The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Will Rogers Jr. is Tom Brewster, a cowhand who rides into the town of Bluerock to mail off his application for a law degree.

While there, he enters a horse race. By the time it’s over, he’s infatuated with a pretty tomboy (Nancy Olson as Katie Brannigan) and he’s proven three things: He can ride. He can rope. But he can’t shoot worth a damn.

From where Mayor Barney Turlock sits, that’s makes him perfectly qualified to be the town’s new sheriff. When the stage is robbed and the mail swiped, Brewster finds himself stuck in town, so he accepts the job.

But he’s not quite the country bumpkin Turlock expected. He manages to keep the peace without gunplay.

And he starts snooping into the mysterious death of Katie’s dad, the former sheriff.

He suspects Turlock — or at least some of his men were involved. Turlock tries to blackmail him into silence.

Katie’s dad lost badly at gambling and turned a blind eye to Turlock’s less than legal sidelines. Turlock has a letter that would prove that and ruin Katie’s memory of her father.

The ploy nearly works, until a 72-year-old justice of the peace who says he’s managed to live that long by keeping quiet decides it’s time to take a side and help Tom and Katie clean up Bluerock.

Will Rogers Jr. as Tom Brewster, a man who stops in Bluerock to mail his application for a law degree and winds up becoming sheriff in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Nancy Olson as Katie Brannigan, the girl who’s slow to accept Tom Brewster as the new sheriff who’s replacing her late father in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Review:

A Western in the “Destry” mold, entertaining, though predictable. Some of the scenes featuring Olson and Rogers are priceless.

Another highlight comes when Turlock invites one of his relatives to town and encourages him to prod Tom into a gunfight. That relative turns out to be Billy the Kid.

Tom suddenly becomes quite brave when he thinks Billy is out of bullets. Turns out, he isn’t.

Rogers, a former Congressman, appeared in one other Western, “Wild Heritage” (1958), where he got top billing but wasn’t really one of the stars. Olson’s only other Western was her film debut, “Canadian Pacific” (1949) starring Randolph Scott.

You’ll spot lots of familiar faces in this one, including Slim Pickens as one of Turlock’s men, Lon Chaney Jr. as a drunk driven to drink by his wife and Wallace Ford as the postmaster who’s also under Turlock’s thumb.

Anthony Caruso as Mayor Turlock, the man who handpicks stranger Tom Brewster as Bluerock’s new sheriff and soon learns he’s made a mistake in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Clem Bevans as Pop Pruty, standing up to Mayor Turlock after years of being careful about doing so in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Directed by:
Michael Curtiz

Cast:
Will Rogers Jr. … Tom Brewster
Nancy Olson … Katie Brannigan
Anthony Caruso … Mayor Turlock
Lon Chaney Jr. … Crazy Charlie
Wallace Ford … Postmaster Higgins
Clem Bevans … Pop Pruty
Tyler MacDuff … Billy the Kid
Sheb Wooley … Pete Martin
Merv Griffin … Steve
Louis Jean Heydt … Paul Evans
Slim Pickens … Shorty
James Griffith … Joe Downey

Runtime: 87 min.

Wallace Ford as Postmaster Higgins, receiving a letter from a dead man to mail, courtesy of Pop Pruty (Clem Blevans) in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Sheb Wooley as Pete Martin, lead henchman for Mayor Turlock in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Memorable lines:

Katie Brannigan: “How come you never learned to handle a gun?”
Tom Brewster: “Well, I guess it was the way I was raised. Pa said if you carry a gun, someone’s liable to get shot. And it might be you. That made good sense to me.”

Tom Brewster to Katie, who watches in amazement after he manages to make his first arrest without gunplay: “Better close your mouth. The flies are bad today.”

Mayor Turlock: “Wally tells me you pulled a gun on him.”
Pop Pruty: “Yeah, first time I had it out in years. Had to blow the cobwebs off.”

Will Rogers Jr. as Sheriff Tom Brewster, looking for advice from old-timer Pop Pruty (Clem Bevans) in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Tyler MacDuff as Billy the Kid, inviting Tom Brewster to a showdown of fast guns in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Louis Jean Heydt (second from left) as Paul Evans, Mayor Turlock’s political opponent in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Lon Chaney Jr. as Crazy Charlie, talking about the best way to avoid being around his bothersome wife with Sheriff Brewster in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Merv Griffin as Steve, a Turlock employee about to give the signal to start an election day horse race in Bluerock in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Johnny, the youngster who takes a liking to Tom Brewster and learns rope tricks from him in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Anthony Caruso as Mayor Turlock, the man who rules Bluerock, with the help of fast gun Pete Martin (Sheb Wooley, right) in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)

Will Rogers Jr. as Sheriff Tom Brewster and Nancy Olson as Katie Brannigan, discussing the investigation into her dad’s death in The Boy from Oklahoma (1954)