# Is the Sound of Music supposed to be a good movie? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 20, 2020, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710 "2020-01-20T17:50:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/81 "2020-01-22T15:01:16Z")
I’ve seen two musicals I’ve enjoyed, \*Pink Floyd’s The Wall \*and _Romance & Cigarettes._ ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/82 "2020-01-22T21:25:16Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > Nobody went to see that movie, the theater was too crowded! > I admit the songs are catchy but as presented, it’s not a particularly interesting story. It’s one of those “I’d really like to see a good documentary about these events” kind of deals. I guess TSOM was the Grand Funk Railroad of movie musicals - - mediocre if critically evaluated, but extremely popular nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![TimfromNapa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@TimfromNapa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TimfromNapa)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/83 "2020-01-22T21:33:30Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > … And they weren’t the lovable Nazis you see on TV, either. The only lovable Nazis I ever saw on TV were those on Hogan’s Heros. They were played by actors who, in real life, were Jews. Kind of ironical, aint it? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/84 "2020-01-22T21:38:46Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They show it in theaters and bill it as a big singalong and it’ll generally sell out. Note to all, if being beat up by a 90+ year old woman is on your bucket list, go to one of these sing-alongs and make up your own words to the songs. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Brother\_1](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_brother_1/32/3513_2.png) [@Little\_Brother\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Brother_1)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/85 "2020-01-22T21:48:05Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I was in fifth grade when it came out, but didn’t get around to seeing it until ten years later, and then it was purely for the novelty effect. I had little interest in doing so, since such movies are not just my cup of tea. (I preferred films like _ **Von Ryan’s Express** _.) > > IIRC, it was aired on TV for the first time around Christmas 1976. I watched a few minutes to see how it compared to the cut I saw in Georgia and then switched it off. I couldn’t get the \*\*\*MAD \*\*\*satire out of my mind. > > I remember talking about movies in class one day when I was in sixth grade. Our teacher (a WWII vet who’d served on the ground in Germany) thought it was a good, clean, family movie. I never watched the movie; even as a kid, the bits and pieces I acquired by osmosis screamed “sentimental glurge”. Of course, to me “a good, clean family movie” is a pejorative. But even without seeing the movie, I loved the **MAD** parody and still remember witty, snarky elements: “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Religion?”, and the line _“♪ Brothers and sisters who love one another/You know that’s nonsense if you have a brother ♪”_ Thanks for the memories! ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/86 "2020-01-23T00:53:15Z")
In high school I did tech stuff for some local community theater groups. I started out in the one at our local JCC (Jewish Community Center). After I graduated HS I stopped. Some years later, mom was in the chorus in a JCC production of TSoM and I worked sound from the sound/light booth. A couple thoughts on that: 1. There’s nothing like working a community theater production of a play to make you _never_ want to see any other production of it again. B) Never have the bench where nazi boy is courting Miss 16 on top of the cover for the unused orchestra pit. Especially if he dances. It sounds like he’s dancing on a bass drum III - Smoke breaks during dress rehearsals and performances struck me as _off_ somehow. Then I realized it was all the brownshirts in armbands and nuns crowded around a firedoor of the _Jewish_ Community Center. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/87 "2020-01-23T02:34:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Whereas my mom who left the convent loves singing… Thank goodness she left the convent. Otherwise we wouldn’t have YOU. ---
**Author:** ![Biotop](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biotop/32/321_2.png) [@Biotop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biotop)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/88 "2020-01-23T03:18:45Z")
> [@TonySinclair](#): > > You know who else hated this movie? You got a laugh from me. And I like the film well enough, for whatever that is worth. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/89 "2020-01-23T19:34:32Z")
I know several women (and no men) who love the movie with a passion. My friend Betsy told me that throughout her childhood, when the movie was on TV once a year, her mom would turn it off right after the wedding scene, because it was bedtime. She didn’t know until she was in college that there was more after that. Here’s a nice where-are-they-now article from the 2010 cast reunion on _Oprah_: [Sound Of Music reunion: Liesl tells Oprah, 'I had a crush on Captain von Trapp' | Daily Mail Online](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1324749/Sound-Of-Music-reunion-Liesl-tells-Oprah-I-crush-Captain-von-Trapp.html) > [@hajario](#): > > The movie is still insanely popular. They show it in theaters and bill it as a big singalong and it’ll generally sell out. It’s like a wholesome Rocky Horror (without throwing stuff). I don’t care for the genre so I’ve never seen any of it other than clips here or there. Thankfully my then wife was kind enough not to drag me along when she went. My wife and I went to a singalong a few years ago and had a great time. There was even a costume contest ahead of time! One guy was dressed all in yellow and said he was “Ray, a drop of golden sun.” People shouted out all sorts of silly things during the movie. When the Von Trapp mansion was being shown off, one guy kept saying “You should see the \*back \*yard!” “You should see the \*second \*parlour!” etc. When the nuns let Maria through the monastery gate for her wedding and locked it behind her, someone else shouted, “Dead nun walkin’!” > [@TonySinclair](#): > > You know who else hated this movie? Bin Laden? ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/90 "2020-01-23T20:07:55Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > When the Von Trapp mansion was being shown off, one guy kept saying “You should see the \*back \*yard!” “You should see the \*second \*parlour!” etc. **BUTLER:** Are you \*\*impressed \*\*with the \*\*magnificence **of the Von Tripe home? \*\* MARIA: **Yes, but how does he afford all this on a** captain’s salary**? \*\*BUTLER: \*\* I \*\*wondered \*\*about that **myself**! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/91 "2020-01-23T22:03:19Z")
Doesn’t the “von” answer that one, though? He’s descended of nobility, and presumably has inherited wealth (both of which doubtless made it easier for him to get an officer’s commission). ---
**Author:** ![DKW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dkw/32/3118_2.png) [@DKW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DKW)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/92 "2020-01-23T22:06:18Z")
This movie, and of course its attendant songs, used to be a ubiquitous fixture of my childhood (it was 80’s Hawaii; our idea of a radical song was American Pie), but other than that Carrie Underwood special it hasn’t really been on my radar lately. Is it good? Huh. I never _loved_ it all that much, but it a fun time during a time of my life were very little qualified as such. It’s a completely harmless, mostly fun family movie you can show to kids and sing along with together. That’s its purpose. It’s not supposed to be some grand epic or special effects-driven extravaganza. The best thing I can say about it is that unlike nearly all the other movie musicals I’ve been exposed to, I can actually still tolerate this one. I wouldn’t sit down to watch it, but I don’t mind having it on in the background. South Pacific has way, way too much baggage for me, especially that stupid shampoo commercial, there’s no way I could sit through Flower Drum Song again without retching, and that song in Annie has reached Whitney Houston levels of grating for me. (Haven’t seen West Side Story or Cats yet, but I’m not holding out hope.) It’s strange…I mean, you’d _think_ Climb Every Mountain would send me sprinting for the hills, but it’s such a genuinely clean, powerful operatic voice that I don’t mind at all. I do think the “jam and bread” part the second time they did that note song was overdone, but not to the point of unbearable. Hey, you want compelling plot and strong characters, there’s…um…Glengarry Glen Ross? Robocop? I’m not really the expert on this… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/93 "2020-01-23T22:23:41Z")
> [@Kent\_Clark](#): > > Heck there have been at least[two](https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/08/nyregion/theater-story-of-anne-frank-is-basis-for-a-musical.html) [different](https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/ANNE-FRANK-A-Musical-Opens-Off-Broadway-This-September-20190806) musicals about Anne Frank. _“She’s in the conservatory!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/94 "2020-01-23T22:34:19Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > I always wondered how well it would have done if it had not been on the heels of Julie Andrews’ Oscar winning performance in _Mary Poppins_. Bleech. You think SoM is weak? MP has (mostly) weaker songs, weaker plot, and Dick Van Dyke as Bert (you thought Apu’s accent was insulting?). I’ll watch part of SoM when it’s on TV, but MP only lasts a couple of minutes. > [@Max\_S](#): > > Woah! I didn’t realize _The Sound of Music_ was based on a real story. > ~Max SoM was based on the popular stage musical, which was based on the successful (in America) singing troupe “The Trapp Family Singers”. It’s like saying 'A Hard Days Night" (1964) is based on a real story: it’s sort of true, but that’s not the main point. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/95 "2020-01-23T22:41:38Z")
I remember seeing an article about The Sound of Music. The real Maria von Trapp was asked her opinion after seeing the movie (or it may have been the stage musical), “It’s a very nice story, but it’s not my story.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2020, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/96 "2020-01-23T23:58:33Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Doesn’t the “von” answer that one, though? He’s descended of nobility, and presumably has inherited wealth (both of which doubtless made it easier for him to get an officer’s commission). Hey, I didn’t write the satire! I just find it hilarious. There was an inteview with Maria von Trapp in _ **TV Guide** _ when \*\*\*TSoM \*\*\*was first aired on television. She said she liked the movie very much, but she couldn’t understand where that big mountain right in the middle of Salzburg came from. “But you have to allow Hollywood some Hollywooding.” ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/97 "2020-01-24T08:03:45Z")
I never like this movie very much. But I must agree that a great many people do seem to love, love, love it. The only reason I can fathom is that there are two main components to this film. The first is the music and singing and the second is the dramatic story. IMHO, it’s very difficult to find much fault with the music and singing. But the dramatic acting is a very different story. So, while I can understand why so many people love this film, I would have to give the opinion the film may be able to be described as “schizoid” because it seems to be split into two different parts - one of which is very much better than the other. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/98 "2020-01-24T12:47:06Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > I know several women (and no men) who love the movie with a passion. I take it you don’t know very many gay men. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/99 "2020-01-24T16:05:28Z")
Nor are opinions on it purely dichotymous. I certainly don’t love the movie with a passion, but I do enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2020, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710/100 "2020-01-24T17:48:29Z")
I had heard the music ad nauseam, but enver saw the movie until r4ecently, when I happened to catch it on TV, and already at about the halfway mark. A good number o of Sixties films are \*very \*dated, and I don’t like musicals in general, but I was very surprised to find SoM tolerable and not as over the top as I had expected. Of course, the story is holey and reality got improved a bit, but that’s Hollywood. A mountain in Salzburg? I was there many moons ago, and it is in the hills, but the hills are not in Salzburg itself. Anyway, it’s a lovely town, apart from the ubiquitous tourists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-sound-of-music-supposed-to-be-a-good-movie/846710.md?page=6)