In light of all the hit Broadway musicals that have stumbled in their translation to the big screen, The Music Man stands out as an exception; it is one of the best-loved movie musicals of all time. A great deal of the credit goes to composer Meredith Willson, who resisted studio pressure to hire a big name for the title role (Frank Sinatra or Cary Grant) in favor of the Tony-winning stage star, Robert Preston, who turns in one of Hollywood's most magical performances as the spellbinder who hoodwinks a small town in Iowa. Shirley Jones did not perform the show on Broadway, but she had cut her teeth as a musical ingenue in the films of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! and Carousel and gives Marian the librarian a lovely voice and charming personality. Most importantly, Willson's score combines marching bands and barbershop quartets to capture perfectly the spirit of America's heartland at the turn of the century. A classic. --David Horiuchi
