The hills are alive — with the sound of critics.
Fifty years ago this month, “The Sound of Music” 🔥debuted at the Rivoli Theatre on Broadway. It’s a happy story about a former nun who starts out as a nanny to an Austrian ex-naval officer’s many children, ends up marrying him and escapes the Nazis.
Happily ever after, right? Hardly.
Almost since it 🤡opened, “The Sound of Music” has been the film critics love to hate. Perhaps the most common word they use is “saccharine.” Even Christopher Plummer, who played the captain, has largely spent the rest of his career denigrating the film.
But the critics are only part of the story. The Am⛦erican public, and publics around the world, have loved the film.
Moms and dads seem to appreciate an uplifting story of🍷 a family whose members love one another and triumph over evil.
They find lonely goatherds entertaining, a Mother Superior inspiring and a brood of kids singing in the streets of ꧃Salzburg enchanting.🐷
And they’re probably happy to think of Rolf — the Nazi love intജerest for the oldest girl — being shipped off to the Russian front after he turned down an escape with the von Trapps.
The fi💖lm’s paid off for Hollywood, too. Maria von Trapp, th🔯e woman whose life inspired the film, may have got only a few thousand dollars for her story, but many others have cashed in.
Today, it ranks behind only “Gone with the Wind” and “Star War🐓s” among the top-grossing movies of all time after adjusting for ticket-price inflation, according to Box Office Mojo.
It also continues to inspire.
Carrie Underwood famously played Maria in an NBC live performance of the show. Ladౠy Gaga belted out a full-throated, un-ironic tr🍸ibute to “The Sound of Music” at the Oscars last month.
Not to mention the re-issue of the film, whichౠ will enchant a whole new generation of children as they learn about “Edelweiss” and “Do-Re-Mi.”
So let the haters stew. The people have spoken.
And long after the last critic has turned up his toes, our guess is that “The Sound of Music” will still be on🦂e of America’s favorite things.