Post by StevePulaski on May 22, 2017 12:10:16 GMT -5
The Music Man (1962)
Directed by: Morton DaCosta
Directed by: Morton DaCosta
Robert Preston (center) in The Music Man.
Rating: ★★★
"Professor" Harold Hill (Robert Preston) is a traveling salesman looking to find stable work when he arrives in River City, Iowa, a notoriously stubborn Midwestern area. He finds out early that in order to make a killing in his business, he needs to be facetious and a bit deceptive, so he masquerades as a band instructor for an under-funded boys' marching band. With the intent to collect money and claim it's to be used for instruments, uniforms, and other accessories, Hill simply wants to pocket the money and catch a train to the next location that is certainly ripe with suckers.
Hill's plan, however, gets a bit complex. Hill teams up with his friend Marcellus Washburn (Buddy Hackett), and the sudden appearance of both men in River City causes concern over their legitimacy. Hill also further complicates things by getting too personal with Marian (Shirley Jones), the town's beloved librarian, which prompts further suspicion by the Mayor Shinn (Paul Ford). Shinn also owns the new billiards parlor, a controversial new hang-out spot where kids thin gin, jazz June, and all that business. In order to win the heart of Marian when his dreams of getting out of town filthy rich get put on the backburner, he tries to get closer to her younger brother Winthrop, played by a very young Ron Howard (yes, the one you're thinking of).
Finally, Hill experiences significant backlash from the school board, played by the barbershop quartet known as The Buffalo Bills in an exuberant performance with flair en masse. All of this opposition and distraction puts him face-to-face with the reality that if he's going to do something, he's going to have to do it right, even if it means coming out on the bottom of his original plan to swindle.
The Music Man features a variety of songs, from ensembles to solos and duets in a way that capitalizes off of the largeness of the film's scope. Consider an early tune that arises from Marian teaching a young boy piano lessons by having him get acquainted with the varying sounds each key makes. She turns his careful, coordinated movements into a simple, conversational melody with her friend as the two enhance their interchangeable banter over a great little instrumental. But even if that sounds a bit too low-key for your musical standards, numbers like "Gary, Indiana," a love-letter to the Midwestern locale and "Iowa Stubborn," the rousing opener featuring almost two-dozen performers singing, dancing, and colliding on a cramped train, will certainly more suite your tastes.
The sunniness of The Music Man in terms of its demeanor and colorful visuals actual feels more of a contrast to the plot here than in typical musicals. Focusing on a selfish character, who isn't so much a curmudgeon but more a cynical byproduct of a cut-throat business, is rarely a great way to start off a film, but Preston achieves the difficultly in being a moderately likable, or perhaps watchable, cad that doesn't beat the audience down with his swindling nature. This is a credit to Marion Hargrove's screenplay in addition to the strength of the musical numbers, which help tie together a story that couldn't be serviced without frequent song interjected in the picture.
Alfred Hitchcock's right hand cinematographer Robert Burks gives The Music Man a delicious vibrance in color and tones that showcases the wonders of Technicolor and widescreen camera angles that make the film pop as a whole. A little overlong at 151 minutes, but not short on wonder or captivation thanks to Preston's acting talents, Burks and director Morton DaCosta's directing abilities, and a little Shipoopi, The Music Man finds a way to function without letting its cynical premise get the best of it.
Starring: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett, Paul Ford, and Ronny Howard. Directed by: Morton DaCosta.