Following up on the theme of last article on 1st National & Bunky and with the same emphasis on the early days before and after the April 22, 1889, Land Run, during a recent insomniac event I went to Hulu to see what I could watch there while I should have been sleeping but could not. There, I ran across a popular movie, McLintock, released in 1963 starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. It being a movie I’d enjoyed many years earlier, I selected it to watch and I’m glad that I did.
But not until that viewing did it sink in that McLintock might be a movie about Oklahoma, scripted as it was in the nature of a historical novel. That glimmer led me to research a bit more and the result is this post which I hope that you will enjoy, in addition to the movie itself. The result of my investigation led me to conclude and say without any hesitation that McLintock is a comedic western tale which has Oklahoma Territory as its setting, and the parts of the story which are presented as historic fact are solidly accurate. The story line itself is based on William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew ala John Wayne’s unmistakable style.
Below, I’m presenting for your viewing a condensed slide-show of the movie without audio which lasts 8-9 minutes but which contains controls so that you can move around or end watching as you will. I’ve assembled this from 100+ screen captures within the real movie. It contains a summary annotations as well as historical notes along the way. Below that, I’ve embedded the full 2-hour movie from Hulu’s website, for as long as it remains available there. After that, I’ve added some notes about how the movie measures up to real Oklahoma history. Have fun and enjoy the show!
Click on the graphic to start the 8-9 minute slide show
containing historical notes and the movie summary
An Oklahoma Territory adaptation of Taming of the Shrew
The 2-Hour Full Movie
From Hulu, for as long as remains available there — sometimes it isn’t
A no-commercial but not wide-screen version is also available at the link below:
Click Here To Play McLintock At The Alternate Location
The Real History. Even though McLintock is an adaptation of William Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew and the story itself is fictional, the story’s setting is based upon accurate historical Oklahoma facts.
Click below for a brief 6 minute slide show which explains that.