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The Music Man (1962)
Director: Morton DaCosta
Writers: Meredith Willson, Franklin Lacey
Actors: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett
Genre: Musical
Surprisingly I don't have a lot to say here. Yeah, I know I'm usually long winded
but The Music Man isn't the kind of movie that needs deep in-depth analysis...so maybe, just maybe, I'll keep this short
The one thing that really stands out in The Music Man are the songs and there are a lot of them! By my count there's 24 songs in the movie and that's a lot, even for a musical. Usually a movie that was made from a musical stage production had a large number of the songs cut, so that the story line and dialogue could be expanded for a movie audience. And that's what makes The Music Man unique, it's literally done just as the stage production was. That's due to director/producer Morton DaCosta who also had been the director of the stage version. He made sure the film was true to the stage show. And that then makes The Music Man both special...and harder for movie audiences to get into. With 21 songs there's not much time for character development.
Luckily there's some great tunes here, my favorites were: Rock Island sung by the traveling salesmen on the train, Ya Got Trouble I've been singing this to my wife, substituting our cat's names for 'pool' and that rhymes with trouble!...Piano Lesson, Goodnight, My Someone, Being in Love all sung by the talented Shirley Jones, wow can she sing or what!
My favorite production numbers/songs would be: Marian The Librarian, done in the library, Pick a Little, Talk a Little sung by the townswomen and the local chickens! And of course I love the number where the town's youth parade down the street in full band costumes.
Gosh Shirley Jones is so perfect for this role as a sweet but stubborn librarian and oddly enough she's really good as a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry. There's a couple other of her films that I really like too.
Robert Preston is the man! What else can I say...he's the Music Man who in pulling a con job on the small Iowa town's folks, ends up giving them more than they even hoped for.
I did have a lot to say after all, I'm guess I'm full of it just call me The Movie Man and that spells trouble!
Writers: Meredith Willson, Franklin Lacey
Actors: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett
Genre: Musical
Surprisingly I don't have a lot to say here. Yeah, I know I'm usually long winded
but The Music Man isn't the kind of movie that needs deep in-depth analysis...so maybe, just maybe, I'll keep this short The one thing that really stands out in The Music Man are the songs and there are a lot of them! By my count there's 24 songs in the movie and that's a lot, even for a musical. Usually a movie that was made from a musical stage production had a large number of the songs cut, so that the story line and dialogue could be expanded for a movie audience. And that's what makes The Music Man unique, it's literally done just as the stage production was. That's due to director/producer Morton DaCosta who also had been the director of the stage version. He made sure the film was true to the stage show. And that then makes The Music Man both special...and harder for movie audiences to get into. With 21 songs there's not much time for character development.
Luckily there's some great tunes here, my favorites were: Rock Island sung by the traveling salesmen on the train, Ya Got Trouble I've been singing this to my wife, substituting our cat's names for 'pool' and that rhymes with trouble!...Piano Lesson, Goodnight, My Someone, Being in Love all sung by the talented Shirley Jones, wow can she sing or what!
My favorite production numbers/songs would be: Marian The Librarian, done in the library, Pick a Little, Talk a Little sung by the townswomen and the local chickens! And of course I love the number where the town's youth parade down the street in full band costumes.
Gosh Shirley Jones is so perfect for this role as a sweet but stubborn librarian and oddly enough she's really good as a vengeful prostitute in Elmer Gantry. There's a couple other of her films that I really like too.
Robert Preston is the man! What else can I say...he's the Music Man who in pulling a con job on the small Iowa town's folks, ends up giving them more than they even hoped for.
I did have a lot to say after all, I'm guess I'm full of it
just call me The Movie Man and that spells trouble!