The Music Man

Revealing mistake: At a certain point we see the arid, dry Santa Monica Mountains of Los Angeles in the upper left of the picture with a huge high-tension electrical tower at the summit. The film is set in 1912 in Iowa, a green, rainy state which is also completely flat, with no mountains. Then again, we see the arid, dry Santa Monica Mountains in the upper right. (00:08:27)

Revealing mistake: During "Marian the Librarian," Marian is seen doing a little dance on the table before being hushed by the people in the library. Like the incident with Winthrop in "Gary, Indiana," you can see that she did not actually do this dance. Tap sounds were added in later to make it seem like she did.

Movie_Freak 1

Revealing mistake: At the end of Winthrop's version of "Gary, Indiana," we see what appears to be a little tap dance done by Winthrop that concludes the song. Upon close observation, however, you can tell that Winthrop does not actually do this dance. He just twirls around and tap noises are added in to make it seem like he is tapping.

Movie_Freak 1

Video

Revealing mistake: During the July 4th festivities at Madison Park, Professor Harold Hill prompts four school board members (the Buffalo Bills quartet) into performing the song "Sincere," allowing Hill to slip away into the crowd. As they complete the last verse, the singers stroll into a wide shot with a fireworks display in the background. However, the skybursts are oddly magnified and erratically shift positions against the background, revealing that the fireworks display is a large but clumsily-edited rear-screen projection.

Charles Austin Miller

Revealing mistake: As the passengers are getting on the train at the start, their shadows reveal that the train car wheels and springs are painted on a flat surface. (00:00:10)

hgwalters

Continuity mistake: As Shirley Jones is singing "In love with Me" at one point, she's sitting down, and is slouching back. The shot changes to the side, and she's sitting up straight, and is much higher against the counter than she was. Her hands have changed position as well, she's no longer holding onto the cup she had in her left hand. (01:19:55)

Jack's Revenge

More mistakes in The Music Man

Charlie Cowell: Who do you think you're protectin'? That guy's got a gal in every county in Illinois and that's 102 counties. Not countin' the piano teachers like you he cozies up to, just keep your mouths shut! Neither one of you's heard the last o' me, girly-girl.

More quotes from The Music Man

Trivia: Shirley Jones was pregnant during the movie. She wore a special corset to conceal this. Director Morton DaCosta did not want anyone else involved in the movie to be aware of her pregnancy. He was so successful, that it was not until the kissing scene on the bridge that Robert Preston (Harold Hill) found out, when he was shocked to feel Jones' baby kicking him in the stomach.

More trivia for The Music Man

Question: If the movie was supposedly taking place in Indiana, why then during town meeting to runoff the band director did Marian tell the town folks to "put aside your Iowa stubbornness"?

Answer: The movie doesn't take place in Indiana. It takes place in River City, Iowa, which is established multiple times throughout the movie.

More questions & answers from The Music Man

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