"The Sound of Music": Over sixty years of greatness

Spoiler Alert With Jimmy Nichols

In 1965, 20th Century Fox released one of the greatest musicals of the time. Now, over sixty years later, audiences still find enjoyment in the songs from the Austrian hills.

When a movie has this staying power with audiences that crosses generational lines, it is how to tell it is a great movie. “The Sound of Music” has been one of my favorite movies ever since I watched it for the first time years ago.

A large part of this movie’s long-lasting impact is due to Julie Andrews, who portrays the main character Maria von Trapp. Andrews is perfect in the role and helps bring to the life of the want-to-be nun turned governess.

Andrews was less than a year removed from her performance in the movie “Mary Poppins,” but she brought just as much energy, if not more, to “The Sound of Music”

Few can match the vocal abilities of Andrews, as she showcases her beautiful singing voice in the most iconic songs from the movie, including “My Favorite Things,” “Do-Re-Mi” and “The Prelude,” where she sings the famous line, “The hills are alive with the sound of music.”

A fun fact about the opening song: the crew recorded Andrews from a helicopter to get the shot of her running up the hill. Movies will have the actors sing in a booth, then lip-sync in the movie.

For “The Sound of Music,” the crew hid speakers in the tree, so Andrews knew what to sing and when. However, these types of shots require multiple takes, and every time the helicopter flew back around to get in position, it flew too close to Andrews, causing the downdraft to fling her down into the mud.

While it is not shown in the movie, and it is not obvious that Andrews had been knocked down multiple times, it is still a fun little tidbit about the movie.

In some songs, she displays her vocal range and talent, like “Prelude,” while others, like “Do-Re-Mi,” are more playful and fun to listen to.

As Maria von Trapp, she cares for seven children: Liesl, Friedrich, Louisa, Kurt, Brigitta, Marta, and Gretl. The children’s mother died, leaving only their father, Captain Georg von Trapp, to care for them.

The Captain, as many call Mr. von Trapp in the movie, runs a house built on discipline. He uses a whistle when he wants the children to appear, with a certain whistle blow indicating whether they should march or line up at attention.

While the children have discipline and respect toward their father, they have scared away several governesses before Maria and want to get rid of her too. Maria is determined to form relationships with the children and eventually wins them over with the kindness she shows them.

Once she realizes the children can sing, she starts teaching them how to sing different notes and shows them songs to learn. Hearing his children sing, the Captain is softened and joins them in the singing.

Before this point, he had been fighting with Maria and fired her because he believed she was incompetent and disrespectful. However, after hearing his children sing, he asks her to stay at the house because it is clear she is good for the children.

The people the children were singing to when the Captain walked in were his fiancé, the Baroness, and their uncle, Max. The Captain will eventually call off his engagement with the Baroness because he realizes he is in love with Maria, while Max is responsible for finding musical talent and wants the children to sing at the music festival.

While the Captain loves that his children are singing, he does not want them to be singing out in public for the world to see. It is worth noting that the movie is set in Salzburg, Austria, in 1938.

The Nazi presence is felt throughout the movie, with the second half of the movie, after intermission, focusing on the occupation of the city and the family wanting to escape before the Captain is shipped off on assignment.

The Captain and Maria sneak the children out of the house but are caught by the Nazis; however, the family quickly lies, saying they were going to Max’s music festival and had car trouble.

After a few final songs in front of their countrymen, the family leaves the stage for the winners to be announced. The von Trapp family wins first place, but they are nowhere to be found as they run to the Austrian hills to leave the country.

One aspect of this movie that is not discussed enough is how visually pleasing it is. The shots in nature are truly breathtaking, as the director shows wide shots of the hills, shots through the trees to see the characters and different angles to highlight the beauty of the world around the characters.

Also, in the second act, when the Nazis are in control, everything feels more muted, symbolizing how the Nazis have dulled the joy in the country. The color returns at the very end when the family is walking across the mountaintop, as they are free from the Nazis' control.

This is one of my favorite movies to watch. It might have an almost three-hour watch time, but it does not feel like it when you watch the movie.

It has become the benchmark and the standard for what a good musical is over the last sixty years. Even today, when a company publishes the best musicals of all time, “The Sound of Music” is always in the top ten of the list, if not the top.

This is a must-watch movie because of the cultural significance it still has on the world today.