305 S. Campbell, Suite 101
Springfield, MO 65806
(417) 429-0800
info@moxiecinema.com
Traveling con artist Harold Hill targets the naïve residents of a small town in 1910s Iowa by posing as a boys' band leader to raise money before he can skip town. (G, 151 min.)
12:00 PM
These FREE screenings are part of MOXIE FLIX, a monthly series focusing on essential films for kids to see before they turn 13. This series was made possible by a grant from the Missouri Arts Council and the Springfield Regional Arts Council. A thorough, spoiler-filled Parent’s Guide can be found here.
Robert Preston encores his Broadway triumph as Professor Harold Hill; Academy Award winner Shirley Jones stars as Marian the Librarian; and all the wonderful music, color and small-town charm of River City, Iowa, in 1912 come to life in this charming romance of a con man who falls in love and stays when he should take the money and get out of town. But just as Hill is expecting the townspeople to realize they have been duped, he witnesses a musical miracle ... which he leads as The Music Man.
Starring: Robert Preston, Shirley Jones, Buddy Hackett
Director: Morton DaCosta
Genre: Comedy, Family, Musical, Romance
"Glorious production, with gorgeous music, dancing."
— Nell Minow, Common Sense Media
"Arguably one of the best translations to film of any Broadway musical."
— Barbara Saltzm, Los Angeles Times
"A quintessential slice of Americana, featuring wonderful music, engaging characters, and an uplifting story."
— John J. Puccio, Movie Metropolis
"DaCosta's musical is one of the most exuberant and purely enjoyable of the lot. Much of this is down to the infectious energy of Robert Preston, reprising his stage role as smooth-talking conman."
— Paul Howlett, The Guardian
"Zestily performed and choreographed, beautifully shot by Robert Burks, full of standards like '76 Trombones' and 'Till There Was You', and endowed with a warming nostalgia for old-fashioned ways."
— Geoff Andrew, Time Out
"It's here, and the rich, ripe roundness of it, the lush amalgam of the many elements of successful American show business that Mr. Willson brought together on the stage, has been preserved and appropriately made rounder and richer through the magnitude of film."
— Bosley Crowther, The New York Times
