The Library of Congress gave Oklahoma a late birthday gift recently: It inducted the film version of the musical Okies either love or love to hate into the National Film Registry.
Yup, pore "Oklahoma!" isn't daid.
The 1955 flick featuring Gordon McRae " and corn as high as an elephant's eye " joined the registry alongside 24 other classics, ranging from 1985's "Back to the Future" to 1968's "Bullitt," likewise deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant.
Listing isn't just a hat's off. Since films are disappearing as the materials they were shot on deteriorate, registration means "Oklahoma!" will be "preserved for all time," according to the library Web site.
Fifth-graders in the midst of state history projects may give up a collective groan, but even at CFN we "cain't say no" to that.
The 2007 honors credit the movie version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical for its "breathtaking Technicolor vistas" in telling its pre-statehood story of lovers and feuds. "The publicity campaign said it all: 'A motion picture as big as all outdoors,'" the library release noted.
Still, we can't help but like choreographer Agnes de Mille's (sideways?) compliment of the flick, also cited, best: "It's different, but I find it very beautiful to look at."
