The Music Man is a 1962 American musical film directed by Morton DaCosta and starring Robert Preston and Shirley Jones.
Released by Warner Bros. on June 19, 1962, the film was one of the biggest hits of the year and widely acclaimed by critics. It was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, with composer Ray Heindorf winning Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment. The film also won the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Preston and Jones were both nominated in their respective acting categories.
In 2005, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot[]
In 1912, notorious con man 'Professor' Harold Hill arrives in River City, Iowa, anxious to swindle the famously stubborn citizens. Masquerading as a band instructor, Hill plans to con the townspeople into paying him to create a boys' marching band. Once he has collected their payment and the instruments and uniforms have arrived, he will hop the next train out of town, leaving them with the instruments and uniforms, but without their money or a band.
With his associate Marcellus Washburn, Hill realizes he needs a red herring ploy, so he incites concern among River City's parents that their boys are being seduced into sin and vice by the town's new pool table. He convinces them that a marching band is the only way to keep boys out of trouble, and begins collecting money for the band. Anticipating that Marian Paroo, the town's conscientious librarian and piano instructor, will attempt to discredit him, Hill sets out to seduce her into silence. Also in opposition to Hill is the town's Mayor Shinn, owner of the billiard parlor, who orders the school board to obtain Hill's credentials. When they attempt to do so, Hill avoids their questions by teaching them to sing as a barbershop quartet via "sustained talking". Thereafter, Hill easily tricks them into breaking into four-part harmony whenever they ask for his credentials.
Hill's wooing of Marian, who distrusts him, has little effect, though he succeeds in winning the admiration of her mother Widow Paroo and attempts to befriend her unhappy younger brother, Winthrop. When Marian discovers that Hill's claim to being a graduate of "Gary Conservatory, Gold Medal, Class of '05" is a lie (the town of Gary was founded in 1906, so there could be no music conservatory with that name before that date), she attempts to expose him, but is interrupted by the arrival of the Wells Fargo wagon. When Winthrop, after years of moody withdrawal, joins in the townspeople's singing and speaks effusively about his new cornet, Marian sees Hill's work as beneficial and hides the evidence of his deceit from Mayor Shinn. Hill tells the boys to learn to play via the "Think System", in which they simply have to think of a tune over and over and will know how to play it without ever practicing on their instruments.
Hill's con is nearly complete: all he has to do is collect the rest of the money and disappear. Meeting Marian at the footbridge – the first time she has ever been there with a man – he learns that she knew of his deception but did not tell because she is in love with him. He is about to leave town when Charlie Cowell, a disgruntled anvil salesman who was run out of Brighton, Illinois because Hill had conned the townspeople there, comes to River City and exposes Hill. Sought by an angry mob and pressed to leave town by Marcellus and Marian, Hill realizes he is in love with Marian and does not want to leave her.
Hill is captured by the mob and brought before a town meeting to be tarred and feathered. Marian defends Hill; the townspeople, reminded of how he has brought so many of them together, elect to relent. Mayor Shinn reminds the townspeople how much money Hill has taken, with no apparent result. When he demands to know "Where's the band?" Hill is saved by the town's boys, who play Beethoven's Minuet in G. Although their technical expertise leaves much to be desired, the boys' parents are enthralled. As the boys march out of the town hall, they are suddenly "transformed" by the townspeople's imagination into a spectacular marching band in resplendent uniforms, playing and marching with perfection, led by Hill. Hill is reunited with Marian, and all the other main characters join in during the credits.
Cast[]
- Robert Preston as Professor Harold Hill
- Shirley Jones as Marian Paroo
- Buddy Hackett as Marcellus Washburn
- Hermione Gingold as Eulalie Mackechnie Shinn
- Paul Ford as Mayor George Shinn
- Pert Kelton as Mrs. Paroo
- The Buffalo Bills as The School Board:
- Bill Spangenberg as Olin Britt
- Wayne "Scotty" Ward as Oliver Hix
- Al Shea as Ewart Dunlop
- Vern Reed as Jacey Squires
- Timmy Everett as Tommy Djilas
- Susan Luckey as Zaneeta Shinn
- Ron Howard as Winthrop Paroo
- Harry Hickox as Charlie Cowell (anvil salesman)
- Charles Lane as Constable Locke
- Mary Wickes as Mrs. Squires (Pick-a-little Ladies)
- Peggy Mondo as Ethel Toffelmier (Pick-a-little Ladies)
- Sara Seegar as Mrs. Maud Dunlop (Pick-a-little Ladies)
- Adnia Rice as Alma Hix (Pick-a-little Ladies)
- Jesslyn Fax as Avis Grubb
- Monique Vermont as Amaryllis
- Ronnie Dapo as Norbert Smith (uncredited)
- Percy Helton as Train Conductor (uncredited)
- Max Showalter as Salesman on the Train (uncredited)
Song list[]
- Main article: The Music Man (soundtrack)
- "Main Title/Rock Island" – Orchestra, The Traveling Salesmen
- "Iowa Stubborn" – The Ensemble
- "Ya Got Trouble" – Robert Preston, The Ensemble
- "Piano Lesson / If You Don't Mind My Saying So" – Shirley Jones, Pert Kelton
- "Goodnight, My Someone" – Shirley Jones
- "Ya Got Trouble/Seventy-Six Trombones" – Robert Preston, The Ensemble
- "Sincere" – Buffalo Bills
- "The Sadder but Wiser Girl" – Robert Preston, Buddy Hackett
- "Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little" – Hermione Gingold, Mary Wickes, Peggy Mondo, Sara Seegar, Adnia Rice
- "Marian the Librarian" – Robert Preston
- "Being in Love" – Shirley Jones
- "Gary, Indiana" – Robert Preston, Pert Kelton
- "The Wells Fargo Wagon" – The Ensemble
- "Lida Rose/Will I Ever Tell You?" – Shirley Jones, The Buffalo Bills
- "Gary, Indiana" (Reprise) – Ronny Howard, Pert Kelton, Shirley Jones
- "Shipoopi" – Buddy Hackett, The Ensemble
- "Till There Was You" – Shirley Jones
- "It's You" – Buffalo Bills (does not appear on soundtrack album)
- "Goodnight, My Someone" (Reprise) – Shirley Jones, Robert Preston
- "Seventy-Six Trombones" (Reprise & Finale) – The Ensemble
External links[]
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This page uses content from the English Wikipedia page The Music Man (1962 film). The revision history lists the authors. The text on Warner Bros. Entertainment Wiki and Wikipedia is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License (CC BY-SA). |