It stars Gordon MacRae, Shirley Jones (in her film debut), Rod Steiger, Charlotte Greenwood, Gloria Grahame, Gene Nelson, James Whitmore, and Eddie Albert.
Set in Oklahoma Territory shortly after the turn of the 20th century, 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.
was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Curly tempts her by describing the surrey he plans to drive her in, then tells her he made the story up to get back at her for refusing him.
Cowboy Will Parker arrives by train from a trip to Kansas City and seeks out his sweetheart, Ado Annie, who, in Will’s absence, has become smitten with itinerant peddler Ali Hakim.
Uncertain what to do, Laurey uses a bottle of smelling salts she bought earlier from Ali, hoping to find her answer in a dream.
Curly sells his saddle, horse, and gun to raise enough money to beat Jud’s highest bid and win.
[10] 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 in 1953 (equivalent to approximately $11.4 million in 2023).
[11][12] Magna was initially founded in order to develop a new widescreen process Todd created, called "Todd-AO",[13] and ended up financing the film independently after a deal with Fox fell through.
[11][14] 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.
[10][15] The corn field in the opening number as well as the reprise song "Surrey with the Fringe on Top" were shot at the historic Canoa Ranch in Green Valley, Arizona.
Director of photography Robert Surtees reported:[16]It is a little difficult for me to put into words how it felt to work with something as totally new as Todd-AO.
Every bit of camera, lab, editing and projection equipment had to be specially designed and built as we went along—often on feverish deadlines just ahead of our shooting schedule.
We felt like real pioneers—but there was a spirit there, a spark of excitement generated throughout a wonderfully loyal and competent crew working together to produce something very special.
[17] According to TCM, Dean "made a sensational [screen] test with Rod Steiger in the 'Poor Jud Is Dead' number", but because his voice wasn't strong enough, Gordon MacRae was cast in the main role.
[20] Joanne Woodward was offered the role of Laurey,[21] which went to Shirley Jones (who had previously performed in a stage production of Oklahoma![10]).
Robert Russell Bennett expanded his Broadway orchestrations, Jay Blackton conducted, and Agnes de Mille again choreographed.
Rodgers and Hammerstein personally oversaw the film to prevent the studio from making changes of the kind that were then typical of stage-to-film musical adaptations—such as putting in new songs by different composers.
The film omitted very little from the stage production, cutting only two songs (Ali Hakim's "It's a Scandal, It's a Outrage" Jud's "Lonely Room" and one verse from "Oh What a Beautiful Mornin"),[10] and thus ran two-and-a-half hours, much longer than most other screen musicals of the time.
[23] The film was shown on a two-a-day reserved seat policy with three shows at the weekends and holidays and grossed $573,493 in its first 12 weeks in New York.
The film opened on the same roadshow basis at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on November 18 and then at the McVicker's Theater in Chicago on December 26.
[24] In its initial theatrical release, the Magna Theatre Corporation handled distribution of the roadshow presentations in 70 mm Todd-AO.
by partial rights holder 20th Century Fox is a double-disc release that includes both the CinemaScope and original 70 mm Todd-AO versions in widescreen.
[citation needed] In 2021, it was announced that the film would stream on Disney+ beginning April 30, 2021, following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company.