The Music Man (1962)

In the early 1900s, a traveling con man (Robert Preston) stops over in a small Iowa town and sells the townspeople on the idea of forming a marching band for the young boys of the town while promising that he will personally teach and lead the band. What he intends, however, is to skip town once he gets their money. Meredith Willson's 1957 Broadway smash musical makes the transition to film as smooth as silk with not only its original leading man (Preston) but director (Morton DaCosta), choreographer (Onna White) and several other key cast members and almost all its score intact. The show is pure corn, of course, but it's probably the tastiest corn you're ever likely to feast on. Willson's song score is memorable, White's choreography is high kicking and energetic but it's Preston's powerhouse performance that's the glue that holds the movie together. It's near impossible to imagine the movie without him. Is it possible that this show invented "rap" with the Rock Island and (Ya Got) Trouble numbers? Ray Heindorf's arrangements are immaculate. With Shirley Jones as Marian The Librarian, Buddy Hackett, Hermione Gingold, Paul Ford, Pert Kelton, Mary Wickes, Susan Luckey, Timmy Everett and a little guy by the name of Ron Howard.