Last week Ovation TV aired a version of The Music Man starring Matthew Broderick. I caught the last 2/3 of the final showing yesterday.

I liked it a lot, except for one thing.I could not accept Broderick as Harold Hill. He just looked too honest and sincere. Yes, in real life that is just what con men want you to see, but in light comedy, especially musical comedy, we expect to see the con man's oiliness seep through the façade.

Consider the following actors famous for playing con men:

Phil Silvers (Sgt Bilko; Marcus Lycus [brothel owner in A Funny Thing Happened...]): Totally sleezy, but likeable. You would never be conned by him; but it's funny to watch him pull the wool over the eyes of some pompous ass

Steve Martin (Sgt Bilko[movie]; Jonas Nightingale [Leap of Faith]): Likeable, but usually too obvious. You might get fooled by him 1/4 of the time, but he wouldn't take more than you could afford and you wind up forgiving him.

Robert Preston (the quintessential Harold Hill; Centauri [The Last Starfighter]): Almost as oily as Silvers, but tends to con himself as much as his marks.



Broderick could pull off the role of Leo Bloom in The Producers because the character starts off as an honest sincere innocent, and is corrupted by Nathan Lane's character. It's harder here to accept him as already being corrupt.