'The Sound Of Music'

I'm not going to beat around the bush here: The Sound of Music is one of my favorite films of all time and I can't imagine a time when I will not want to see it.

It not only has Nazis and a very intelligent take on nationalism and the ideological tug of war that was taking place all over Europe as the line was being drawn in the sand, but it also had insanely good music.

I would say that of all the musicals to pass through the genre, it probably has the best music and lyrics of them all. For my money, they're all superbly done. There's not one that gets fast forwarded when it comes on: The benchmark for a good musical tune.

I find some things very interesting about this film, the behind-the-scenes garbage. That Christopher Plummer doesn't like the film. That Gretl gained so much weight that Plummer requested a body double to carry in the final scene.

Another fact is that the real Von Trapps were upset by the way their father was portrayed. In real life, I guess he was a sweet guy. In the film, he's depicted as a law-and-order Naval captain, who didn't take any crap from his kids. After watching it 1,000 times, I disagree a little with the assertion that the Captain was strict.

There's a sort of jagged humor at the beginning when Maria comes to the house and dresses him down for the whistles. Like the Captain had met his match -- both personally and, in the end, romantically.

I think he's actually a lot more soft hearted than you think and this explains why he quickly changes his tune once he hears his children singing.

As a personal anecdote: I dated this girl in college and I became quite familiar with her family, including her aunt, who was perpetually single despite being A) insatiably cool; B) super cute; and C) in her late-30s.

Anyway, this aunt was a bit of a pop culture nut and she knew I adored this film. She called me the Goatherd Boy.