On March 2, 1965, the Sound of Music received a limited roadshow theatrical release in the United States.
The Sound of Music was an American musical drama film based on the book, The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp. The movie was produced and directed by Robert Wise. It starred Julie Andrews and Christopher Plimmer. Richard Rogers composed the music, and Oscar Hammerstein II wrote the lyrics.
Taking place in 1938, Maria von Trapp is a young postulant in Salzburg, Austria. She is sent to the home of a retired naval officer and widower so that she can be the governess to his seven children. Through fate, hardships, and music, the pair fall in love and intend to live happily ever after until Hitler changes their plans by invading Austria.
Reactions to the Sound of Music varied. The New York Herald Tribune dismissed the movie as “icky sticky” and designed for “the five to seven set and their mommies.”[1] Pauline Kael wrote a review for McCall’s magazine saying that the film was a “sugar-coated lie people seem to want to eat” and that audiences have “turned into emotional and aesthetic imbeciles when we hear ourselves humming the sickly, goody-goody songs.”[2] Critics were brutally critical. However, the average person appeared to love the movie. The movie made $286.5 million and quickly became a timeless classic.
[1] Julia Antopol Hirsch, The Sound of Music: The Making of America’s Favorite Movie, (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1993), p. 174.
[2] Ken Tucker, “A Gift for Effrontery”, Salon, February 10, 1999.
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