might seem like a big departure for Martin Scorsese, trading as it does the mean streets of the big city for the open plains of Oklahoma. But look more closely, and this story of a community exploited and controlled by a ruthless prairie godfather , who poses as a benevolent pillar of the community while forcing his relatives to choose between family loyalty and decent behavior, is squarely in the director’s usual wheelhouse.
The script originally told the story of an Osage tribal family, who were murdered for their oil lease rights in the early 1920s, from the perspective of Tom White , the agent in charge of what was the nascent FBI’s first big homicide investigation—fairly standard Scorsese.
In the film, we see Mollie and other members of the Osage Nation having to ask a white merchant in their town for advances on their quarterly allowances and explain what they need the money for, as though they were children, despite being millionaires.This is accurate. Driven by the U.S. government from their fertile lands in Missouri, the Osage were forced to live on the plains of Oklahoma, an area thought to be barren and worthless.
The script may be conflating Burns with an attorney, William “W.W.” Watkins Vaughan, who was engaged by another Osage Nation member, George Bigheart, who had told Vaughan he knew who the killers were and had access to incriminating documents that would prove his assertions.
This, it turns out, is not just a dramatic device. There actually was a radio dramatization of the case broadcast in 1932 on, as well as another called “The Osage Indian Murders,” broadcast on Aug. 3, 1935, as part of a radio series entitled
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: ComicBook - 🏆 65. / 68 Read more »
Source: Variety - 🏆 108. / 63 Read more »
Source: harpersbazaarus - 🏆 467. / 52 Read more »
Source: TODAYshow - 🏆 389. / 55 Read more »
Source: Collider - 🏆 1. / 98 Read more »
Source: THR - 🏆 411. / 53 Read more »