Oklahoma!

I saw the british stage production of Oklahoma last night (via DVD) starring Hugh Jackman. Going in, I kind of had the assumption that it was just going to be a classic wild west love story. I a sense it was, but it also contained some very disturbing material. The most disturbing was the character of Judd, who was a sociopathic hired hand who lived in the smokehouse of the female lead (Jackman's love interest). Judd was none for sitting in his "hole," looking at porn, and doing unspeakable things. The last eight minutes of the film were especially disturbing. Judd fell on his own knife while duking it out with Jackman. Jackman is briefly accused of murder at which time the townfolk coerce the local judge into holding an expedited trial (about forty seconds long, as compared to Laurie's forty minute long dream sequence earlier in the film) which results in a ruling that Jackman is not guilty. Jackman then runs off with Laurie.

Despite the plentiful and sometimes quite good musical numbers, I cannot recommend this film. It is very long, very disturbing, and ultimately unsatisfying. Instead, go rent the BBC production of Pride and Prejudice. Now that is a great film.