I am not a big fan of film musicals. I love music, but when it comes to throwing songs into a film, I’m of the mind that 99% of them should stay far away from each other. In my opinion, they rarely achieve an amiable collaboration; either the music overpowers what the actors are doing, or vice versa.

Of all the films I have seen that attempted this marriage, I consider no more than three or four watchable and of these, Meredith Wilson’s The Music Man is by far the best.

For those who have never seen the movie, it is about a con-man that goes by the name of Professor Harold Hill, who comes to the small Iowa town of River City, where he plans to sell the unsuspecting citizens band instruments and uniforms. To counter the usual small-town reticence and mistrust of strangers, he promises to form a town band and teach all the children how to play their expensive new trombones, trumpets, tubas, etc. Of course, his plan is to collect their money and leave town without providing anything of the sort, but life interferes in the form of the pretty young librarian, who manages to capture his heart.

I’ve loved this movie since the first time I saw it as a small boy and it has remained my favorite ever since. The music isn’t an addition to the plot, it is the plot. Every song advances the story significantly and all of them are so catchy it is impossible not to sing along!

76 trombones is the pièce de résistance of the movie, managing to introduce and sum up the story perfectly. Of the other songs, there is not a substandard composition in any of them, but one of my favorites is a combination of two songs performed simultaneously by the town’s gossips and the men of the town council. It is called Pick-a-Little, Talk-a-Little. What makes this song so special is the way the film shows the singers as the music progresses, starting with a group of women sharing rumor and innuendo about the librarian, but by the end of the piece, changing into something else that aligns perfectly with the sentiment expressed in the song.

I have his on DVD and still watch it frequently. Part of the reason I love it so much is because I enjoy the reminder of a simpler time. The film doesn’t try to beat you over the head with a moral. It simply tells a story and has great fun doing it. I could explore other reasons that make this movie so special, but instead I’ll just settle for urging you to lose yourself in the movie and just enjoy yourself for a few hours. I do every time the opening credits roll.