deed this land over to Kincaid's bunch, if he is given the right to build a saloon and given a monopoly on the right to exploit public vices in the town to be built. In addition, his gang holds up the stage carrying the federal money to be paid to the Indians for giving up their land. Jim sees this holdup from a high vantage point, and schemes how to rob the robbers. Amazingly, he is successful, without using bullets. However, he makes the mistake of using some of the ill-gotten coins to gamble in Bogey's saloon, thereby raising the suspicion that these shiny newly minted coins were derived from the stolen money for the Indians. Bogey has him arrested, but he cleverly escapes. Soon, wanted posters of him are posted around town. Yet, periodically, he comes into town, with no apparent concern that he might be captured. He seems to believe he has a charmed life.

Jim gradually develops a friendship with pretty marriageable Jane Hardwick, daughter of Judge Hardwick(Donald Crisp). Jane is played by winsome Rosemary Lane: one of the 4 musically talented Lane sisters, who also served as the leading lady in a few films. Brother Ned Kincaid is supposed to be her beau. However, it becomes evident that Jane is gradually switching her primary allegiance to the mysterious Jim, and, in the final scene, this becomes official. Good luck, Jane. You're going to need it, hitched to this enigmatic wandering loner.

There's lots more to this story, but I'll let you discover it for yourself. You can see it, for free, at YouTube. Incidentally, although this film is supposed to be partly about the founding of Tulsa, actually, Tulsa was already a Creek Village, called Tulasi. Oklahoma City would have been a much more historically relevant foundation.

1939 was an important year for Hollywood for various reasons. However, It's seldom remembered that this was the breakthrough year for 'adult', full-featured westerns. It was the year of "Stagecoach", De Mille's "Union Pacific", "Destry Rides Again", "Jesse James", and "Dodge City", with Errol Flynn. The latter 2 films were filmed in 3 strip Technicolor. Perhaps "The Oklahoma Kid" should be added to that list of recognized 1939 classic westerns?