In Blowing Wild, an overwrought romantic adventure-melodrama, Gary Cooper plays Jeff Dawson, a wildcatte in Mexico, who turns to former boss Ward Conway for help, due to continual bandit raids.
Conway, whose petroleum company has made him rich, refuses to re-hire Dawson because of an affair her had with his wife Marina (Barbara Stanwyck), a tempestuous and unscrupulous woman. Although Dawson now ignores her advances, and has fallen in love with Sal (Ruth Roman), a stranded American girl, Marina continues to pursue him.
El Gavilan, the bandit chief, threatens to blow up Conway’s wells unless he is paid $50,000, but Conway, angered by his wife’s flirtations, refuses to comply. Grabbing her chance, Marina pushes Conway into an oil well, where he is killed. When Dawson arrives, she confesses and begs him to take her away. Horrified, he almost strangles her, but is interrupted by a bandit attack. During the fight, he kills El Gavilan, but not before a dynamite blast blows the Conway well and Marina.
CAST:
Gary Cooper (Jeff Dawson)
Barbara Stanwyck (Marina Conway)
Ruth Roman (Sal)
Anthony Quinn (Ward “Paco” Conway)
Ward Bond (Dutch)
Ian MacDonald (Jackson)
Richard Karlan (Henderson)
Juan Garcia (El Gavilan)
Credits
A United States Pictures Production.
Released by Warner
Director: Hugo Fregonese.
Producer: Milton Sperling.
Scenarist: Philip Yordan.
Photographer: Sid Hickox.
Art Director: Al Ybarra.
Editor: Alan Crosland, Jr.
Set Decorator: William Wallace.
Musical Score: Dimitri Tiomkin.
Sound Recorders: Manuel Topete Blake and McCluer Merrick.
Costumers: Kay Nelson and Marjorie Best.
Makeup Artist: Gordon Bau.
Assistant Director: Don Page.
Song: “Blowing Wild: The Ballad of Black Gold” by Dimitri Tiomkin and Paul Francis Webster. Sung by Frankie Laine.