Oklahoma! (film)
 Oklahoma! lobby poster | ||
| Starring |
| |
| Directed by | Fred Zinnemann | |
| Produced by | Arthur Hornblow Jr. | |
| Screenplay by | Sonya Levien William Ludwig (screenwriter) | |
| Based on | Based on Oklahoma! 1943 musical by Rodgers & Hammerstein Green Grow the Lilacs (play) by Lynn Riggs | |
| Format | Eastman Color | |
| Music by | Richard Rodgers | |
| Cinematography | Robert Surtees and Floyd Crosby | |
| Distributed by | Magna Theatre Corporation RKO Radio Pictures | |
| Released | Oct 11, 1955 in Rivoli Theatre 1955 (70 years ago) | |
| Runtime | * 148 minutes (Todd-AO Roadshow release version)
| |
Oklahoma! is a 1955 American musical film based on the 1943 musical of the same name by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, which in turn was based on the 1931 play Green Grow the Lilacs written by Lynn Riggs. It stars Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones (in her film debut), Rod Steiger, Charlotte Greenwood, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, James Whitmore, and Eddie Albert. The production was the only musical directed by Fred Zinnemann. Oklahoma! was the first feature film photographed in the Todd-AO 70 mm widescreen process [Note 1](and was simultaneously filmed in CinemaScope 35mm).
Set in Oklahoma Territory shortly after the turn of the 20th century, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams (Jones) and her courtship by two rival suitors: cowboy Curly McLain (MacRae) and the sinister, frightening farmhand Jud Fry (Steiger). A secondary romance involves Laurey's friend, Ado Annie (Grahame), and cowboy Will Parker (Nelson), who also faces an unwilling rival. A thematic backdrop is the territory's aspiration for statehood and the local conflict between cattlemen and farmers.
The film received a rave review from The New York Times and was voted a "New York Times Critics' Pick". It won Academy Awards in the categories of musical scoring and sound recording. 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".
Plot
Good-natured cowboy Curly McLain admires the beautiful morning as he rides his horse to the farm of Laurey Williams, his secret love, and her aunt, Aunt Eller. At the farm, he invites Laurey to a box social being held that night to raise money for a new schoolhouse. Frustrated that he waited too long to ask her, Laurey refuses his invitation. Curly tempts her by describing the surrey he plans to use to drive her, then tells her he made the story up to get back at her for rejecting him. Laurey gets her own revenge by agreeing to go with their menacing field hand, Jud Fry.
Cowboy Will Parker arrives by train from a trip to Kansas City, seeking out his sweetheart, Ado Annie, who, in Will's absence, has become smitten with itinerant peddler Ali Hakim. Will tells Annie that he has earned the $50 her father, a farmer who does not like cowboys, said he had to earn before he would allow him to marry Annie, but he spent it all on presents for her. Annie tries to resist Will, but eventually gives in, leaving her torn between Will and Ali.
The townspeople gather at Aunt Eller's farm to refresh themselves before the box social. Gertie, a flirtatious woman with a loud, annoying laugh, flirts with Curly, upsetting Laurey despite her promises not to let his games bother her. Curly flirts back to make Laurey jealous. He asks Laurey again if she will go to the social with him, but Laurey, fearful of Jud, refuses once more. Curly angrily confronts Jud in the smokehouse, leading both men to fire their guns. Curly then stalks off, and Jud again threatens Laurey if she changes her mind. Uncertain of what to do, Laurey uses a bottle of smelling salts she bought from Ali earlier, hoping to find her answer in a dream. She dreams that she marries Curly, but Jud eventually kills him.
As Jud drives Laurey to the box social, he confesses his love for her and attempts to kiss her. She whips the horses, causing them to bolt. Once Jud gains control, Laurey leaves him behind and drives to the social alone.
At the social, despite the host encouraging everyone to get along, Ado Annie's father belittles the cowboys, sparking a fight that Aunt Eller intervenes to stop. Will retrieves his $50 by selling his presents to Ali Hakim, who pays Will more than each gift is worth in order to reunite Annie with him. When the auction of ladies' picnic baskets begins, Ali Hakim outbids Will for Annie's basket, ensuring Will won't lose the $50 he needs to marry her. Curly and Jud engage in a bidding war over Laurey's basket. Curly sells his saddle, horse, and gun to raise enough money to surpass Jud's highest bid and win. Laurie dismisses Jud after he confronts her, and he sneers that she will never be rid of him. When Laurey shares what happened with Curly, he offers to stay the night at her farm for protection before going further to propose marriage, which she accepts. Meanwhile, Will tells Ado Annie that she must stop flirting with other men, even though he is unwilling to stop flirting with other women. Ali Hakim advises Annie that she would be better off marrying Will before continuing on his travels.
Weeks later, Curly and Laurey are married. After the ceremony, Jud appears and tries to kill Curly and Laurey by burning them alive atop a bale of hay. However, Curly attacks Jud, causing Jud to fall on his own knife, killing him. The townspeople hold an impromptu trial in Aunt Eller's kitchen, where Curly is found not guilty. He and Laurey leave for their honeymoon, admiring the beautiful morning.
Production
Interest in a film version of Oklahoma! dates back to 1943, when the musical first opened on Broadway. United Artists, Columbia Pictures, 20th Century Fox, and MGM were among the many Hollywood studios interested in the project. Ultimately, the film rights were purchased by the Magna Theatre Corporation, a company founded by George Skouras, Joseph Schenck, and Michael Todd for a record $1,000,000 in 1953 (equivalent to approximately $11.8 million in 2024). Magna was initially established to develop a new widescreen process created by Todd, called "Todd-AO," and ended up financing the film independently after a deal with Fox fell through. Including the cost of developing the new process, Magna invested $11 million in the film (equivalent to approximately $129 million in 2024).
Although the film was initially set to be shot on location in the title state, the producers opted to shoot elsewhere, apparently because the oil wells would distract from exterior scenes. Location shooting occurred mainly in Nogales, Arizona. The cornfield in the opening number and the reprise song "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" were filmed at the historic Canoa Ranch in Green Valley, Arizona. The train station used in the "Kansas City" routine was located in Elgin, Arizona. Soundstage and backlot sequences were filmed at MGM Studios in Culver City, California.
Oklahoma! was the first production photographed in Todd-AO. The original specifications for Todd-AO involved running at 30 frames per second, which made it impossible to produce 35mm (which ran at 24 fps) reduction prints from the Todd-AO negative. Therefore, it was simultaneously shot in the more established CinemaScope 35 mm format to allow for presentation in theaters lacking 70 mm equipment. Hence, there are actually two different versions of the film comprising different takes. Director Zinnemann mentioned that shooting the movie in both formats was a "precautionary measure," since the (converted ca. 1930s Fearless Superfilm 65mm) Todd-AO camera was still being tested during production.
Having Todd-AO and CinemaScope shooting side by side in about ten scenes was workable. The ultra-wide scope of the Todd-AO lens rarely permitted the CinemaScope camera to operate alongside it. The plan was changed very early, and the various scenes were enacted and shot twice. Director of photography Robert Surtees reported:
- It is somewhat challenging for me to articulate how it felt to work with something as entirely new as Todd-AO. We started shooting before we even knew whether it would succeed. We had no precedents to rely on, not even any technical data to consult. Every piece of camera, lab, editing, and projection equipment had to be specially designed and constructed as we progressed—often under intense deadlines just ahead of our shooting schedule. We felt like true pioneers—but there was a spirit there, a spark of excitement generated by a wonderfully loyal and competent crew working together to create something very special. It was an experience I'll never forget.
Several actors auditioned for the role of Curly, including James Dean and Paul Newman. TCM reports that Dean "made a sensational [screen] test with Rod Steiger in the 'Poor Jud Is Dead' number", but his voice was not strong enough, leading to Gordon MacRae being cast in the lead role. Steiger noted that Dean "hadn't quite got his technique together. At the time of his death, he was working too much on instinct. He'd be brilliant in one scene and then blow the next". He commented that Dean was a "nice kid absorbed by his own ego, so much so that it was destroying him", which he believes contributed to Dean's untimely demise. Dean reportedly gifted Steiger his treasured copy of Ernest Hemingway's book, Death in the Afternoon, marking every instance of the word "death". Joanne Woodward was initially offered the role of Laurey, but it ultimately went to Shirley Jones, who had previously starred in a stage adaptation of Oklahoma!. Eli Wallach and Ernest Borgnine were also in consideration for the role of Jud before Rod Steiger was ultimately selected.
Robert Russell Bennett expanded his Broadway orchestrations, Jay Blackton conducted, and Agnes de Mille choreographed once again. Costume designer Orry-Kelly was hired to oversee the costumes for the film, with Ann Roth as his assistant.
From stage to screen
Rodgers and Hammerstein personally oversaw the film to prevent the studio from making changes of the kind that were then typical of stage-to-film musical adaptations, such as putting in new songs by different composers. They also maintained artistic control over the film versions of several of their other stage musicals.
The film Oklahoma! followed the original stage version extremely closely, more so than any other Rodgers and Hammerstein stage-to-film adaptation. However, it did break the very long first scene, lasting over 45 minutes, into several shorter scenes, altering the locations of several songs in the process.
- Rather than beginning offstage, "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" was now sung as Curly (Gordon MacRae) rode his horse from the now-seen cornfield "as high as a [sic] elephant's eye" to Aunt Eller's farm.
- "Kansas City" was sung and danced at the local train station where Aunt Eller (Charlotte Greenwood) and other cowboys meet Will Parker (Gene Nelson), who has just returned from that city. Also, a few lyrics in the song, about a burlesque stripteaser, had to undergo minor changes to pass film censorship. In the original Broadway musical, the character of Will Parker sings:
- I could swear that she was padded from her shoulder to her heel.
- But later in the second act when she began to peel,
- She proved that everything she had was absolutely real!
- For the film, these were changed to:
- But then she started dancing and her dancing made me feel
- That every single thing she had was absolutely real!
- "I Can't Say No" was sung by Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame) at a lakeside where Laurey has been swimming.
- "Many a New Day" was sung and danced in Laurey's (Shirley Jones) bedroom, as the women, stopping over at the farmhouse on their way to the Skidmore ranch, change their clothes for the upcoming box social that evening.
In a nod to Green Grow the Lilacs, which was the basis of Oklahoma!, Jud attempts to get revenge on Curly and Laurey by burning a haystack they stand on after the wedding, rather than simply attacking Curly with a knife, as in the stage version of the musical. As Curly and Laurey stand atop the burning haystack, Jud pulls a knife and taunts Curly. The couple jumps down, with Curly landing on Jud and inadvertently causing him to fall on his own knife.
The film omitted very little from the stage production, cutting only two songs (Ali Hakim's "It's a Scandal, It's a Outrage" Jud's "Lonely Room" and one verse from "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin"), and thus ran two-and-a-half hours, much longer than most other screen musicals of the time. It was the first of the huge roadshow musical films that would eventually overrun Hollywood in the 1960s.
Musical numbers
- "Overture" – Orchestra (played before the film actually begins)
- "Main Title" – Orchestra (played over the opening credits)
- "Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'" – Curly
- "Laurey's Entrance" ("Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'") – Laurey
- "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" – Curly
- "The Surrey with the Fringe on Top" (Reprise) – Curly
- "Kansas City" – Will, Aunt Eller, Male Ensemble
- "I Cain't Say No" – Ado Annie
- "I Cain't Say No" (Reprise) – Will and Ado Annie
- "Entrance of Ensemble" ("Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'") – Curly, Gertie, and Ensemble
- "Many a New Day" – Laurey and Female Ensemble
- "People Will Say We're in Love" – Curly and Laurey
- "Pore Jud Is Daid" – Curly and Jud
- "Out of My Dreams" – Laurey and Female Ensemble
- "Dream Ballet" – Ensemble
- "Entr'acte" – Orchestra
- "The Farmer and the Cowman" – Carnes, Aunt Eller, Ike Skidmore, Ensemble
- "All Er Nuthin'" – Will and Ado Annie
- "People Will Say We're in Love" (Reprise) – Curly and Laurey
- "Oklahoma" – Curly and Ensemble
- "Finale Ultimo" ("Oh What a Beautiful Mornin'") – Ensemble
- "Exit Music" ("Oklahoma" (Instrumental Reprise)) – Orchestra
- "Exit Music #2" ("People Will Say We're in Love" (Instrumental Reprise)) – Orchestra
Cast
- Wikipedia article: Oklahoma! (film) Cast
Release
- Wikipedia article: Oklahoma! (film) Release
Awards and nominations
- Wikipedia article: Oklahoma! (film) Awards and nominations
Notes
- ↑ Todd-AO American Optical - Todd was the third of Elizabeth Taylor's seven husbands, and the only one Taylor did not divorce. He died in a private plane accident a year after they married.
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Grauman's Chinese Theatre
Quite often, the Roberts family made a trip to visit Sid Grauman's Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, another of "those places" where magic lived. It was owned by Sid Grauman, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. (There is THAT name again!) The concrete entryway was covered with handprints, footprints, and signatures of various famous movie stars.
It seemed like we were able to get tickets for all the major movie releases; "Oklahoma!", "Fiddler on the Roof", "South Pacific", "Carousel", "The King and I", and many others.
We even went to several premieres. On one occasion, we went to the West Coast Grand Opening of the movie "Oklahoma!" I wore my cowboy outfit with cap guns.
I fell totally "in love" with Laurey, played by Shirley Jones when she sang "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning!" (Maybe it was her gingham dress?) After the movie was over, the stars from the film mingled with people in the audience. I don't how it came up or why, but Shirley Jones kissed me on my left cheek and left a lipstick smear that I wore for days under a piece of scotch tape.
External links
- Oklahoma! essay by Phil Hall on the National Film Registry website
- Oklahoma! (film) at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Review Oklahoma! (film) at the Internet Movie Database
- Oklahoma! at AllMovie
- Review Oklahoma! (film) at the Turner Classic Movie Database
- Oklahoma! essay by Daniel Eagan in America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry, A&C Black, 2010 < ISBN:0826429777 >, pages 504-505
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Oklahoma!_(film) ]
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