Wildcatter: A Story of Texas Oil (1985)

Produced by October Productions and the Dallas Historical Society, this 1985 documentary chronicles the history of the Texas oil boom. Using archival material and interviews, the film focuses on the development of three major oil fields: Spindletop, Big Lake, and East Texas. Texas folklorist, author, and professor William A. Owens narrates the story. Despite its admissions about the disastrous consequences of overproduction and the lack of government regulation, the documentary constructs a fairly nostalgic view of the period and the role of the independent wildcatter.