Oklahoma! (1955)

Oklahoma! movie storyline. Just before Oklahoma became a new state, Laurey Williams notices that Curly, a handsome though shy ranch hand, has been acting strangely around her. Through some course of events, she and Curly soon realise the feelings they have for each other. Judd, a hired hand at Laurey’s home, also has feelings for her. Together, she and Curly have to do something to save their relationship and keep Judd from doing something terrible.

Woven into this plot is the life of Ado Annie, one of Laurey’s friends. Her boyfriend has just gotten back from an exciting trip to Kansas City. While he was away, she has fallen for a peddler who is a ladies’ man and doesn’t really want to marry her. Does she give Will, her boyfriend, “all or nuthin'”, or does she run away with the peddler? Set against the backdrop of ranching Oklahoma, this musical is full of fun, music, and romance for everyone.

Oklahoma! is a 1955 American musical film based on the 1943 musical of the same name by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, starring 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 (and was simultaneously filmed in CinemaScope 35mm).

Set in Oklahoma Territory, it tells the story of farm girl Laurey Williams (Jones) and her courtship by two rival suitors, cowboy Curly McLain (MacRae) and the sinister and frightening farmhand Jud Fry (Steiger). A secondary romance concerns Laurey’s friend, Ado Annie (Grahame), and cowboy Will Parker (Nelson), who also has an unwilling rival. A background theme is the territory’s aspiration for Statehood, and the local conflict between cattlemen and farmers.

About the Production

Interest in a film version of Oklahoma! dates as far back as 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 bought by the Magna Theatre Corporation, a company founded by George Skouras, Joseph Schenck, and Michael Todd for a record $1,000,000. Magna was initially founded in order to develop a new widescreen process Todd created, called “Todd-AO”,[ and ended up financing the film independently after a deal with Fox fell through.[8] Including the cost of developing the new process, Magna invested $11 million in the film.

Although the film was initially to have been shot on location in the title state, the producers opted to shoot elsewhere, apparently because the oil wells would be a distraction for exterior scenes. Location shooting was done mostly in Nogales, Arizona. The corn field in the opening number as well as the reprise song, “Surrey With the Fringe On Top” was shot at the historic Canoa Ranch in Green Valley, Arizona. The train station used in the “Kansas City” routine was located in Elgin, Arizona. Sound stage and backlot sequences were filmed at MGM Studios in Culver City, California.

Oklahoma! was the first production photographed in Todd-AO. The original specification 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 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 film in both formats was a “precautionary measure”, as the (converted ca. 1930s Fearless Superfilm 65mm) Todd-AO camera was still being tested during production.

The many actors who tried out for the role of Curly included James Dean and Paul Newman. According to TCM, Dean “made a sensational [screen] test with Rod Steiger in the ‘Poor Jud Is Dead’ number”, but as his voice wasn’t strong enough, Gordon MacRae was cast in the main role. Steiger remarked 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 observed that Dean was a “nice kid absorbed by his own ego, so much so that it was destroying him”, which he thinks led to his death. Dean reportedly gave him his prized copy of Ernest Hemingway’s book Death in the Afternoon, and had underlined every occurrence of the word “death”. Joanne Woodward was offered the role of Laurey, which went to Shirley Jones (who had previously performed in a stage production of Oklahoma!). Eli Wallach and Ernest Borgnine were considered for the role of Jud before Rod Steiger was cast.

Directed by: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, Charlotte Greenwood, Rod Steiger, Eddie Albert, James Whitmore, Shirley Jones, Barbara Lawrence, Jay C. Flippen, Jennie Workman
Screenplay by: Sonya Levien, William Ludwig
Production Design by: Oliver Smith
Cinematography by: Robert Surtees, Floyd Crosby
Film Editing by: George Boemler, Gene Ruggiero
Costume Design by: Sophie Devine, Orry-Kelly, Charles Arrico
Set Decoration by: F. Keogh Gleason
Art Direction by: Joseph C. Wright
Music by: Richard Rodgers
MPAA Rating: None.
Distributed by: Magna Theatre Corporation (70mm), RKO Radio Pictures (35mm)
Release Date: October 11, 1955