Cimarron is a 1931 pre-Code epic Western film directed by Wesley Ruggles, starring Richard Dix and Irene Dunne, and featuring Estelle Taylor and Roscoe Ates. The Oscar-winning script was written by Howard Estabrook based on the 1930 Edna Ferber novel Cimarron. It would be RKO's most expensive production up to that date, and its winning of the top Oscar for Outstanding Production would be one of only two for Outstanding Production ever won by that studio. It is also the first of only three Westerns to ever win the top honor at the Academy Awards (the others being Dances with Wolves in 1990 and Unforgiven in 1992). Epic in scope, spanning forty years from 1889 to 1929, it was a critical success, although it did not recoup its production costs during its initial run in 1931.