![]() There's nothing here that a good range war or cattle stampede wouldn't fix.Īnyone seeking what made the 1950s what they were need look no further than the movie Oklahoma! The 1943 play was an affirmation of American hopes for the future that pushed the reality of WW2 far away - we can imagine that people listening to the description of The Surrey with the Fringe on Top were thinking about the cars that Detroit had stopped producing during the war years. Meanwhile, frisky local 'easy' girl Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame) doesn't know who her father will force to marry her, shotgun style: freewheeling cowboy Will Parker (Gene Nelson) or the sly Persian travelling salesman, Ali Hakim (Eddie Albert). Laurey's girlfriends gossip over the squabbles and the loutish hired hand Jud Fry (Rod Steiger) gets the idea that Laurey might give him a tumble. Cowpoke Curly McLain (Gordon MacRae) and young Laurey Williams (Shirley Jones) act so coy and contrary that Laurie's Aunt Eller (Charlotte Greenwood) is driven to distraction. It's courtin' time in the mountain-challenged prairie territory of Oklahoma. This undying favorite is a great entertainment despite being barely adequate as a movie. But only in individual dance numbers, in particular a nightmare ballet that reverts to Agnes de Mille's original staging, does the film really take off. Musical score + picture postcard setting = guaranteed satisfaction. As a result many Broadway hits have since been filmed with big New York stage people holding the reins.Įxcept for its star casting, Oklahoma! is pretty much the straight stage book and music, plunked down in the great outdoors where Mike Todd's superior Todd-AO lenses could do their stuff. After ten years of resisting the call of Hollywood, Rodgers and Hammerstein joined with impresario Mike Todd to bring their musical play to the screen without benefit of an MGM or Warner Brothers to, ah, reinterpret the material. The granddaddy of modern musicals, Oklahoma!'s appeal has always been the music, first and foremost - a dozen memorable, singable songs that have become much more than standards. Written by Sonya Levien, William Ludwig from the musical book by Oscar Hammerstein II from a play by Lynn Riggs Original Music Richard Rodgers & Oscar Hammerstein II Starring Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Shirley Jones, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood, Eddie Albert, James Whitmore, Rod Steigerįilm Editor George Boemler, Gene Ruggiero
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