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!

gavin6942 In the Oklahoma territory at the turn of the twentieth century, two young cowboys vie with an evil ranch hand and a traveling peddler for the hearts of the women they love.The film won two Academy Awards and was nominated for two others. The wins came in Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture (for Robert Russell Bennett, Jay Blackton, and Adolph Deutsch) and Best Sound, Recording (Fred Hynes). Nominations came in the categories of Best Cinematography, Color (Robert Surtees) and Best Film Editing (for Gene Ruggiero and George Boemler).It makes sense that the film would win in the sound and music categories, as this is the film's strength. The use of widescreen is excellent, as well, and it is a shame that people who saw the movie on telecast probably were denied the full view. The film has a bit of age, but as it is set in the past in the first place, it sort of sidesteps that concern.

Srikumar Krishna Iyer I came across this movie recommendation as I was looking for works by the duo, Rodgers & Hammerstein after seeing their greatest work 'the sound of music' so many times.True to my expectations, the music throughout this musical drama was fantastic. On first listen itself most of the songs registered in my mind.Though I guess no movie or work of theirs can ever make a impact like 'The Sound of Music' did, still it is worth spending couple of hours watching this musical.Not much to say about the plot that's there... not very strong, none of the characters really registered in my mind from start to end, but having said that, it never really bothered me that the plot or characterizations were too simple or too scope-less, because the frequently occurring songs just compensated for the same.I highly recommend this musical to all those who enjoy the works of Rodgers & Hammerstein.My rating is just for the music only.March 1st: UPDATE -Just revisited this movie for just listening to the songs again & boy, did I enjoy!! It was just mind blowing......... amazing music & lyrics. Great performance by the lead actors to act & sing along. Now along with 'Sound of Music' I have one more musical which I revisit whenever I want to listen to some wonderful music.

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.