Oklahoma!

Rating:
Summary: This may be one of the top 10 worst movies I've ever seen
Review: I rented Oklahoma thinking that i was going to be a great movie. The music was by the same people who did The Sound of Music, which i like alot, and my movie book(VideoHound's Golden Movie Retreiever-2004) gave it three and a half stars. From the very start, this was a terrible movie. The music is just so cutsey and the romance is just plain stupid. I hated the characters, especially that really stupid (not to mention ugly) character who sings "I just can't say no". The performances were bad, the music was bad, the character building was bad, EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS MOVIE WAS TERRIBLE. For those of you who have seen this movie, the only redeeming factor, when i actually found myself laughing and enjoying this movie was when that character would laugh so obnoxiously, if that tells you ANYTHING about this movie. I highly recomend that you don't see this overly long, stupid, and terrible movie

Rating:
Summary: This movie Rocks!!
Review: "Oklahoma!" is one GREAT movie. I don't think I ever smile so much during a movie as I do when I watch this one, it just makes me so darn happy! Ok, so the plot isn't amazing... but it doesn't matter, because the plot isn't really what drives this film. This movie is all about the characters, and the positive mood it creates, and the wonderful music that you will be humming for days after you watch the film. I actually bought the soundtrack a few weeks ago, (that's how much I liked it) and I haven't been able to stop playing it. The famous Rogers and Hammerstein score is just awesome. All of the songs are great, there isn't a bad one in the movie, but "People Will Say We're In Love" is my personal favorite. The scene were Curly and Laurie are singing this to each other in the peach orchard is so amazingly cute. I guess I'm just a hopeless romantic, but I can't help it.

Shirley Jones as Laurie is wonderful, she has a BEAUTIFUL voice, and does a fine acting job too, especially considering she was only 20 years old and this was her film debut. The sparks fly between her and Gordon MacRae (Curly), and this chemistry between the two leads is one of the main reasons that the movie works as well as it does. Props to Gloria Grahame too for her immensley entertaining potrayal of Ado Annie. (My favorite line from "I Can't Say No": "Every time I lose a wrastling match, I have a funny feeling that I won!!!") :)

I was also stunned by the visual beauty of the film. Its beautiful color and exceptional picture clarity is uncommon for an older movie, so when I first watched "Oklahoma!" I had to double check to make sure it was really made in 1955. The special Todd-AO filming process other reviewers have gone into detail about really made a difference here.

Anyways, I seem to have rambled on a bit, but I'll try to make my point here. This is a fun, romantic movie, that's a bit hokey at times ( but endearingly so, I believe) and has a few weak moments. But these few weak elements are far outweighed by the many great ones. I judge a movie mainly on these two factors: 1) by the way I feel immediately after I've finished watching it, and 2) if it has a lasting impression on me. After this one, I just feel happy, and giddy, and like I want to dance around my living room and break out into song. And as far as lasting impressions go, I liked it so much I felt compelled to write this review and recommend it to the world. So if this sounds like the kind of movie you'd enjoy, go for it, and have fun watching this classic.

Rating:
Summary: Well, if that just don't beat all
Review: Well I'm surprised to find that I seem to be in the minority but I think Oklahoma is the Greatest Screen Musical of All Time.

I'll make my case but first I want you to know that I'm a great fan of musicals and have seen most of the great ones many, many times on both the tube and the big screen. Films like Top Hat, Gay Divorcee, Gold Diggers of 33 and 35, 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Swingtime, Follow the Fleet, Holiday Inn, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, Pennies from Heaven('81) and of course My Fair Lady are as good as it gets and hold a cherished place in my heart. They all have terrific stars, good humor and above all wonderful music and wonderful songs. Oklahoma has more of those elements than any other movie. Every song is a winner, a gem, a pearl. The few 'clinkers' from the stage production were eliminated.

Shirley Jones was eighteen and wonderfully radiant. Her singing was even better than the original stage recording. Her singing was marvelous. Howard Keel was originally slated to play Curly but opted out because he refused to shoot two movies, as they duplicated every scene for two different film processes. What a stroke of luck, Howard Keel (much too old and stiff to play opposite Miss Jones) is out and Gordon MacRae (the perfect fit) is in. His voice, while not as dynamic as Alfred Drake's, is perfect for the screen but best of all he brings a sensibility and earthy quality to the role missing from all the others I've seen. Some bizarre casting in the minor roles like Gloria
Grahame as Ado Annie and Eddie Albert as Ali Hakim and Rod Stieger as the 'bully colored' Jud Fry add a strange flavor to the mix.

But it's not the only strange thing going on. The story itself is not particularly a pleasant one and one might find the treatment of Jud or Jud himself unpleasant. Its story isn't exactly family fare. There's even a dream sequence featuring some dark moments in a bordello. These elements add to the complexity and depth of this best-of-all musicals.

And now the real muscle, Oh What a Beautiful Morning, Surrey with the Fringe on Top, I Cain't Say No, Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City, Many a New Day, People Will Say We're in Love, Pore Jud is Daid, Out of My Dreams, The Farmer and the Cowman, All 'Er Nothin' and Of course Oklahoma. No musical, not The King and I, not Singin' in the Rain, not Carousel, not even My Fair Lady or The Sound of Music can boast so many landmark songs. Throw in three or four marvelous dance sequences and big dash of Americana and you have the best screen musical ever.


Rating:
Summary: Still one of the best
Review: I just watched "Oklahoma" again for the first time in a few years. I can understand why some viewers disliked this musical. The plot concerns farmers and ranchers fighting for dominance over land in the midwest in the 1800's. It's difficult for some of us modern urban dwellers to relate to this dilemma. Also, the characters in "Oklahoma" all speak in a cutesy, rubish dialect which is sometimes hard to understand and can even be annoying.

And it must seem quaint to us that escorting a girl on a picnic could create the kind of conflict that it does in this story. Another disconcerting element in "Oklahoma" is the sight of supposedly rough, rugged cowboys performing in pristine, balletic sequences staged by Agnes De Mille. After our generation has grown up on the gritty realism and sensuality of choreography by the likes of Bob Fosse or even Baz Luhrmann, this type of choreography seems dated and out of place.

But despite these criticisms, "Oklahoma" is still a great musical because of the music itself, and the way the music is so seamlessly integrated into the plot and characterizations. Simply stated, the melodies composed by the prodigious Richard Rodgers and the lyrics written by the poetic Oscar Hammerstein II for "Oklahoma" are magnificent.

For instance, is there a grander or more exuberant description of a wondrous new day than in "Oh What a Beautiful Morning"? Or a more lilting expression of reluctant love than in "People Will Say We're in Love"? Or how about the lyrical beauty and grace of the waltz "Out of My Dreams"? Or the syncopated melody and lyrics of "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" which is a perfect accompaniment to the clippity-clop of a horse pulling a carriage? And what about the joyous, unbridled energy of the celebratory theme song "Oklahoma"?

They all add up to a superb, exceptional score. Other assets of the movie version of "Oklahoma": the vibrant color photography; the solid performances by a talented and versatile cast; and the rich, beautiful singing voices of Gordon MacRae and Shirley Jones.

"Oklahoma" is not a perfect musical, but it's still one of the best and well worth your time if you possess an open mind and a discerning ear.