Video/DVD Reviews

Video/DVD Reviews -
Oklahoma!: Navigation

Oklahoma! - NR

Oklahoma!
Rate It!
On 8+
5 stars

Excellent singing and dancing on the frontier.

Rating: NR Studio: Magna Corporation Directed By: Fred Zinnemann Cast: Shirley Jones, Gordon MacRae, Gloria Grahame Running Time: 145 minutes Release Date: 10/11/1955 Genre: Musical

It's quick and easy to pass on
this great info!

Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that there's one part that could be scary for some kids: a brief knife fight atop burning haystacks. You'll also find plenty of flirty innuendo in the song "I Cain't Say No."

Families can talk about Jud's behavior and how he might have justified it. How do the others treat him? What are his reasons for fighting Curly? Why does Laurie change her mind about Curly? How does Ali Hakim treat women? Is the box social concept acceptable in today's society?

Rate It!

Common Sense Review

Most of this frontier musical takes place on the day of the box social, a party where women's picnic baskets are auctioned for charity. After spitefully refusing Curly's (Gordon MacRae) offer to escort her, Laurie (Shirley Jones in her movie debut) agrees to go to the dance with Aunt Eller's rough-edged farmhand Jud Fry. Of course, as much as Curly and Laurie protest in public, they secretly love each other. Unfortunately, Jud is both jealous and vengeful, and things escalate quickly. While this love triangle does momentarily turn violent, another bickering threesome keeps the movie light and comical. Ado Annie, a somewhat clueless girl who "cain't say no" (Gloria Grahame), can't decide if she should marry smooth-talking peddler Ali Hakim (Eddie Albert), who obviously has no interest in wedded bliss, or her well-intentioned cowboy fiancé, Will Parker.

Rodgers and Hammerstein's memorable tunes make OKLAHOMA! an eternally fresh and enjoyable musical classic. The opening scene, when cowboy Curly rides through cornfields singing "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin,'" sets the tone for this colorful, tuneful, and upbeat frontier movie.

There are a couple of drawn-out dance numbers that will tempt you to fast-forward: one as girls freshen up at Laurie's house on the way to the box social, and a later ballet dream sequence -- an obligatory, bizarre, feature of many 1950s musicals. But these scenes aren't enough to keep this from the short list of must-sees for families who enjoy musicals, or for kids just getting started on the classics.

More must-see family musicals:
Shirley Jones in The Music Man
The King and I
The Sound of Music

Rate It! Send to a Friend

It's quick and easy to pass on
this great info!

Content
CS adults kids

Sexual Content

Plenty of innuendo in the song "I Cain't Say No" and in much of the dialog between Ado Annie and her suitors. For example, Ali Hakim hopes to lure Ado Annie to a hotel where "paradise" awaits them.

Violence

Arson and a knife fight ending in the villain's death.

Language

Message

 

Social Behavior

At the "box social," men bid on women's picnic baskets to win the chance to dine with the basket-maker. The outdated concept comes across as a harmless and quaint frontier tradition. Jud's bachelor shack has pin-ups on the walls, and it's implied that the kaleidoscope he buys has pictures of nude women.

 

Commercialism

 

Drug/Alcohol/Tobacco

Rate It Now

Tell others what you think!
Write a review or post a comment.

Tell others what you think!
Write a review or post a comment.

Tell others what you think!
Write a review or post a comment.

OR

Tell others what you think!
Write a review or post a comment.

It only takes a minute to get great benefits! Sign up now and get a FREE Internet Survival Guide!