The Music Man 1962
I remember seeing The Music Man on TV as an adult years ago and being surprised how much I liked it. Rewatching it now, there are some fun songs and Robert Preston does a great job playing Professor Harold Hill, plus Shirley Jones does a nice job as Marian (the librarian). Buddy Hackett and Ronny Howard are also fun to see, as is the barbershop quartet, but it thins out after that. It is mostly a romance movie and a mushy and tired one at that. The big caper at the core of the movie takes a back seat to the life of all the characters and never seems that bad. Some characters are pretty obnoxious, like the mayor’s daughter, who says egads too many times. So despite a handful of good songs and some appealing leads, the movie still seems long and it took me a while to work my way through. Breaking the movie up into several sessions doesn’t do it any favors. While I can see how Marian would develop some affection for Hill, there doesn’t seem much basis for her falling head over heels in love. I kind of like that Marian doesn’t fully redeem Hill (she never even knows his real name) and you have to decide for yourself if he stayed around or left. So there are positives and negatives for this movie and it ends up with a B.
Written: 14 Jun 2022
Owned on: Digital