At the turn of the century in the title territory, robust cowboy Curly (Gordon MacRae) tussles for the love of Laurey (Shirley Jones) with her cruel and lewd farmhand Jud (Rod Steiger), while a similar scenario plays out between Curly's friend Will (Gene Nelson) and a travelling salesman (James Whitmore), although the unscrupulous hockster is more than willing to, but unable to part with the licentious Ado Annnie (Gloria Grahame). "Oklahoma!" is a booming and delightfully infectious cinematic rendering of the Broadway success, replete with joyous, toe-tapping songs by Rodgers and Hammerstein. Fred Zinnemann's opening up of the stage material to the big screen is always exciting and his cast, escpecially MacRae and Grahame, is consistently excellent (it's a special treat to watch Steiger, whom I didn't realize was in the movie, sing in his sole musical number). "Oklahoma!" is a wonderful throwback to a golden age of movie musicals.
