The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Randolph Scott is Bill Doolin, who misses the Dalton gang’s Coffeyville disaster because of a lame horse, but not its aftermath.

Wichita Smith is the gang member who tipped the law off to the Daltons’ plan. Doolin winds up killing him in self-defense.

But he’s charged with murder and forced to live life on the run. So he forms his own gang and begins a highly successful string of holdups.

It’s during a self-imposed hiatus that he ducks into a church service to dodge a posse and winds up meeting deacon’s daughter Elaine Burton (Virginia Huston).

Doolin, using the name Daley, decides settling down on a farm might be a fine life after all, thanks to the financial cushion his outlaw days have provided.

He even marries pretty Elaine and has no plans of returning to thievery.

At least not until Elaine gets a visit from men who say they’re marshals. She takes one look at the wanted poster for Bill Doolin and realizes her husband isn’t who he’s pretending to be.

So Doolin finds himself back in charge of his gang and on the outlaw trail again. Only now, he’s taking more chances. Almost as though he wants to be caught, one gang member suggests.

Randolph Scott as Bill Doolin, dodging the law again in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Noah Beery Jr. as Little Bill and Charles Kemper as ‘Arkansas’ Jones, marveling over Doolin’s attempt to go straight in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Review:

A fine-looking but routine Scott Western that’s most entertaining when the action stops and Doolin’s tempted to go straight by Elaine.

Other gang members have romantic entanglements too — John Ireland’s Bitter Creek with Rose of Cimarron, Noah Beery Jr.’s Little Bill with feisty young Cattle Annie and Charles Kemper’s “Arkansas Jones” with hotel/saloon matron Melissa Price.

But unlike Scott’s Doolin, none of them have an inclination to go straight.

George Macready is Marshal Sam Hughes, relentless in his pursuit of the Doolin gang. His narration of a tale that wouldn’t be difficult to follow without narration is rather annoying.

Kemper provides most of the chuckles. The film features an early credited role for future Western star Jock Mahoney.

George Macready (center) as Marshal Sam Hughes, pretending to be a census taker to get information out of Elaine in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Virginia Huston as Elaine Burton, dreaming of someday having a farm of her own in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Directed by:
Gordon Douglas

Cast:
Randolph Scott … Bill Doolin / Daley
George Macready … Marshal Sam Hughes
Louise Allbritton … Rose of Cimarron
John Ireland … Bitter Creek
Virginia Huston … Elaine Burton
Charles Kemper … Thomas ‘Arkansas’ Jones
Noah Beery Jr. … Little Bill
Dona Drake … Cattle Annie
Robert Barrat … Marshal Heck Thomas
Lee Patrick … Melissa Price
Griff Barnett … Deacon Burton
Frank Fenton … Red Buck
Jock Mahoney … Tulsa Jack Blake

Runtime: 90 min.

aka:
The Great Manhunt

John Ireland as Bitter Creek, wounded and overhearing talk of being abandoned by the gang in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Jock Mahoney as Tulsa Jack Blake, his attention diverted from the young lady he’s entertaining in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Memorable lines:

Bill Doolin: “See you still have the habit of sleeping outside.”
Thomas “Arkansas” Jones: “Live longer that way. See, when the shooting starts, I don’t have to start to open no door.”

Deacon Burton: “Too bad you came in late. You missed a fine sermon.”
Bill Doolin, having just dodged a posse and used the church service as a hideout: “I rode as fast as I could.”

Johnson, selling his farm to Bill Doolin: “I’m ashamed to take the money. It’s almost like a holdup.”
Bill Doolin: “No it isn’t, Mr. Johnson. Take my word for it.”

Thomas “Arkansas” Jones, lovingly tapping a sign in the Clayville Trust and Saving Bank, boasting of “assets over $40,000”: “Stay right there, honey. I’ll be right back and get ya.”

Thomas “Arkansas Jones, in amazement: “Bill Doolin’? Married to a woman.”
Little Bill: “Yeah. They make the best wives.”

Little Bill: “You’re goin’ sour, Bill. You’re going sour as vinegar. And you’re makin’ the rest of us that way too.”

Randolph Scott as Bill Doolin, slipping into church to dodge the law and arousing the suspicion of a young church goer in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

John Ireland as Bitter Creek, Dona Drake as Cattle Annie and Louise Allbritton as Rose of Cimarron, enjoying the fruits of thievery in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Lee Patrick as Melissa Price, annoyed at the way her hotel room is being shot up by a posse in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)

Randolph Scott as Bill Doolin, meeting Elaine Burton (Virginia Huston) and Deacon Burton (Griff Barnett), her father, after a church service in The Doolins of Oklahoma (1949)