The Doolins of Oklahoma [The Great Manhunt] *** (1949, Randolph Scott, George Macready, Louise Allbritton, Noah Beery Jr, Charles Kemper, John Ireland, Frank Fenton, Robert H Barrat, Jock Mahoney, Virginia Huston) – Classic Movie Review 13,874

Columbia Pictures’ 1949 black and white Western film The Doolins of Oklahoma stars Randolph Scott as Bill Doolin, who assembles his own bank-robbing gang.

Director Gordon Douglas’s 1949 Columbia Pictures black and white Western film The Doolins of Oklahoma [The Great Manhunt] stars Randolph Scott, with George Macready, Louise Allbritton, Noah Beery Jr, Charles Kemper, John Ireland, Frank Fenton, Robert H Barrat, Jock Mahoney, Virginia Huston, Virginia Brissac, Dona Drake, Lee Patrick, Griff Barnett, James Kirkwood, Robert Osterloh, and John Sheehan.

Randolph Scott stars as former Dalton gang member Bill Doolin, who leads his own Doolin gang, who ride when two of his mates are shot by a lawman. But he is another one of those cinema outlaws who wants to go straight yet no one will let him. Soon, bank robbing not being popular with federal Marshals.  he’s wanted dead or alive for a $5,000 reward.

The Doolins of Oklahoma is an entertaining Western with robust handling, smart camerawork by Charles Lawton, and enough action and humour among all the usual clichés, pretty nicely reassembled by screen-writer Kenneth Gamet. The particularly fine cast ensures some very solid acting, especially from Scott and Noah Beery Jr as the ex-convict Little Bill.

Charles Kemper, John Ireland, Frank Fenton, Robert H Barrat and Jock Mahoney are the Doolin gang; George Macready co-stars as Marshal Sam Hughes; Louise Allbritton as Rose of Cimarron and Virginia Huston as Elaine Burton are along for the romance.

It is made by Producers-Actors Corporation and released by Columbia Pictures on May 27, 1949.

The cast

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

Jock Mahoney

Jock Mahoney is billed as Jock O’Mahoney, his real surname.

Jacques Joseph O’Mahoney (February 7, 1919 – December 14, 1989) played Tarzan in two feature films: Tarzan Goes to India (1962) and Tarzan’s Three Challenges (1963), after playing a villain in the 1960 Tarzan the Magnificent. In the 1963 film he became the oldest actor ever to play Tarzan at 44.

The Doolins of Oklahoma

The Doolins of Oklahoma [The Great Manhunt] is directed by Gordon Douglas, runs 90 minutes, is made by Producers-Actors Corporation, is released by Columbia Pictures, is written by Kenneth Gamet, is shot in black and white by Charles Lawton Jr, is produced by Harry Joe Brown, and is scored by George Duning, Paul Sawtell and Morris Stoloff.

Classic black‑and‑white Westerns

Many Westerns cry out for colour, but then there are also some iconic black‑and‑white Westerns with a classic monochrome look associated with the golden age of Westerns: Stagecoach, High Noon, The Ox‑Bow Incident, Red River, My Darling Clementine, 3:10 to Yuma, The Big Sky (1952), The Gunfighter  (1950), Hud, and The Misfits, and the Fifties TV Westerns.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,874

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