Curly tries to talk Jud into killing himself and the audience roars...

I think Curley is a jerk, but I'll give him his due; his song is clever and has some funny back-handed compliments ("He treated the rats like equals; which was right.")

I'm also from the midwest and attended a live performance of "Oklahoma" a few years ago in which this song laid a big egg; not so much as a smile from any of the hundreds of people in attendance.

Long story short: you probably need to have a subtle and dark sense of humor to appreciate the song. Even at that, I still feel bad for the way that Curley, and, well, everybody else in the town, treats Jud like dirt.

I think Curly is being an a--hole, and I too, feel sorry for Judd, but I still got the dark humor in this song. It's not for all tastes, however.

Dini

While it's very dark humor, I actually laughed out loud at this song just for some of the funny lines, such as the one about the daisies not smelling quite the same.

There were lots of witty insults that are pretty funny. It had already been established that Jud is an ass hole and a murderer -- he burned down a house with a family in it, killing them. Who cares about a few insults in a song.

Curly is impish. He slyly smiles at the back of Jud's head while he takes liberties with the lyrics. Especially when he responds with the word 'good.'

It's not a "big, dumb Hollywood musical". It's a landmark Broadway musical that was made into a film and that scene is almost word-for-word from the stage script.

It's not offensive at all. It's a dark scene and Curly does it in a charming way. He doesn't just say "Go kill yourself". He's merely making observations about how easy it would be in the smokehouse to do it. Curly isn't an a'hole at all. Here is what Judd has done up to that point:

- Been generally creepy
- Spied on Laurey as she is in her underwear
- Bullied Laurey into not breaking their date

And Curly is the a'hole?

Plus, what does he spend his time doing the rest of the movie:

- Threatening Curly if he tries to get with Laurey
- Trying to get Laurey alone and take advantage of her
- Threatening Curly saying that he's going to need his gun
- Arranging the "little wonder" and attempting to murder Curly
- Demeaning, insulting and man-handling Laurey because she thinks he's a creep and he's not getting anywhere with her
- Setting fire to Laurey and Curly because he doesn't like them

(Plus the song "Lonely Room" in which he basically whacks off about Laurey in song.)

So, Curly is the a'hole for having a comicly dark scene even though Judd is the villain of the piece?