Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Tedfoldol everything you have heard about this movie is true.

Nessieldwi Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

MartinHafer I like Bob Steele westerns. Although a very small man, Steele excelled at using his fists--and created some of the best and most realistic fight scenes in any of the B-westerns. He also had a nice personality that made his films, even the very cheaply made ones, likable. However, "The Oklahoma Cyclone" has managed to do something I didn't think was possible--it made me HATE one of Steele's films!Why is this such a terrible old film? Because when it came out in 1930, it was obvious that the folks making it had little experience with sound films! Too often, instead of the characters DOING anything, they talk and talk and talk. They also stand woodenly stiff as they deliver their lines in a very unnatural manner. Worse is a pretty Mexican lady whose dialog needed captioning because you cannot understand her! The sum total effect is a film that is stupifyingly boring. In fact, NOTHING about this film is interesting other than it provides you a chance to see Al 'Fuzzy' St. John make his transition from a screen comedian to a cowboy sidekick--something for which he's most remembered today. Overall, a god-awful film with nothing to recommend it. However, don't assume all of Steele's films are like this--they could only get better!!

FightingWesterner Watching The Oklahoma Cyclone, it becomes apparent that the producers knew little about making a sound picture and just dove in head first. While their intentions are quite admirable, the finished product is not.The film's nearly all talk, with several songs and musical interludes, but hardly any action. Most of the actors, apparently unused to the sound medium, are very stilted, speaking very slow and very clear, particularly Charles King. Meanwhile, the Spanish accented actors are barely intelligible.I do wonder though, how well this played to audiences in 1930, not used to talking pictures.On the plus side, star Bob Steele appears to be singing his own songs and leading lady Rita Rey is very beautiful, even if I cannot understand a word she says!This is the first full-length western featuring iconic sidekick Al "Fuzzy" St. John. Even at this early date he manages to steal an early scene, even without the benefit of dialog, as he stands to the side and spits long streams of tobacco juice past the other actors as they speak!One frame has St. John almost entirely off-screen, but closest to the camera, launching a stream of spit that arcs across the picture like a half rainbow, landing right in the bottom-center of the screen, distracting the audience from the other actors!Eight years later, Steele and St. John would be back together, often with King as the heavy, in Producers Releasing Corporation's series of Billy the kid films.

Michael O'Keefe Outrunning a posse is cowpoke Jim Smith(Bob Steele), also known as the Oklahoma Cyclone. He takes refuge in an outlaw hideout run by the Black Diablo(Charles King), who is suspected of holding Smith's father hostage. Pretending to be an outlaw himself, the Oklahoma Cyclone romances and sings to a charming Mexican girl(Rita Rey). Good thing he shoots better than he sings. When Black Diablo decides to make a raid across the border, Smith goes along thinking that is where his father is being held captive. A grainy black and white dusty rootin' tootin' cowboy flick fun to watch. Also in the cast: Al St. John and Cliff Lyons.

kidboots "Head him off at the pass" - probably the first time those words were spoken in a movie!!!Many of Bob Steele's films seemed to be about missing fathers and separated brothers etc. In this film he plays Jim Smith, who poses as The Oklahoma Cyclone and rides into town to escape a posse. With Charles Kng playing the sheriff, you know he has something to hide and from his reaction to a Wanted poster for "The Black Dialbo", you get the feeling that's who he is!!"I'm swaying like a drunken female" - one of the "witty" quotes.There is not much cyclone about Smith - more like a gentle breeze - he seems to spend a lot of time singing and romancing Carmelita (Rita Rey) who also sings as well!!!! There is not much information on the lovely Rita Rey. Her filmography lists only 3 films. She may have been one of the many South American actresses who came looking for fame - hoping to be the next Lupe Velez!!! In this film although she plays the Mexican heroine, Carmelita, her accent is hard to understand - maybe that was the problem. In 1946 she was part of a group of actors that participated in Mexico's first experimental TV station.Smith also learns, through his pal Slim (Al St John, an old Mack Sennett comedian) that the Black Diablo is planning a raid south of the border. Smith goes with them, knowing his father is being held prisoner by them down there. Oddly enough instead of ending with a romantic clinche, the film ends with Smith cradling his dying pal, Slim, in his arms.Not recommended.