Oklahoma! (1955) | |
| Director(s) | Fred Zinnemann |
| Producer(s) | Arthur Hornblow Jr., Oscar Hammerstein II (executive uncredited), Richard Rodgers (executive uncredited) |
| Top Genres | Musical, Romance, Western |
| Top Topics | Based on Play, Ranchers, Romance (Musical) |
Featured Cast:
Oklahoma! Overview:
Oklahoma! (1955) was a Musical - Romance Film directed by Fred Zinnemann and produced by Arthur Hornblow Jr., Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers.
The film was based on the play Green Grow the Lilacs written by Samuel A. Taylor performed at the Guild Theatre, NY from Jan 26, 1931 - Mar 21, 1931.
SYNOPSIS
In this beloved Rodgers and Hammerstein musical (their first brought to the screen), an adorable 19-year-old Jones, in her screen debut, must choose a suitor to accompany her to a social: the righteous cowboy (MacRae) or the brooding farm hand (Steiger). From this simple scenario develops humor, fighting, dancing (including a breakthrough dream sequence choreographed by Agnes De Mille), and singing. The entire production was filmed twice, with one take for the new Todd A-O format and one for the regular CinemaScope aspect ratio. There is now laserdisc version of the Todd A-O takes, which some consider vastly superior. Includes the enduring songs "People will say were in love," "Oh, what a beautiful mornin'," and "Oklahoma!"
(Source: available at Amazon AMC Classic Movie Companion).
.Oklahoma! was inducted into the National Film Registry in 2007.
Academy Awards 1955 --- Ceremony Number 28 (source: AMPAS)
| Award | Recipient | Result |
| Best Cinematography | Robert Surtees | Nominated |
| Best Film Editing | Gene Ruggiero, George Boemler | Nominated |
| Best Music - Scoring | Robert Russell Bennett, Jay Blackton, Adolph Deutsch | Won |
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Quotes from
Dancer: There's sometimes women ain't got no need for men.
Ado Annie Carnes: Yeah, but who wants to be dead?
Ali Hakim: It's a wonderful thing to be married. I got a brother in Persia got six wives.
Ado Annie Carnes: Six wives all at once?
Will Parker: Why, sure. That's the way they do in them countries.
Ali Hakim: Not always; I got a brother in Persia only got one wife. He's a bachelor.
Will Parker: I don't know what to make of you! You're too purty to be a skunk! Too thin to be a snake! To little to be a man, and too big to be a mouse! I reckon you're a rat!
Ali Hakim: That's logical.
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Facts about
Finding "corn as high as an elephant's eye" proved to be quite a challenge. Since filming was to take place out of season, no tall cornfields were to be found anywhere. The job was given to the people of the University of Arizona Agricultural Department, who planted each stalk in individual containers and held their breath. With rain and good luck, the corn grew to a height of 16 feet, causing Oscar Hammerstein to quip: "The corn is now as high as the eye of an elephant on top of another elephant."
The general release version, shot in CinemaScope, is the one that played most theatres throughout the USA. This version was not released until late 1956, after the first-run Todd-AO version had played New York for more than a year and after the film versions of two other Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II stage musicals, "Carousel" and "The King and I", had already been released throughout the United States.
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