Director: Morton DaCosta (
Auntie Mame,
Island of Love)
Written by: Meredith Wilson
Stars: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Ron Howard (as "Ronny Howard")
"He's a music man!"
"He's a what--he's a what?"
"He's a music man! And he sells trombones and clarinets to the kids in the town...."
That's a wee bit of the first tune in the film. I love some of the sequences in this movie/story. The first scene takes place inside a train car, with several travelling salesmen talking- and singing, of course- about the legendary con-man "Professor" Harold Hill, who travels around selling instruments and band uniforms to the boys in town, and then skips out before teaching them how to play their instruments, since he "doesn't know one note from another", as one of the salesmen declaims.
I've seen it on the stage, and I have to say that that first scene is my favorite. It's amazing the way it comes to life, especially on stage. They're in a train car! Just watch the beginning, and you will see what I mean.
So that's basically the story. Harold Hill (Preston) was on that train in the beginning, and he hops off at the next stop- River City, to the surprise of the other salesmen, because they were declaring he was too smart to stop there, in that little conservative town.
But stop he does, and proceeds to convince the people of the good town that they need a boy's band to give their boys something to do besides playing pool. (Oh no! Not pool!) And, in the middle of all this, there's the single music teacher and librarian, Marion (Jones), who sees through him, but eventually, they like each other.
Songs include:
-"The Wells Fargo Wagon" (in which Ron Howard has quite a solo- he was so cute!!),
-"Til There Was You" (yes, that one- it came from here),
-"Trouble" (very funny- and very adaptable to real life. I quite often somebody or something is "trouble with a capital T and that rhymes with P and that stands for Pool". All the time),
-"Shipoopi" (which makes me hate Buddy Hackett. I think you either like his voice or hate it- he plays the seagull in The Little Mermaid, among other roles. Anyway, I kinda hate it.)
-"Seventy-Six Trombones" (which very easily gets stuck in my head),
-"Marion" (which takes place in the library, where Hill is professing his love to Marion, who isn't convinced-- this one is my second favorite of all the sequences).
Note: I get so bored in this movie, though! I mean, it is so entertaining, but holy cow! It's so long! Two hours and 45 minutes! But if you like musicals, you must see it at least once.
NOTE: I checked out the director, and surprisingly he only directed 3 movies. Literally! This one and the ones I listed next to his name above. Considering how everyone knows The Music Man (at least has heard of it), that surprises me.
