"Oklahoma!" released nation-wide 1956

The movie adaptation of  Rodgers and Hammerstein's wildly successful Broadway musical Oklahoma! opened in theaters across the US, November 16, 1956, the forty-ninth birthday of the state.  It had premiered in Los Angeles and Chicago the previous year. 

It starred Gordon MacRae as Curly and Shirley Jones as Laurey.  Eddie Albert, James Whitmore, and Rod Steiger also appeared.

Oklahoma! was nominated for four Academy Awards and won two: Best Sound Recording and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture.  The two other nominations were for Best Cinematography, Color and Best Film Editing. 

On the centennial birthday of Oklahoma, November 16, 2007, the movie was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. 

My favorite movies - 1962

The latest Facebook challenge is to lists your favorite film from each year that you have been alive.  I started in 1962 (duh!) and the plan was to list several years at a time so I'm not posting these for the next year, but when I looked at the films from 1962, I couldn't narrow them down to just one.  So I listed five (not in any particular order)

The Manchurian Candidate (favorite thriller) starring Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey and Angela Lansbury.




The Music Man (favorite musical) starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones.




Hatari! (favorite action movie) starring John Wayne and Red Buttons



Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (favorite psychological thriller) starring Joan Crawford and Bette Davis




The Brain That Wouldn't Die (favorite sci-fi, guilty pleasure) starring Jason Evans and Virginia Leith.