Oklahoma

Hollywood has a long history of finding properties from the Broadway stage to turn into movies, both dramatic plays and musicals. Making roadshow versions of big Broadway musical hits really became a thing in the 1950s, I presume as a way to try to get people away from their new television sets and to a place where they could see something BIG on a big screen and in bright, vibrant colors. Fitting very well into this cycle is the 1955 version of Oklahoma!, which will be on TCM tomorrow, September 25, at 8:00 PM.

Gordon MacRae is the male lead here, playing Curly McLain, a cowboy in the late stages of Oklahoma's being a territory, so around the turn of the last century. He rides onto the scene singing "Oh What a Beautiful Morning", as he's heading to see Laurey Williams (Shirley Jones in her film debut), whom he loves. He wants to invite her to the big box social, but she plays coy because of how slow he's been in trying to woo her. As a bit of revenge, she actually thinks of going to the social with Jud Fry (Rod Steiger), a farm hand on the farm where Laurey lives with her Aunt Eller (Charlotte Greenwood).

Laurey has a friend, Ado Annie (Gloria Grahame), and she's the woman in a love triangle as well. Will Parker (Gene Nelson) is a cowboy like Curly, and wants to marrie Annie, but her father (James Whitmore) isn't so sure as he wants someone with a not so stable profession to marry his daughter. Perhaps if he can go to the big city and show himself to be a success. Will has done that, and his first appearance in the movie is his coming home on the train from Kansas City. However, in the meantime, a peddler, Ali Hakim (Eddie Albert), has come to town, and Annie has an interest in him too.

But the main story is the Laurey/Curly/Jud storyline. Curly and Jud are entirely different, as if you couldn't tell from the casting of Rod Steiger as Jud. Jud is decidedly from the wrong social class, and you get the feeling that in a different sort of western he's be the outlaw, if you can really cast Rod Steiger in a western. He lives in little more than a shack on the farm, and he and Curly get into an argument in the smokehouse that leads to them firing their guns, although at least not at each other. We know, however, that Laurey and Curly are really right for each other, but Laurey has a really bad dream about marrying Curly and how Jud is going to react if that happens.

She was right to have that bad dream. Jud gets even nastier, leading to Curly offering to marry Laurey for protection, which sends Jud over the edge. But this is a musical, so we're going to get a happy ending that also satisfies the Production Code.

I've stated before that I'm not the biggest fan of musicals, so I'm not quite the write blogger to look to for a recommendation on a movie like Oklahoma!. The production is exceedingly well made, and according to the articles I read (I haven't seen any stage version of the musical), it preserves most of Rodgers and Hammerstein's songs, many of which have become standards. MacRae and Jones are also an appealing couple, as they can both sing as well as play convincing pioneer types.

For me, however, the movie did have some problems. One is that the movie runs a bit too long at 141 minutes (and TCM didn't run the roadshow version which has an intro/intermission/exit music). Part of that is down to the dream sequence, which reminded me of the Cyd Charisse number near the end of Singin' in the Rain: it may be well done, but it feels tacked on, and runs so, so long. Some of the casting is also interesting. I mentioned Rod Steiger who I think is out of place as a circa-1900 Oklahoman, although he could certainly play hair-trigger temper types. And then there's Gloria Grahame. IMDb's soundtrack page for the movie doesn't list anybody dubbing her, and it certainly sounds like her voice. Except that she can't sing. Her musical number, "I Can't Say No", brings the production to a screeching halt.

But fans of musicals will most likely love this adaptation of Oklahoma!, and it's easy to see why.