Movie #960: The Music Man

The Music Man is the 1962 film version of the eponymous musical, starring Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford, Pert Kelton, The Buffalo Bills (a barbershop quartet; they have names but they're credited by the group name and frankly their individual characters don't really mean much), Susan Luckey, Timmy Everett, and Ron Howard.

Harold Hill (Preston) is a con-man and traveling salesman who goes to little towns, whips up a moral panic, and then sells a "boy band" (which meant something very different in 1962, although a contemporary version of this story set in the 90s that had Hill trying to start a N'sync knockoff or whatever would be amazing), complete with uniforms and instruments and all, to fix it. Of course he doesn't know the first thing about music, but he's an amazing fast-talker and knows how to play to people's vanities. He rolls into River City, IA and starts his rap, and tries to cozy up to Marian Paroo (Jones), the local piano teacher and librarian, because he knows she'll be able to expose her.

This doesn't really work, but he manages to shuck and jive long enough to milk money out of the town, but just when he's about to be exposed by another, rather scummy but completely in the right salesman (Harry Hickcox), Marian demonstrates that she's in love with him, he falls in love back, and the boy band actually manages to squeak out a kind of recognizable version of Beethoven's Minuet in G, which is good, because the town was quite literally ready to murder him. 

Of course, all of this is intercut with songs (it's always interesting to me how little actually happens in musicals of this era, because most of the run time is taken up by song and dance. Same principle applies to action movies like John Wick or porn movies). And a lot of the songs are really staples of the era and the genre - "76 Trombones," "Til There was You", and "Gary, Indiana", off the top of my head. I worked crew for a production of The Music Man in college, so it brought back a lot of memories to see the movie. 

Now, does it hold up? Is it "good"? If you like musicals, you're off to a good start. If not, don't bother. I think it's worth noting that this was a Best Picture nominee - film adaptations of Broadway musicals was a reliable moneymaker for a while (see also Oliver!, West Side Story, My Fair Lady, Guys & Dolls, Oklahoma!, and hey, Chicago - not so much Cats, of course). As musical adaptations go, it's fairly snappy - these films can get overlong pretty easily. The music and lyrics require some pretty quick wordplay and Robert Preston (who originated the role on Broadway) is clearly very comfortable doing it. 

As is typical of musicals like this, you're not going in for deep characterization of intricate plots, you're going for the bright colors, the fun music, and the impressive dancing, and there definitely is all of that. And most of the comedy lands and has held up fairly well, so all in all it's a win.

My Grade: B+
Rewatch Value: Medium

Next up: My Soul to Take