The True Story of Jesse James / Oklahoma Crude

By default, most films revolve around a three-act structure, which, optimistically, leads the audience through the story with an engaging beginning, middle and end. However the art of balancing each act with an equal amount of wit, drama, thrills or suspense is an achievement that rarely makes it onscreen. More often a film is slow out of the gate, sags around the middle, fails to stick the landing, or some combination of the three. So why disparage an entire film for one poor act? Rather, let's celebrate those who manage to pull themselves out of mediocrity for one exciting climax!

The True Story of Jesse James (1957) uses flashbacks to give us a supposedly fair and balanced profile of the legendary outlaw whose career as a bank robber was instigated as much by the sins of the Civil War as for financial gain. With Robert Wagner in the lead role, Nicholas Ray's film leans towards lionizing James as a misunderstood romantic, almost selfless in his plan to rebuild the lives of friends and family under the thumb of Missouri's Northern aggression. It's all so noble and overwrought (as Jesse's long-suffering mother, co-star Agnes Moorehead really lays it on thick), the film almost forgets that Jesse's fall from grace is far more interesting.

Twilight Time's 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray comes with a solid Cinemascope transfer (the faded colors seem like an intentional "look" on Ray's part), isolated score track, trailer, newsreel and liner notes.

Circling back to the opening scene, Ray's film finally pays off as the James Gang falls into a deadly shoot out during a job well outside their normal stomping grounds. Ironically, Wagner brings his best to the role when Jesse goes dark; those matinee idol looks nearly unrecognizable behind a false mustache and convincing sneer. It's not that the first 60 minutes of The True Story of Jesse James is a wasted effort; the script's attempt to lift the curtain on the "hows" and "whys" of a dimestore hero's life is certainly admirable. But in the end, to paraphrase Mr. Ford, we always seem more interested in the legend anyway.

Oklahoma Crude (1973) is a mixed bag throughout, part lighthearted comedy, part mud-soaked period piece with an off-putting score by Henry Mancini that's equally schizophrenic. Faye Dunaway stars as a mad-at-the-world misanthrope who just so happens to be sitting atop a potential fortune in oil. Convinced by her estranged father to take on an experienced hired hand (George C. Scott), they face more trouble than just a broken down derrick. Under siege by a ruthless company troubleshooter (Jack Palance), the trio joins forces to strike it rich...before they wind up six feet under.

Director Stanley Kramer had successfully combined breezy comedy with the Nazi occupation of Italy just a few years prior (Twilight Time's highly underrated The Secret of Santa Vittoria), so it's not as if he was faced with an impossible task. But the humor here seems so forced, particularly the early meet-cute moments between Scott and Dunaway, that the blame likely lays less on the script than last-minute pandering; goofy period-pieces were all the rage in the '70s). Luckily, the cast keeps both hands on the wheel (Palance rises above it all in a joyously sadistic performance) until things turn around in the last act. Staging a full on tactical assault, one nail biter of an action scene high atop the rig, and wrapping up several character arcs at the same time, Oklahoma Crude manages to make all those WTF moments from the first two acts seem like they were from another movie. Now that's how you stick a landing!

Twilight Time's 3000-copy limited edition Blu-ray looks terrific and includes an isolated music track, liner notes and audio commentary with film historians Lee Pfeiffer and Paul Scrabo.