Cimarron

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Rey R Apr 20, 2019 A 2+ hour film completely overshadowed by its first 8 minutes, Cimarron covers a 40-year period, and is certainly epic in that regard, but in all others, it falls noticeably short. The acting is nothing special, the dialogue is excessive and dull, the pacing is slow and the video quality, unsurprisingly for the time, can be generously described as primitive. All Quiet On The Western Front, which won the Best Picture award the year before, vastly surpasses it in ever way. Cimarron has dated far worse than many other films of its time, in terms of both technical quality and entertainment value. It's the kind of film you'd watch because it was an early Academy Award winner and holds some historical value, but you would certainly never watch it again. The lead disappears for large stretches of the narrative and somehow manages to perfectly slot himself back into the action with few questions from the rest of the characters. It feels epic in timescale but not in story, and the performances are unnecessarily melodramatic. A lot of its faults can be blamed on the period in which it came out, and the fact that cinema was still largely in its infancy back then, but this along with its scattershot story and bland dialogue make it hard enough to watch once, let alone multiple times. See more

Luke S Feb 23, 2019 This is an okay film, there's just nothing overly unique about it. Doesn't hold up when compared to other westerns or best picture winners. Unless you're a big western or Irene Dunne fan, you should probably spend your time watching something else. See more

Jan 27, 2019 The best movie ever made! With the best movie character ever portrayed: Richard Dix as Yancey Cravat!

George R Aug 13, 2018 Continuing my goal of watching every single winner of Best Picture in the Oscars, I watched Cimarron. Watching that opening sequence, knowing what filmmaking was like back in the early 1930s, left me in awe. Knowing that the filmmakers had to work with all those animals, extras and scenery made me appreciate that this film could win such a prestigious award. Once the story and the "plot" started moving forward however, I found myself questioning how bad the other movies up for best picture truly were. This film is held together barely by the amazing portrayal of Sabra Cravat by Irene Dunne. I also found myself many times asking, "Who is this guy?", referring to Sabra's adventure loving every-man husband Yancey. He seems to be the most popular man on the planet, everybody knows who he is. He even has a theme song that is sung a couple of times during the film. Yet he seems like nothing more then an olden days lawyer and newspaper editor. He also is a superb marksman, shooting with impunity and amazing accuracy during several tense moments with outlaws. This film seriously lacked focus and motivation. It went from telling a story from Yancey's point of view to finishing the story from Sabra's view. Also, the racist leanings towards the Native Americans is of the time but the various characters seem to flip back and forth on whether they support the people or if they revere them. For all the completionists out there, this movie is a 2 hour romp that will leave you scratching your head trying to figure out what's happening and where the characters see themselves in their own minds. The opening sequence and Irene Dunne's work are definitely bonuses within this movie. See more

Ron W Aug 25, 2017 A bit drawn out, but still entertaining.

Harry G Aug 17, 2017 This film is long and boring while also bringing to attention some issues that make you think. The obvious attention of the film is on wanderlust and how it helps to build nations while also destroying homes. There was also a good attempt at trying to address the psychological complexity of killing a good friend in order to save your family. However, the short stories in between are what fascinated me. The courtroom trial where a "loose woman" was put on trial showcases the still prevalent shaming of women by other women. The scenes with the black servant Isaiah, the Native Americans, and Saul the Jew showed the absolute hypocrisy of the time regarding race relations. Natives are only treated with decency when it makes the man who does it look good, but when that same man wants to take the land of the Natives, it's free game. You could never have a more loyal servant than Isaiah, who shows that even in loyalty and honorable works, the white man of the time cared about whether you lived or died about as much as they would if the household dog got ran over in the street, in fact probably less so. The antisemitism in the film is generally handled with disdain, which is good, but the Jew in question has to be saved and protected by a strong saintly Christian or all the other Christians would have crucified him because of his portrayed weakness. The sets are definitely breathtaking in scope; I'm not sure I've ever seen such large and diverse sets in an older film. There is a lot of sexist pandering by Yancy to his wife, which though spoiled and racist as a product of her upbringing, it does seem like she is less of an adult because she is a woman and less because of her maturity and world views. Not a film I'd recommend, but interesting nonetheless. See more

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Cimarron

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