Well Deserved Praise

The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.

The movie really just wants to entertain people.

Black Gold (1963) is truly the "B" western you have when you're not having a "B" western. Just look at that running time! 99 minutes! Warner Brothers have got to be kidding! Let's tot up all the movie's virtues: Claude Akins, Fay Spain and William Phipps occasionally manage to surmount even the clichéd characters and banal dialogue they've been handed. The rest of the players – including the leads, Phil Carey, Diane McBain and Jimmy Best – fail. And, would you believe, Akins, Spain and Phipps make up the sum total of the movie's good points. Now let's look at the other side of the ledger. As already mentioned, the film's chief drawback is its unusually long running time. Maybe Warner Brothers had the crazy idea they could pass the film off as an "A" feature, despite the fact that neither Phil Carey nor Dianne McBain had a strong box office appeal? The fact that the movie was shot on a minimal budget by a relentlessly uninventive TV director wouldn't weigh much with audiences but its length would certainly worry them and cinema owners would not be rejoicing either. Not only would exhibitors have difficulty finding a suitable short-length co-feature, but they would be the first to notice how cheap production values really are in Black Gold. Add to the above list, repetitive dialogue, a minimal amount of actual location filming, small studio sets with phony backdrops and very obvious process work.

A Warner Brothers programmer from the early 1960s about oil drillers in Oklahoma in the 1920s. Not all that bad. A pleasant waste of time and the cast is enthusiastic. One of the things I love about programmers like this is that you get to see a cast of supporting actors getting roles that are bigger than normal, as well as whatever upcoming stars under contract at the time. Phil Carey is the hero, Claude Akins is the bad guy, James Daly ( aka Sheriff Rosco from Dukes of Hazzard) is the irresponsible one and megababe Diane McBain ( look for her in the Elvis film "Spinout" as well as "The Mini Skirt Mob" and "Thunder Alley", she was also Pink Pinkston on TVs "Batman") is the love interest. Fun, not quite an A film, but definitely above most of the similar themed TV shows of the day. Hey it is a Warner Brothers programmer.