The Oklahoma Kid (1939) watch online HD

'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…

I may be in the minority here - at least with a couple of my classic-movie-buff friends, but I really liked this western. I thought it was one of the most interesting and entertaining classic westerns I've ever seen. Of course, having Jimmy Cagney in the lead didn't hurt. He's usually very entertaining and this is no exception. He plays his normal cocky self, but instead of gangster or something else modern-day, he was cowboy. To those too rigid fuddie-duddies who can't see their favorite actors trying different genres - too bad. Cagney as a cowboy?? Why not? He' still the same, great actor and entertainer. Same goes for Bogey.

Humphrey Bogart, as he so often was before he became a mega-star with Casablanca, played the bad guy. He looked like he had a bad toupee, too. I hope that wasn't his real hair!

This was fun to watch right from the get-go and also featured some excellent black-and-white cinematography (where is the DVD on this?), which made it all the better. At 82 minutes, this is a quick night of entertainment, but I liked that short running time.

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 a curio, more fun to think about than actually see. It is a western with James Cagney as a cowboy and Humphrey Bogart his black-clad nemesis. There is some humor in it, but it was made too early to be consciously campy; and as it was produced by Warner Brothers it has a fast, urban pace, but alas lacks the sophistication its dynamic star duo need to elevate it to clasic status, or even make it a good movie. It is not, by the way, a comedy, and is played straight much of the time. Neither star is at home on the range, and Cagney looks silly in a cowboy hat. On the other hand James Wong Howe's photography has some stunning compositions, and has about it, in its contrasting use of black and gray, a twilight quality that is very appealing but, like so much in this movie, not too appropriate for a western.

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.

One of my favorite movie lines of all time is from The Oklahoma Kid where James Cagney expounds on his philosophy of life to Donald Crisp in a saloon as the land rush is starting.

The rest of the film is your usual fast paced Cagney film, just set out west instead of the big city. It was the first western for both Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. Cagney did a fine western in the Fifties Run for Cover and replaced Spencer Tracy in another one, Tribute to a Bad Man.

Bogey did one other western, Virginia City, and next to that Whip McCord of the panhandle is an Oscar winning part. I'm not denigrating his work on Oklahoma Kid, but Bogart used to cringe whenever Virginia City was mentioned and that chintzy Mexican accent he was forced to adopt for that film.

In Oklahoma Kid, he's the leader of a group of outlaws who've jumped the starting gun and put up a claim at the spot Hugh Sothern and son Harvey Stephens want to start a town. Rather than go to court which would tie them up for years, they agree to Bogart's terms to give him control of the vice industries of the town that would become Tulsa.

Bogart's actions are those of a what was called a Sooner, one who jumped the starting gun and cheated in the land rush. The term is what gave Oklahoma its state nickname of The Sooner state. Although I've never understood why the state nickname glorifies illegal activity.

So good and honest Hugh and Harvey just take it on the chin until the corruption gets way out of hand.

But Hugh has another son, a lone wolf sort of character that's taken the outlaw path. That be James Cagney who settles things in his own way, the way Cagney usually does in films.

The western after a period of doldrums in the early thirties when it was mostly B picture fare was making a comeback as a feature attraction. All the studios were starting to make them.

Warners had two big ones in 1939, this one and Dodge City. Errol Flynn in the latter scored better with the public than Cagney did, so Flynn got to do more westerns. Cagney and Bogey went back to the city streets except for Bogey's ill conceived visit to Virginia City.

But Oklahoma Kid is not a bad film and fans of the two stars will not be disappointed.

Oklahoma Kid, The (1939)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

When Warner decided to throw James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart into a Western it got headlines in 1939 and it continues to do so today among film buffs. The idea of Cagney and Bogart in a Western will always draw new people to this film but it's a shame the headlines have gotten in the way of the fact that this is an extremely good movie. The film takes place as Oklahoma is giving away free land where a father (Hugh Sothern) and son (Harvey Stephens) plans on building a city that can do good. Unfortunately for them a bad guy (Bogart) ends up getting is hands on the territory and soon the new city is full of gambling and murder. When the father is falsely accused of murder and a mob kills him, his secret son known as The Oklahoma Kid (Cagney) shows up to seek vengeance against the bad guys. The Western genre was full of revenge films even by 1939 but this one here comes off incredibly fresh for many reasons but the main one is that the movie is rather dark and doesn't pull any punches. I really think this is one of the most underrated and overlooked films from Hollywood's Golden Era and again I think the main reason is because of the two legends in a genre they aren't known for. Yes, it does take a couple minutes to get use to seeing them but after that they sink into their roles so perfectly that you'll forget who you're watching and really get sucked up in the story. I think the second half of the film works extremely well because of how dark it is and because the high drama is on full impact due to some strong direction by Bacon. The mob/hanging scene is perfectly done and there's an even better sequence with Cagney stalking one of the killers through the desert. All of this leads up to a very satisfying ending that packs a nice little punch. You'd never know Cagney wasn't a Western star by seeing him here because he's so terrific in the part. Yes, he doesn't go all out with a country voice but that doesn't matter because I enjoyed how low key he played the part instead of his normal fast-talking. I thought he was very menacing here by not saying too many words and I thought you could believe his character at every step through the picture. Bogart is also very good and extremely cold in his role. Apparently he and Cagney didn't get along too well here due to a comment Bogart made but that bitterness certainly carries over to the film and helps. Rosemary Lane is good as the love interest and Donald Crisp gets a lot of good scenes as the honest Judge. All in all, this is a very impressive little gem that continues to get new viewers but I think it's should be better known as a good film instead of just a film with two stars you wouldn't expect.

I don't agree with a previous poster that Bogart and Cagney looked too urban to be in a western. Not all westerners spoke with a drawl. Many came to the west to escape ore reinvent themselves. You might easily run into a New Yorker or an Englishman in a western barroom. Theodore Roosevelt went west following the simultaneous deaths of his wife and mother. The writer Robert Louis Stevenson also went west.

I'd would have played up Cagney's New Yorkisms by having him wear a derby rather than that over-sized hat he wore. Let him be from New York. Not all westerners wore what was thought as typical western garb. Bat Masterson was quite the dandy.

Poor Bogart. In the 1930's he was desperately trying out a wide range of parts and acting styles. He was good as the villain, but wasn't yet the Bogie that became iconic. I've never seen the movie, but I understand he played a vampire in one movie. Wow! Poor Bogart.

That said, 'Oklahoma Kid' an entertaining movie. I love Cagney's anarchist-populist rhetoric. How often did you hear that in a western? It's a wonder he didn't organize a labor union!

For a weeknight viewing this was a very entertaining film. Bogart & Cagney were well cast. It was a good story, interesting dialogue and a great cast. Engaging actions scenes and exciting fisticuffs! Highly recommend viewing. James Cagney... what couldn't he do?! He was such a versatile talent. He does show off his agility and song talents in The Oklahoma Kid, and the singing was endearing. If you love Cagney you will like this movie. Bogey was his usual dyspeptic self. Played the bad guy well, of course. And Ward Bond...who doesn't love Ward Bond?! Not a lot of dialogue from him but he played a man of few words. This is a great entertainment for a rainy day or a weeknight. You can't go wrong with this cast.

Bet you didn't think two urban gangsters could put over a cowboy picture, did you? Not only that, make it so believable that it was entertaining - very much so, in fact. Well, surprise, surprise.This was a good picture with a very good storyline. Well done in all departments.Cagney plays the good-bad guy and Bogart, in a pre-Sam Spade role, plays the bad-bad guy.One of the interchangeable Lane sisters (in this case Rosemary)is the love interest.

Long story short; somebody done somebody wrong, with fistfights and gunplay and double-crosses and all the elements that make westerns so greatly entertaining. If you haven't seen it and like good westerns, do it.There is more than enough to like here. This movie was shown on 'old reliable'TCM just the other night. I don't think it's available in any format so you'll have to wait until they show it again and tape it.

No sequel, though. One oater with two crooked mobsters is enough. And they should have issued Cagney a different hat.

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.

After all of his movies in the asphalt jungle, Cagney came west. He acquits himself well too. He did own a ranch and was a pretty good rider. Throughout the movie his trademark mannerisms show. When you consider how you would imagine an "Oklahoma Kid" to be and act, then Cagney was perfect for the role. Always in control with a touch of humor but tough when he had to be. He was in many westerns later in his career but this was his first western.

Bogart handled himself as you would expect a tough guy to act in the west. Bogart is Bogart and he plays his role well. Two tough guys, one bad and one bad with some good points. In the end they have to settle. The ending is not what you expect.

There are so many goofy things about this movie that I can't possibly name but a few:

BOGART's character: 1. His name – Whip McCord (too easy, so I'll leave it at that. Boy, it makes `Humphrey' sound good.) 2. His long, curly hair and silly sideburns. 3. His Black Bart get-up, complete with spurs! 4. Not sure what shade of lipgloss they've got him wearing, but it ain't none too flattering.

CAGNEY's character (Jim Kincaid ): 1. His lipstick doesn't do him any favors, either. 2. The man is being swallowed by his hat during the entire film! Could they not find a hat to fit him? Even a LITTLE?!!?! 3. His pants are too tight in the rear. 4. He blows the smoke off his gun one too many times, if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

If you are a casual Bogart or Cagney fan, and figure it might be a change of pace to see them in a western, do yourself a favor and forget that thought. EVEN THE HORSES LOOK EMBARRASSED! (That is, when they don't look bored.)

In all fairness, I admit that westerns are my least favorite film genre, but I've still seen much, MUCH better than this.

On a comedy level, or as high camp, The Oklahoma Kid works. Otherwise, it's viewer beware. Therefore, see this only if a) you must see every western out there b) you are a TRUE Cagney or Bogie completist c) any of the above comments appeal to you. Woah…..

Remember in GOODFELLAS when Joe Pesci goes crazy with a gun (at his servant's expense) saying 'What's the film with Bogart as a cowboy?" The replie is "Shane?" He retorts "Shane?! No, Oklahoma Kid!" He was refering to this odd misfit, but enjoyable western.

James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart look as well suited in the old west as Gabby Hayes and Lash LaRue would look in a Manhattan speakeasy, but these two pros have fun with the film anyway. Their bar-room brawl with each other is a hum-dinger, and you have to get a load of Cagney singing a Spanish lullaby to a baby.

How did this one get past the Hays Office? James Cagney doesn't just break the law: he *denounces* the law, and work, and empire-building, and Indian-killing, and basically preaches anarchism. And not only does the screenplay support him, but he ends up getting the girl. This is hardly a great movie -- it's sometimes quite clumsy, and I'm not much of a Cagney fan anyway -- but it's fun, and it's definitely a curio.

I really disagree with the fellow posters on this movie. I give it 10/10 stars. I am a huge Cagney fan and he is awesome in this movie. I know as well as anyone, that he is at his best in gangster movies, but despite doing only four westerns, he is not bad in them either. It is about Jim Kincaid ( Cagney) (aka'The Oklahoma Kid') who is the bad seed son of Judge Kincaid who lives by his own rules, and goes up against even nastier Whip McCord ( Humphrey Bogart). There is even a conflict between Jim and his older brother Ned ( Not only over Jim's behavior but over Ned's fiancee Jane Hardwick ( Rosemary Lane)). Spoilers ahead: Jim pays a heavy price for his actions. First his father gets lynched by a mob that was egged on by McCord's henchmen, then after losing a fight to McCord, he is saved from death from a dying Ned ( who was shot earlier by McCord). Jim does end up married to Jane, in a cute way which is being pushed into it by her father ( also a judge ( played by Donald Crisp)). This movie should be a must for Cagney and ( or) Bogart fans.

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.

I was never sure about either James Cagney or Humphrey Bogart being in westerns but "The Oklahoma Kid" is not too bad. It has a brief running time, a fair measure of action and incident, the music is perfectly tolerable and at least Cagney and Bogart have a proper one on one confrontation at the end. I bought this film on video in the early 1990s and I enjoyed it then. Cagney is a "Robin Hood" type of hero who hides his true identity behind the name "The Oklahoma Kid." Bogart is a killer and dishonest businessman who wants to turn the local town into a place of sin, corruption and degradation. Cagney stated in his memoirs that he added little bits of dialogue in order to relive his boredom! What he included certainly does the film no harm.

Its a Western with all the right stuff going on. Horses, saloons, whiskey, shooting, love interest, good guys, bad guys and all the wild you can stand ala shoot em ups and lynchings. Add Bogart and Cagney and what is not to like or least want to go see? Formula sure thing Western and later on to become a must see when these two stars made it famous. Meanwhile, just enjoy the shots and lore of the early West before law and order and when people were just trying to figure things out as they went sometimes at the cost of their lives. I like seeing how towns were formed, curbs, sidewalks and how the building codes were non-existent. One fire could wipe out the whole town as the buildings are so close to one another. One significant scene is the Oklahoma land rush referred to as sooners where the first to reach a parcel fair and square claimed it for their own. Who wouldn't want a nice flat piece of land next to year round water, mountains, trees etc. The rush was on and for better or worse, the West was born. Violence would continue for decades until it was tamed. Good snack movie with a tasty drink here. Mount-up and lets ride

It is the late-1800s and the US government is buying land from Indians in an area known as the Cherokee Strip, in the Oklahoma Territory. Gold intended for the Indians is hijacked by the gang of Whip McCord (played by Humphrey Bogart). The gang is in turn ambushed and robbed by Jim "The Oklahoma Kid" Kincaid (James Cagney). This leads to a deadly feud between McCord and Kincaid.

A good old-fashioned good guys vs bad guys western. Plot is fairly basic, but works. Similarly the acting is a bit over-the-top, but works. It is basically the swagger of James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart that propels the movie, and makes it work. Makes it quite amusing at times, too...

On a side note, this might actually be the first movie to include both Cagney and Bogart, so the movie is of historical significance too.

Let me say at first that I am a great fan of Jimmy Cagney and have really liked most of his movies, particularly "White Heat", "Yankee Doodle Dandy" as well as most of those crime movies he made over the years for Warner Brothers. However seeing The Oklahoma Kid again after several years, he somehow does not fit the role of a cowboy. The story is quite okay, and the cast is impressive with people like Donald Crisp and Ward Bond, while Humphrey Bogart was a scream as the baddie, and Rosemary Lane just had to look pretty - which she did. You could see the very many instances of stand-ins doing the stunts and riding. The highlights for me were Jimmy dancing and even singing in-between his killing half the people of Tombstone. It was fairly short which helped a lot!

While I am a die-hard Humphrey Bogart fan, I will be the first to admit that he could NOT play every role. After all, who can? Well, some studio dunderhead apparently though that he'd be perfect to play in a Western as some sort of heavy--complete with cheesy mustache and silly accent! Now it's nice to see an actor try to broaden his appeal, but this is ridiculous! And the sight of him looking kind of like Snidely Whiplash and a cowboy combined is amazing! Because of his poor performance (and who can blame him?), this movie sinks to mediocrity despite decent writing and direction. In fact, unless you are a fan or want a good laugh, it is a very forgettable movie that is eminently skip-able.

Diverting western would be completely unmemorable except for the fact that it stars James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. Cagney is the hero wanting revenge for the hanging of his father by Bogey. The film features a solid supporting cast that includes Donald Crisp and Ward Bond, which helps as well, but this film really could have been any number of routine Tim Holt westerns, except for maybe one song and dance number performed by Cagney.

I was surprised at how well Cagney and Bogart got into their roles, Cagney was his usual fiesty self. The only difference was he was on horseback, which actually added to his perfomance. I also enjoyed Bogart as the villainous Whip McCord, not exactly his cup of tea but none the less he looked pretty good in a Cowboy hat.

Best Scene: The brawl finale between Cagney and Bogart

Right up until the end the bad guys have the upper-hand - always - which kind of put into question the competence of the good guys. A couple of innocent-man-accused-of-a-crime plots are irritating. Some unnecessary dialogue in which various dull legal issues get debated. This is just a mediocre dumb old western, so what's this nonsense about trying to keep things "realistic"? Cagney's atypical presence in a western is one of the few - if not the only - entertaining thing about the movie. Somewhere around the middle there is a ridiculously-timed marriage proposal; sort of like "Where is the Kid hiding??!! Where is he?!... Oh, and by the way, will you marry me?"