Tumbleweeds is a 1925 American Western film starring and produced by William S. Hart.
It depicts the Cherokee Strip land rush of 1893.
The film is said to have influenced the Oscar-winning 1931 Western Cimarron,
which also depicts the land rush.
The 1939 Astor Pictures' re-release of Tumbleweeds
includes an 8-minute introduction by the then 75-year-old Hart
as he talks about his career and the "glories of the old west."
Tumbleweeds was Hart's last movie
Background
In the Cherokee Strip of Oklahoma during the 1880s and early 1890s,
the government lands that were leased to cattlemen were opened to settlement by homesteaders.
To allow a fair chance for everyone, the prospective homesteaders were required
to register and registrants were prohibited from entering into the Strip
before the appointed time. Those who tried to get there beforehand were called "Sooners".
Hence the nickname of Oklahoma is the Sooner State.
When a cannon shot signaled the start of the land rush,
a hundred thousand men and women tried to stake their claims.
Contemporary reviews
Reviews at the time of its release praised Tumbleweeds as good entertainment.
The New York Times reviewed the film in 1925 and wrote that Hart's performance emphasized
"righteousness, his mental dexterity and physical prowess" in the role of Carver. "Although much of Don Carver's accuracy in shooting and his turning up at the psychological moment is nothing but the camera's good work, ... Mr. Carver, impersonated by Mr. Hart, frequently won applause from the audience yesterday afternoon.
A 1926 review of Tumbleweeds in Photoplay Magazine says "Bill Hart returns
to the screen in a story laid in the time when the Indian territory was turned over to the homesteaders. The scene in which the prospective land owners, waiting for the cannon's boom which would send them racing in to stake their claims, furnished a brand new thrill...It is good entertainment."
Modern reception
Modern reviews of Tumbleweeds have lauded it as the high point of Hart's career
and as a seminal film of the silent era that was unique for its era in
its depiction of Native Americans and African Americans.
Gary Johnson in Images Journal said that although Tumbleweeds
was only a mild box-office success, it is arguably Hart's finest film.
"The movie's most impressive sequence remains the land rush", wrote Johnson.
"All manners of vehicles -- covered wagons, surreys, stagecoaches,
even a large-wheeled bicycle -- bounce over the prairie in the mad rush to claim land.
Other films would attempt to recreate the Oklahoma land rush -- such as Cimarron,
which won the Best Picture Academy Award in 1931 -- but Tumbleweeds remains the best example."
John Nesbitt wrote that Hart went out on a high note with Tumbleweeds
"Tumbleweeds stands up remarkably well, and most film devotees will
find it among the more interesting and entertaining melodramas of the silent era",
wrote Nesbitt.
Tammy Stone wrote that Hart was to Westerns what Chaplin was to comedy
and that Hart managed to "both stay in the game and go out with a bang"
in his last film Tumbleweeds. Hart's "last film is widely considered to be his masterpiece,
and also one of the seminal films of the silent era", she added.
Michael W. Phillips Jr. wrote in 2007 that the movie was unique
in movies of the era because it included Native Americans who weren't faceless villains
but Hart's friends and included African Americans among the boomers of 1889.
" Today, the film holds a 100% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Hart's last movie
Tumbleweeds was Hart's last movie.In 1939, Astor Pictures re-released the film and provided an eight-minute introduction that would be Hart's last appearance on film. In this introduction, he states:
My friends, I loved the art of making motion pictures. It is as the breath of life to me ... the rush of the wind that cuts your face, the pounding hooves of the pursuing posse, and then the clouds of dust! Through the cloud of dust comes the faint voice of the director, "Now, Bill, OK! Glad you made it! Great stuff, Bill, great stuff! And, say, Bill! Give old Fritz a pat on the nose for me, will ya?" The saddle is empty, the boys up ahead are calling, they're waiting for you and me to help drive this last great round-up into eternity.
Hart retired to his ranch in Newhall, California and although producers continued to offer him roles in sound films, he refused to return to the screen.
Revival
Silent Film organist Dennis James at a Ponca Theatre screening of the film.
On September 14, 2007, Dennis James, a silent film musician, performed a score to Tumbleweeds in a live performance at the Poncan Theatre in Ponca City, Oklahoma as a special commission as part of a celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of Oklahoma statehood.
User Review
Ohh...The Thrill of it All!
6 March 2004 | by (bsmith5552,(Ottawa, Ontario, Canada)
Quote from bsDisplay More"Tumbleweeds" is a classic of the silent era.
It marked the final film in the career of western movie pioneer William S. Hart.
The plot revolves around the Cherokee Land Rush of 1889 Oklahoma where a large tract of land was thrown open to the public for the taking by the American government.
Don Carver (Hart) and his pal Kentucky Rose (Lucien Littlefield) had been earning their living as "tumbleweeds", another name for drifting cowpokes. When the last roundup is completed, they decide to take part in the land rush. Carver meets up with the charming Molly Lassiter (Barbara Bedford) after having had an altercation with her half brother Noll (J. Gordon Russell). Noll teams up with Bill Freel (Richard R. Neill) to acquire a choice ranch section by any means necessary. Turns out that Carver has his sights set on the same ranch which he wants to get for Molly.
The highlight of the film is of course, the land rush sequence. It is marvelously staged by Directors King Baggot and Hart himself. A cast of thousands was employed. A remarkable piece of film making for this or any other time.
The version of the film that is usually shown these days is the 1939 re-issue which had sound effects added, as well as a moving prologue filmed especially for this version. It features Hart coming out of retirement and describing the film and then talking about his career and in effect saying goodbye to all of his fans. He had left films after "Tumbleweeds" following a dispute with the film's distributor.
Hart had always insisted on realism in his films. This had worked in his early films but in the 20s, he had to compete with the more popular films of the flamboyant Tom Mix. He had reached his 60s by this time so he wisely decided to go out on top.
Ohh...the thrill of it all!