LouHomey From my favorite movies..

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Freeman This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

HalBanksy Better than most musicals, but far from perfect. A very limited plot that mostly consists of just one party. Some brilliant songs, backed up with a couple of decent dance numbers. The cast do a good job - though the women give the best performances. Shirley Jones is luminescent in her first film. Gloria Grahame & Charlotte Greenwood are feisty and witty. The film sags a bit in the middle. Laurey's extended dream sequence (aided by smelling salts) is a strange narrative departure - equally bizarre as it is boring. The overlong film would benefit greatly from it being removed.For me, the character of Jud could also be removed completely - his main song is the musical low-point. Although he does provide a genuinely thrilling scene, and the greatest cinematic moment. The camera follows his carriage racing through the plains, crashing through rivers and trees and narrowly avoids colliding with a train. The conclusion to his character seemed unnecessary and over-dramatic though - even for a musical!

ironhorse_iv Oh what a beautiful morning! Yes, what a wonderful day! You know, I've got a beautiful feeling! Everything's, everything's going my way! Yes, indeed, it's a great time to talk about this classic musical. Based on Lynn Riggs' 1931 play, Green Grow the Lilacs, and turn into a Broadway musical in 1943 by a team of composers, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. In return, the stage play was turn into a 1955 movie musical, which itself was a box-office smash, not only with audiences, but with critics. The film won several Academy Awards that year. Set in 1906 Oklahoma, the movie tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain (Gordon MacRae) looking forward to asking his long-time, off and on, girlfriend, farm girl Laurey Williams (Shirley Jones) to the box social dance. Only to find out, that her creepy farm hand, Jud Fry (Rod Steiger) has ask her out, first. Laurey accept his hand, only to regret it, later, when he tries to committed unlawful advantages toward her. Now Curly must find a way to rescue his girl from this brute, before it's too late. Can Curly save Laurey or will Curly and Laurey end up getting burn? Watch the movie to find out! Without spoiling the movie, too much; I have to say, that this film was very disappointing to me. I thought, some of the songs were somewhat too generic peachy & All-American bland. A good example is the love ballad, 'People Will Say we're in Love'. I was really, hoping for a stronger, more risky love piece. Another thins that kinda upset me about the songs used in the film is the censorships. I don't like, how the song, "Kansas City' was rewritten to make it, more family-friendly, yet they have songs like 'Poor Jud is daid', being allowed. I found that song, in which the hero try to suggest the villain to commit suicide to be out of character, crude, and disturbing. I really don't get, how Curly can be, call a hero, after that!? I don't like, how the film omit, some songs like "It's a Scandal, It's an Outrage" and "Lonely Room". "Lonely Room" more, because that song gave Jud, so much, more depth that was really needed. Songs like "The Farmer and the Cowman" are just awful. First off, it does not further the plot, at all. Second off, the lyrics are repetitive, corny, annoying, and childish uninspiring. Last, I dislike how the song end, mid-through, because of a fight, only to continue after worth. It was a waste of time. Talking about waste of time, any of the songs that Will Parker (Gene Nelson) & Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame) had to sing, felt like filler. I really didn't care about their love subplot, at all, due to their horrible acting. I really didn't like, how Gloria Grahame plays Ado Annie at all. She seem more like a clueless naïve asexual bookworm, than a floozy. Also, she sings as if she's about pee her pants. I really don't get, why they hired a tone-deaf actress for this role!? Honestly, most of the characters seem, underdeveloped and unlikeable. I really can't like, Curly, because he's the one that kinda leaded Laurey into making stupid decision. Second off, I can't really, feel bad for Laurey, because her troubles began when she was trying to spite Curly. It's her damn fault! The few characters that I seem to like, was Jud. The reason, why is because Rod Steiger really play him, wonderful. Also as creepy as Jud is, it's hard not to feel at least a little sorry for him, with the way he's ostracized by the town and seems to be completely starved for affection. He had the most character development, and by far, had one of the better singing voices in the film. I just hate, the film ends him, very anticlimax. Another character that I love, is Aunt Eller (Charlotte Greenwood). She had some of the best funny one-liners in the film. The songs that I love are, 'Oklahoma', 'Oh, What a beautiful Morning', & 'The Surrey with the Fringe on Top". They're by far, the most entertaining parts of the film. It's also nice to hear that the song "Oklahoma" was made the state song in 1953. Another thing that I adore, is the surreal ballet dream sequence. While, I really found it to be, out of place. It's by far, the best thing in the film. Way better than those cheesy tap dance numbers. Not only that, you really get to see, the fever dream, that the writer was going through, when writing this sequence. Writer, Lorenz Hart was going through, his longstanding alcoholism, when ask to help out on Oklahoma by Hammerstein & Rodgers. You really get to see, his downward spiral, here in this part. Sadly, the alcoholism, was too much for him, as he had to exit the product, because writing anymore, and Rodgers & Hammerstein, went to find a new collaborator. Parts of his work, are still shown here. Surprising, the film 'Oklahoma!' follows, the original stage version extremely closely, more so than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein stage-to-film adaptation. It does help, that Rodgers & Hammerstein personally oversaw the film to prevent the studio from making much changes. While in 2007, Oklahoma! was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant', for me, it wasn't that good. Overall: As a 'book musical'! It doesn't work. The songs and dances are not fully integrated into a well-made story with serious dramatic goals that are able to evoke genuine emotions other than laughter. While, upbeat, and colorful in 1950s. These days, the musical movie comes off, as very vanilla & plain. Way too sweet for a cowboy film. I do recommended watching, but it's has little to no re-watch ability for me.

fischelliot Oklahoma! is the greatest musical ever filmed. You may have other personal favorites, but when R&H decided to produce the film version, they micromanaged their baby until it was perfect. They succeeded on all counts-acting, singing, timing, choreography, photography that blows you away. It also shows the darker side in what is seemingly a simple romantic story. Director Zinneman's choice to have threatening Rod Stieger as a counterpart to the sweet story, There is no argument that the songs are performed as the composers wanted, and McRae and Jones signing and performances are unequaled. The movie sets a high bar for any production to cross, and having seen many stage productions, none has the effect of the magnificent movie. I was fortunate enough to see the original release at the Egyptian in Hollywood, and the revival at the same theater 38 years later, both on the marvelous TODD-AO curved screen. Its more impressive on a big screen and I would gladly pay to see this on a large screen. The latest Blue-Ray version look and sounds absolutely beautiful, has impressive 7.1 DTS-HD sound and is a big improvement over the 2005 release which was pretty worn. Thank you 20th Century Fox for restoring this not only historic first Todd-AO film, but allow the firm to be shown as it was originally meant to be seen

MartinHafer Although "Oklahoma!" is considered a classic, I didn't get around to watching it for a very long time due to a horrible trauma I suffered when I was 18. I was invited by my future mother-in-law to accompany her to a local production of the play. And, I gotta say that it was god-awful--so bad that I resisted watching the film for decades! However, given that I have seen just about every important musical filmed, it seemed like it was finally time to get over my feelings and just see the film! For the most part, I found "Oklahoma!" to be pleasant fun...but also a bit dated in style. I think that time has not been great to this musical, as the very simple story line seem pretty old fashioned. There also is an inexplicable ballet potion in the middle--more about that later. On the other hand, many of the songs are pretty catchy and there are tons of hit songs you'll recognize from the soundtrack. In addition, the singing of Gordon MacRea is just amazing--and he never sounded better--wow. As for the rest of the singing, it did seem odd that several of the characters seemed to be folks who are NOT singers--and their being chosen for the film was surprising. In some cases this worked (as Ado Annie was supposed to be bad). The movie was quite pretty--with a nice wide open look in many of the scenes (though a few were obviously done on stage--an odd choice in style). Overall, the good far outweighs the bad--and I think the reason I hated the musical before was simply because the local group performing it were lousy singers and actors.Now a bit about the ballet portion. About midway through the film, Shirley Jones' character has a dream--and this portion of the film really is bad. Now I am NOT saying the dancing wasn't lovely--it was a good example of ballet meeting modern dance. However, it did not fit the film at all. The tempo was way too slow, the entire production looked terribly stagy and, in a weird twist, the actors (except for Rod Steiger) were NOT the same ones in the rest of the film. In other words, semi-lookalikes played MacRea, Jones the rest of the cast. Odd and really out of place--and I really think the film would have benefited from it being dropped entirely--especially as it does nothing to further the plot.Overall, "Oklahoma!" is an enjoyable but uneven film. I liked it but cannot ignore the film's shortcomings. Still, on balance it's well worth your time.UPDATE: I recently went to a special screening of this film and I was able to see it like it was intended--with a simulated Todd-AO format. Seen on the big screen like it was intended, I was much more favorable towards the film. And, I also noticed that since I'd seen the film a couple times before, I found myself singing quietly along with many of the songs. I think I was too hasty in my previous review and this is a pretty dandy old film.