Tulsa 1949

Set in Tulsa, Oklahoma, during the 1920s oil boom, the film paints a portrait of a town transformed by sudden wealth and the temptations it brings. The pursuit of oil wealth tests friendships, families, and the land itself, revealing how ambition can blur the line between progress and exploitation. The story begins with the death of rancher Nelse Lansing, a tragedy tied to a blowout at Tanner Petroleum while he tries to alert others that pollution from the company has ruined cattle.

Seeking justice and perhaps vengeance against the company, Cherokee Lansing inherits drilling rights on her father’s land. Her early aim is to hold Tanner to account, but her path crosses with Brad Brady, a geologist who argues for measured drilling to prevent field depletion and to keep the grasslands intact.

Into this mix comes Jim Redbird, a Native American who has long admired Cherokee. Persuaded by Brady that cooperation between cattlemen and oil men is possible, he joins the venture and accumulates wealth, signaling a cautious alliance between two worlds.

As Cherokee’s power grows, she becomes a partner with the ruthless Bruce Tanner, pulling her further from her originally conservation-minded stance. Jim, disillusioned by a humiliating confrontation with Tanner, renounces his shares and withdraws from the venture.

An explosive act follows: in a moment of anger after a tense meeting with Tanner and their allies, Cherokee’s operation triggers a fire in a derrick. The flames blaze across the derrick trailing pool, underscoring the fragile line between progress and catastrophe.

After the disaster, the film casts a sober light on how money and power can corrode even those who love the land, and it follows the vow shared by the oil drillers and Brady to start over with conservation as their top priority.

The tale is framed by the narration of Chill Wills.

Notably, the movie is remembered for its dramatic, rampaging flames, and it earned an Oscar nomination for those sequences that dramatize the consequences of unchecked drilling.