The Music Man (1962)

Truly Dreadful Film

Better Late Then Never

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

I first saw "The Music Man" in 1964. I was moved by Shirley Jone's rendition of "Goodnight My Someone." I started praying "to my someone" nightly. In August 1970 I met the woman whom I married in May 1972. We recently celebrated our 46th wedding anniversary. I whole heartily believe that this song was instrumental in my long marriage.

This review contains spoilers. The ending is brilliant. It is an intelligent, yet subtle statement on American consumerism. At the end, we see that the Town has bought the lie, they allowed themselves to be grifted and were so delusional and desperate to believe that their children weren't horrible musicians that we the viewer are witnessing a unified mass hysteria taking place. During this surreal moment, the uniforms that once were filthy rags, change to beautiful band outfits, and the band begins to play like John Sousa himself. The reason I reached this conclusion is that through out the film, we see no signs of magic, or fantasy, thus the ending is either done because they couldn't come up with an ending and whipped out a "magical anomaly", or this was a deftly crafted representation of the American citizen so willing to be lied to , and an examination at the happiness they feel when they buy a product and the weird yet fantastical reality that they then delve into after acquiring that product, believing their lives are better and now they are better than others. I gave this film a ten, because it is a classic, yet on a much deeper level than is comfortable for us to view openly.

Just watched the movie for the xxth time—it has gotten to be a 4th of July tradition. I was first exposed to this musical when my older sisters were cast in a high school theatrical version back before this movie was released.What's not to like? Preston is brilliant. Jones is the perfect example of how the perfection of human beauty is enhanced with a beautiful voice. It's romantic and nostalgic and wonderful. But what makes Music Man so special is that it is based on a cultural reality. Iowa (like the rest of the Big Ten turf) is awash in an incredible band music tradition. Those amazing bands that play halftime music at Wisconsin, Michigan, and Ohio State don't fall out of thin air—they are supported by a feeder system. Music Man was supposedly about Mason City and I would be shocked if they don't have a first-rate high school band to this day.But all these bands had to start somewhere. Someone had to convince folks that they should spend money to teach their children to make music. Now it is unlikely that someone as smooth-talking as Hill ever existed, but someone had to perform the job he did. And anyone who was promoting a band was very likely to be something of a showman—it comes with the territory. So while Hill was an exaggeration, real Hills existed.Note here, this isn't a story of a con-man who got away with one. Because it doesn't matter if Hill knew a note of music. If this had really happened, there would be no downside. Suddenly, the town would have a bunch of new instruments and in love with the idea their town could make it's own music. The town probably had enough Marions so they could get basic instruction started. Besides, it would take at least five years before the town band could make music anyway, so no one could have expected Hill to actually form a boy's band during the summer. Guys like Hill were important but hardly sufficient. The great youth bands in Iowa would wait until her universities started cranking out qualified music teachers.The idea that Iowa could have developed from virgin grassland to a society with roads, schools, and a successful export economy in only 60 years (1850 to 1910 when this musical was supposedly set) implies a LOT of plain hard work. It is also implies promoters. And the guys who brought music to the Midwest were the sort of people who didn't wait for permission to get something started. It's why the sensible librarian / piano teacher Marion recognized the promoter's value to the community.There's a lot of truth in this wonderful, silly, beautiful movie.

The Music Man was one of the best musical comedies ever made. It has a variety of excellent actors who seemed to work well together, and a number of songs that stick in your mind well after the movie is over.My favorite song in the film was "Ya Got Trouble", probably because when the movie came out we had a pool table and I thought the song was appropriate. But let's not forget "Pick a Little Talk a Little" another song that I can't get out of my head. Watching it today makes me feel good, it was a time when the only thing you had to worry about was getting swindled by a salesman, I guess that never changed! If you enjoy musicals, great actors and a lot of fun, it's a must see.America will never be the same again!