How 'The Sound of Music' Helped Shape My Love of Movies

There are box office smashes and movie crashes that thrill us, chill us, and make us feel emotions we didn't know existed. There is always one movie that stands out among the flurry of film reels that makes us take a moment to examine ourselves and the life around us, that single epic tale that creates a desire to learn more about who we are and what we are doing.

The same can be said about the characters in those movies. There was a time when every little boy or girl, playing in the back yard, was reciting John Wayne's famous quote from "Rooster Cogburn," "It's payday boys, come and get it!" or Audrey Hepburn's "The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain" from "My Fair Lady," But those days are gone and replaced with one-liners that conjure up more colorful images of ogres and donkeys, cowboys and astronauts, or glittering vampires.

Movies started playing an important role in my life when I watched Julie Andrews sing her way through love and parenting in "The Sound of Music." Those songs still bring back memories of that time in my life, but it was more than the songs that had an impact upon me. What made me look at movies in a different light was the fact that the movie was based upon real events. There was, and still is, a Von Trapp family. This alone made me take a good look at how I viewed other movies.

I thought about how life is portrayed on the big screen. I would watch a movie and put it in perspective. Could Freddy Krueger really kill me in a dream? Did Jamaicans really have a bobsled team, and if they did, where would they practice? Did serial killers watch scary movies? What if elves, the tooth fairy, and vampires really do exist? And of course, would "wingardium leviosa" fly something across the room? I realized I had turned cynical in my viewing of anything but films based on true events. Movies became a disappointment. I wanted to see realism. I wanted to see true life action on the screen. I stopped watching movies. I stopped watching movies until...

As a kid I had read, and enjoyed, Isaac Asimov's "I, Robot." The movie release, starring Will Smith, got me excited because one of my favorite books made a big enough impression to be featured as a film. I wanted to see how several short stories would compile into one movie. The irony of the situation was that instead of being disappointed in the differences from print to screen, I was thrilled with the depiction of the story. I enjoyed Smith's comedic quips and attitude. I enjoyed a movie. I wanted to see more. I did see more, lots more. I average four or five movies a week now. Not all of them in the theater and some are from days when I banned action, adventure, comedy and thrillers from my "to do" list.

I watch movies for what they are intended, entertainment. There are some that still make me wonder how many sequels and prequels qualifies as enough. But there are others that inspire, make me laugh, leave me crying, or teach me about another way of life. And there is nothing like watching Wesley smile as he says "As you wish.