Cimarron (1960)

Anthony Mann: Cimarron (US 1960) with Glenn Ford (Yancey "Cimarron" Cravat) and Maria Schell (Sabra Cravat). Photo: La Cinémathèque française.

La Ruée vers l'Ouest / Cimarron (Finland).

Anthony Mann

États-Unis / 1960 / 147 min / 35 mm / VOSTF / Copie unique

D'après le roman La Ruée vers l'Ouest (1930) d'Edna Ferber.

Avec Glenn Ford, Maria Schell, Anne Baxter.

Production dates 30 Nov 1959-mid Feb 1960, addl scenes began Apr 1960, Oklahoma City premiere 1 Dec 1960

Helsinki premiere: 21 April 1961 - Boston - released by Oy MGM-Fox Ab.

Rétrospective Anthony Mann

E-sous-titres français: Scena Media.

Viewed at La Cinémathèque française, Salle Georges Franju, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6, le 13 avril 2024

La Cinémathèque française : " Pendant l'effroyable ruée vers les terres vierges de l'Oklahoma, le portrait d'un brave colon incapable de vivre dans un cadre social organisé. Au héros épris d'espace et d'aventures, Mann oppose les bâtisseurs, les profiteurs, mais aussi les femmes, tous prêts à composer avec les réalités du capitalisme. "

IMDb: " The Oklahoma Land Run of April 1889 sets the stage for an epic saga of a frontier adventurer, his wife and family and their friends. "

Cimarrón is Spanish and means "feral": a domesticated one turned wild. It appears as a name of a place in Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. There is also a USS Cimarron Navy ship and Cadillac Cimarron. - The title of Edna Ferber's novel refers to the Cimarron Territory, also known as No Man's Land, area once inhabited by Native American tribes. - Cimarron is the nickname of the male protagonist Yancey Cravat (Glenn Ford). Yancey and Sabra Cravat (Maria Schell) also name their son Cimarron (nickname Cim).

AA: In his last Western Anthony Mann is at the top of his game. Cimarron is full of grace and grandeur. In this most epic Western production of his Mann is not crushed under its weight but inspired by the challenge to reach new heights. Based on a novel by Edna Ferber, the multi-character saga covers several destinies over a span of 25 years, from the Oklahoma Land Run of 1889 until the First World War.

I was frankly stunned by how great Cimarron was. Famously, Mann left in mid-production because of creative differences with the producer Edmund Grainger. The direction was then taken over by Charles Walters. Mann wanted to shoot entirely on location, but Grainger insisted on the photography mostly staged in the studio. Mann refused to see the finished film which he believed was mutilated beyond recognition.

It was also well-known that Edna Ferber denounced Mann's film adaptation, much preferring the first one, Cimarron (US 1931), produced by RKO, directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne and winning the Academy Award for Best Picture. Critics favoured the earlier version, too. By then, it had become hard to see. When it became available again, it lost its legendary status. Critics panned the 1960 Cimarron with a mean-spirited abandon that was out of proportion. The film would merit a frank and sober reappraisal.

I would love to see the 1931 Cimarron, famous for its epic land rush sequence, compared in grandeur with Intolerance. But I have seen William S. Hart's epic interpretation in Tumbleweeds (US 1925). Hart and Mann treated the same "end of the West" event in their final Westerns. André Bazin, Mann's greatest champion, found in him a successor to "the secret of Triangle" or Thomas H. Ince. Hart, of course, was a major Triangle player, groomed by Ince. Incidentally, even Intolerance was a Triangle release. (More recently, the Oklahoma land rush has been staged by Ron Howard in Far and Away [US 1992] starring Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman. In 3 Bad Men [US 1926)], John Ford covered, not the Oklahoma but the Dakota land rush, in a similar epic approach, in his last Western before 1939).

Cimarron (1960) became the last adaptation in Edna Ferber's formidable filmography which included So Big (three times), Show Boat (twice), The Royal Family of Broadway, Dinner at Eight, Come and Get It, Stage Door, Saratoga Trunk and Giant.

Seen today, the immediate revelation of Cimarron (1960) is the connection with Martin Scorsese's magnificent Killers of the Flower Moon (US 2023) which covers much of the same ground.

While Cimarron (1960) is a novelistic multi-character saga, it has a single solid power core: the complex personality of the protagonist. Yancey Cravat is revealed by his actions and the reflections of people who know him, including his mentor, the newspaper editor Sam Pegler (Robert Keith) and his ex Dixie Lee (Anne Baxter) who later establishes a "social club". Dixie is a woman with a past, and Yancey is a man with a past, with aspects he has left behind. Yancey is known as an adventurer, a ladies' man, a lawman, a cowboy, a gunfighter, and a man of the Wild West including a way with "frontier justice". Everybody knows him, and he seems to know everybody. 

Before their journey from Kansas City to Oklahoma, Sabra knows hardly anything about her husband, and during the journey she may find that she learns too much. But one thing they have in common: a spirit of frontier generosity. They invite the family of Tom Wyatt (Arthur O'Connell) and Sarah Wyatt (Mercedes McCambridge) with their seven children into their covered wagons. 

During the journey, Sabra is naked taking a bath in a pond when she becomes verbally harassed by three young hoodlums, William Hardy "The Cherokee Kid" (aka "The Kid") (Russ Tamblyn), Wes Jennings (Vic Morrow) and Hoss Barry (George Brenlin), but Yancey pacifies the situation. He has been the friend of The Kid's father and tries to mentor him. When The Kid's father lost his land, he lost everything.

At the destination, together with a bigoted roughneck called Bob Yountis (Charles McGraw, familiar from Mann's films noir including T-Men, Reign of Terror, Border Incident and Side Street), The Kid terrorizes Sol Levy (David Opatoshu), a Jewish peddler, but Yancey stops the harassment.

When the elderly Sam Pegler is killed in the land rush, Yancey decides to take over his newspaper, the Oklahoma Wigwam.

To Sabra's further dismay, Yancey defends the Osage family of Ben and Arita Red Feather who are legally qualified to participate in the land run. Later, Yancey arrives too late to prevent the arson and lynching of Ben by a mob led by Bob Yountis. But Yancey kills Bob and the Cravats invite Arita and her daughter Ruby Red Feather to live with them. 

Years go by, and The Kid's gang turn into train and bank robbers. In a shootout, the outlaws take refuge in a schoolhouse with children as hostages. Yancey risks his life in defusing the situation. The Kid and his gang are killed. Yancey is sent a large check in reward, but he tears it to the outrage of Sabra. From Yancey's viewpoint, he has failed to save The Kid, and he wants no blood money.

Follows the most electrifying scene in the Anthony Mann oeuvre. The school term begins, and in great excitement, the little Ruby Red Feather starts her first day. In a minute, she comes out of the school door alone. She has been turned away. Yancey takes the case to the board, but Ruby is unanimously rejected.

Yancey goes away to participate in the Cherokee Strip, the second Oklahoma land run. He stays away five years, venturing into Alaska and fighting as a Rough Rider in Cuba. Sol Levy falls in love with Sabra, but the feeling is unreciprocated. Sabra learns from Dixie that Yancey loves her, not Dixie. When Yancey returns from Cuba, he is prepared a hero's welcome, but he disappears before the train stops and emerges at home unnoticed.

The most arid part of Oklahoma has been appointed as the reservation of the indigenous people, the Osage. Also Tom and Sarah Wyatt have happened on a barren stretch of land. Then oil is found on both lands believed worthless. Tom swindles the Indians and becomes a millionaire. He and his network promote Yancey as governor of the territory, but in Washington, Yancey is let understand that he will be nominated only if he cooperates with the businessmen. When Yancey refuses, Sabra orders him to leave.

When their son Cim marries Ruby Red Feather, Sabra shows them the door, as well. With the help of Sol Levy, now a powerful financier, Sabra develops the Oklahoma Wigwam into a big business. On the 25th anniversary of the newspaper, a sculpture celebrating the pioneer spirit is proposed in her likeness, but she feels like a fraud. The true spirit was Yancey, almost never appreciated. World War I is declared. Yancey is killed in action.

Cimarron is a great movie about America, the American spirit of "e pluribus unum" (out of many, one), the pioneer spirit and the Wild West spirit. It is a grand End of the West film. It is honest about violence and injustice, yet a celebration of courage and justice.

Like James Stewart, Glenn Ford as Yancey is an unusual Western protagonist. He seems at times confused, hesitant and uncomfortable because he is an intellectual who tries to cover all angles, but he always sets a clear main course. He is committed to the big picture. His is a Lincolnian vision of the Union. As a husband, he never hesitates about Sabra, although she is much more conservative. He feels the draw to the wild spirit of Dixie but does not stray.

Edna Ferber was a feminist or pre-feminist, unhappy with Maria Schell as Sabra. I should read the novel or see the 1931 Cimarron with Irene Dunne, accepted by Ferber, to try to understand what that was all about. Sabra is a protagonist with agency, but conservative. She is not a pioneer, not a cimarron, not ahead of her time or swimming against the tide but swimming with the tide. - The childbirth sequence is special. Beyond the curtain, heartfelt laughter is heard instead of agonized screams. Sarah Wyatt, the mother of seven, is guiding Sabra through the process with generous helpings from a whisky bottle.

Anthony Mann's early wartime female protagonists had agency, they took chances. In James Stewart's June Allyson films the female became the long-suffering homemaker. In Cimarron, Sabra is at first a cautious conservative home-maker who, finally alone, turns into a risk-taking entrepreneur.

A rousing epic score by Franz Waxman who had also composed The Furies for Anthony Mann. Gorgeous cinematography in Metrocolor and CinemaScope by Robert L. Surtees, a veteran of epics including Oklahoma! (yes), Ben-Hur and Quo Vadis (US 1951) in which Anthony Mann was a second unit director (n.c.).

" 35 mm / VOSTF / Copie unique " : the print was clean, intact and beautiful, and the colour was perfect. A joy to behold.

...

THE 11 WESTERNS OF ANTHONY MANN

Winchester '73 / Winchester '73 - kohtalon ase (US 1950) Production mid Feb-late March 1950, New York opening 7 June 1950

The Furies / Raivotar (US 1950) Production 9 Nov-23 Dec 1949, added scenes and retakes 7 Jan 1950, Tucson, Arizona premiere 21 July 1950
Devil's Doorway / Paholaisen portti (1950) Production 15 Aug-mid Oct 1949, US release Sep 1950

Bend of the River / Maa vuorten takana (US 1952) Production 26 July-13 Sep 1951, Portland, Oregon premiere 23 Jan 1952

The Naked Spur / Teräskannus (US 1953) Production late May-30 June 1952, Denver premiere 6 Feb 1953

The Far Country / Seikkailijoitten luvattu maa (US 1955) Production 19 Aug-mid Oct 1953, US premiere 12 Feb 1955

The Man from Laramie / Muukalainen Laramiesta (US 1955) Production 29 Sep-26 Nov 1954, US premiere 13 July 1955
The Last Frontier / Viimeinen etuvartio (US 1955) Production began late March 1955, US premiere 7 Dec 1955

The Tin Star / Hopeatähti (US 1957) Filming 22 Oct 1956, US premiere 23 Oct 1957

Man of the West / Mies lännestä (US 1958) Filming 10 Feb 1958, US premiere 17 Sep 1958

Cimarron / Cimarron (US 1960) Production dates 30 Nov 1959-mid Feb 1960, addl scenes began Apr 1960, Oklahoma City premiere 1 Dec 1960