Classic 60s Movie: The Sound of Music
January is Classic 60s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Mike Dobbins.
Movie Title: The Sound of Music
Year: 1965
Writers: George Hurdalek, Howard Lindsay, Russel Crouse, Ernest Lehman, Maria Von Trapp.
Lead Actors: Julie Andrews, Christopher Plummer
Director: Robert Wise
IMDb Plot Summary: A woman leaves an Austrian convent to become a governess to the children of a Naval officer widower.
My Favorite Moment In The Movie: When Captain Von Trapp is struggling to sing ‘Edelweiss’ and Maria steps up with the children to support him moments before they escape from the Nazi’s.
My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie: “You brought music back into the house. I had forgotten.” A line of dialogue that sums up what the movie did for the movie business as a whole.
Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie: How the structure of the movie is so perfect. It begins and ends on a mountain, with a woman singing about the power of the sound of music and feeling free at the start and a family escaping to freedom over a mountain to freedom. Also, the moving scene where the Von Trapps sing ‘Edelweiss’ only to have the audience join in in a show of support and sadness for their dying country –directly paralleled in the classic 70s musical ‘Cabaret,’ where a group of Germans sing ‘Tomorrow belongs to me,’ professing through song their joy and support of the Nazi regime. Finally, the sterling work of Eleanor Parker as the cold and much maligned Baroness, who gets rejected and rebuked by Captain Von Trapp and family.
Why I Think This Is A Classic Movie: The tale of a nun who defies both convention and the convent to achieve her dreams is one that is at the same time fantasy fulfilment and a celluloid version of fact.
The story of Maria Von Trapp, the nun who desperately wants something to happen a life affirming tale of adventure, love and faith — both in oneself and in others. Early in the movie Mother Superior asks of God and her nuns,¨ How do you solve a problem like Maria? The answer we come to discover is that Maria is not the problem but the solution to all of the problems that she comes across: a motherless family, an emotionless father, a desperately cold, desperately ambitious woman and, of course, a troubled and overwhelmed country.
Director Robert Wise was the seventh choice, many other, more famous names were asked but rejected the job, some stating that the source material was “too saccharin.” Wise, the Oscar — winning director of the, relatively, grittier ´West Side Story´, took the reins and created, what was at that point, the most successful movie of all time, supplanting ´Gone with the Wind.´ As an aside it is always painful when Wise´s name is missed off the lists of great directors, he is responsible for such, varied, genre classics as: ´The Haunting´, ´The Andromeda Strain´, ´Star Trek: The Motion Picture´ and ´The Day the Earth Stood Still´. There are not many who can hold a candle to that resume.
Wise made the film alongside fellow ´West Side Story´ alum, Ernest Lehamn, adapting the screenplay from the Broadway Musical. Both men helped to create a movie about a strong, independent and powerful female character who goes against the advice that everyone gives her and still succeeds — take that, Katniss.
Five academy awards later, the most financially successful movie musical of all time has stood the test of time. The movie is shown each and every Christmas time in the UK, and although we groan and say ´not again´, we are still there two hours later singing along.
´The Sound of Music´ is the definition of a classic movie, not just of the 60s, but of any other era.
Thanks, Mike! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!
Twitter: @Bookmanfilm.
We already have a set of classic 70s movies, 80s Movies and 90s Movies. This month, we’re working on 60s Movies.
We have 31 volunteers. I have put in bold those who have already sent their guest post to me.
Ipsita Barik — Rosemary’s Baby
Ipsita Barik — Bonnie and Clyde
Mike Dobbins — The Sound of Music
Brandnewusedcar — Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Markham Cook — Jules et Jim
Steve Cook — The Blue Max
JasperLamarCrab — 2001: A Space Odyssey
N D — Lonely are the Brave
Drew Dorenfest — Easy Rider
Rick Dyke — Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Rick Dyke — Fail Safe
Felicity Flesher — The Music Man
PaulG — Lawrence of Arabia
D.L. Gill — Zulu
Jeff Guenther — Cool Hand Luke
Kate Hagen — Repulsion
John Henderson — Night of the Living Dead
John Henderson — The Odd Couple
John Hörnschemeyer — The Graduate
Zach Jansen — They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?
Will King — The Pink Panther
William Leitch — If…
Lisaisfunny — Blow Up
Jack McDonald — Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Nick — Lonely are the Brave
Daryl Powell — The Apartment
jprichard — Persona
Ally Shina — The Jungle Book
Mark Twain — The Loved One
Liz Warner — The Manchurian Candidate
Michael Waters — Dr. No
For those who have signed up, but have yet to email me your post, please do so ASAP.
Thanks in advance!
For the original post explaining the series, go here.