Please.
I love the movie version of G&D… but part of that’s due to nostalgia, and part is due to my questionable taste. Many, many things could be done to make a better movie than that version. (“Marry the Man Today” & “Bushel and a Peck” for two.)
Of course, many, many things could be done to make a much worse version - and that’s my fear…
I’ve never seen the one with Robert Preston- amI missing something?
YES.
YES
(sense a trend? 
)
Fenris
Only if you’re interested in seeing The Music Man done with a Harold Hill that you could trust to con River City out of its collective britches.
In other words, YES!
Broderick looked like he might have been comfortable playing the role of Nancy’s boyfriend George in Pollyanna, but he simply can’t pull off a middle-aged predatory grifter, always looking over his shoulder for the whistle-blowing type who happens to remember him.
yes!
Ye Go-ods, yes.
Not only are you missing Robert Preston in the definitive performance, you’re missing Hermione Gingold and Paul Ford as Mr. and Mrs. Shinn, Buddy Hackett as Marcellus, and Ronnie Howard’s screen debut as Winthrop. Any of the above are enough reason to watch. You’ll be humming “Seventy Six Trombones” for days afterward, too. It’s on DVD for US$16.99.
Okay, so The Music Man with Matthew Broderick is not so great, if the comments here are anything to go by.
I’m kind of sorry to hear that. We missed it when it was on TV recently; when is it coming out on DVD?
The reason I ask is because the train scenes were filmed not far from where we live. The train itself is a heritage-tourist train that runs on weekends between Stouffville and Uxbridge, two little towns in Ontario.
Anyway, my wife and I took it last year; we know a lot of people who volunteer their time and railroad expertise on it, and we finally got around to riding on their train. You can imagine our consternation when instead of boarding the York-Durham Heritage Railway in Stouffville, we got on the Rock Island Line. And when the train had travelled the twelve miles to the other end of the line, we were pulling into River City, Iowa; instead of Uxbridge, Ontario. Complete with all the crates and whatnot on the platform. Our railroad friends explained that their Uxbridge station and the train itself were being used as a location for a movie.
Anyway, in spite of the not-so-great-reviews that it’s getting from the Dopers, it would be kind of fun to see it, just to see how the Uxbridge location looked in the final film. Will it be out on DVD, or is it already? Anybody know?
**
You mind you phraseology!
Mayor Fenris Shinn
Great Honk!
I’m sorry, I don’t know what came over me. I’ll just curl up with my DVD and be quiet.
I watched the 1962 movie the other night and thought of this thread. Disney should have hired someone who had experience in playing characters who got others to go along with him against their better judgment. Dan Ayckroyd comes to mind. Professor Harold Hill as an upbeat version of Elwood Blues would probably have been an improvement!
I love Disney, but I have to admit…Disney should leave the musicals alone! Ne touche pas! (Do not touch!). And, as for Matthew Broderick, he’s just an overrated actor. He ranks up there with Michael J. Fox, another overrated, no-talent who’s ego is too big for this universe… although I regret to hear about his illness in recent years.
When push comes to shove, Broderick’s no-talent abilities come shining through in his role as Prof. Hill. Anyone could play the lead in Wargames or Farris Bueller, etc. It just goes to prove that to play Professor Hill means you gotta have heart! …Miles and miles and miles of heart…oh, sorry! That’s a different musical…damn those Yankees!