The Boys: L'histoire des frères Sherman

We were fortunate to see this film here in Toronto last night in advance of its (I think only) theatrical release. Even more fortunate was the fact that the two directors/sons and Dick Sherman were in attendance and did Q&A afterwards. Dick even had a piano and played some of the brothers' songs, explaining, among other things, how the music of "Spoonful of Sugar" was written as a reflection of the character of Mary Poppins. I'm a bit of a curmudgeon and attended with my 18-year old daughter. We both had tears in our eyes on several occasions during the film and afterwards. How two brothers who are so different can work so successfully together for so many decades and yet never see one another outside their working hours is a remarkable story, simply and lovingly told. The film also provides some interesting insights into the Disney studio during its heyday.

"The Boys: The Sherman Brothers Story" is a terrific documentary produced by the sons of the famous composing team of Robert and Richard Sherman ("Mary Poppins," "The Jungle Book," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang") about their fathers and their complex relationship.

Robert, for example, the older brother and "poet," who wrote so beautifully of sweetness and optimism, was in the very first group of GIs to liberate the Dachau concentration camp, which had a profound impact on him and his relationships, especially with his brother.

And how do these famous songs come about? When one of the composers' sons came home and said he had some sort of anti-polio treatment at school, the father assumed it was a shot and said, "That must have hurt." The son replied, no it was medicine he swallowed after they gave him a lump of sugar to take beforehand. Voila! The birth of the famous "Mary Poppins" tune, "A Spoonful of Sugar (Helps the Medicine Go Down)."

Fascinating stuff on so many levels, it will interest music aficionados, Disney fans, students of Hollywood history and even those who really know very little of these particular gentlemen.

Well worth your time.

And, Hollywood, if you're listening -- how about a movie telling their story? Terrific stuff.

This is the third Disney documentary I've seen in the last couple months (this includes this film, "Walt and El Groupo" and "Waking Sleeping Beauty") and all three were enjoyable bits of nostalgia. However, unlike these other two films, the Shermans were most famous for their work but they wrote music for a wide variety of projects--not just ones for that studio.

The film begins in a way that took my by surprise. Apparently it was made by one of Bob Sherman's sons and one of Dick Sherman's sons. Neither knew each other and their families never really interacted--despite their fathers being brothers and long-time writing partners! Now that is weird and caught my attention, as it seems that over the years the two became more and more estranged from each other and were so unalike. What follows is a nice nostalgic look at these men and their lives and shows the many ways in which their music has shaped films and our culture.

The film is well made, fascinating and great for Disney fans and non-fans. While not as amazingly good as "Waking Sleeping Beauty", it is some documentary.

Richard and robert are the sherman brothers. Two brothers, a song writing team, who started out on their own, and were later hired by disney. Their two families didn't meet until much later in life.they wrote some pretty big songs ( spoonful of sugar, it's a small world after all, so many more) for some pretty huge films (bedknobs and broomsticks, chitty chitty bang bang, winnie the pooh). And they won two oscars and three grammies ! Lots of time spent on walt disney, and some behind the scene stuff that disney was doing at the time. Fun footage of walt disney himself, julie andrews. Angela lansbury, even several sherman family members. Really interesting stuff! Directed by greg and jeff sherman. They are cousins, two sons of of the sherman brothers. More details on the shermans and their work at wikipedia dot org.

I don't know about the previous reviewer, but what possibly could have been done better than this superb documentary? Lifeless it isn't, clumsy it isn't. It's touching, and filled with many fascinating insights. The use of seeing parallel home movies by the brothers during their estrangement was an inspired one. It's very well done, people. It does exactly what it sets out to do, and then some. I hope people will seek out this film and see for themselves just how good it is.

For a Disney release, it's also interesting to see non-Disney films incorporated to give a more balanced look at the brothers' film scores. For baby boomers, this film will be an added pleasure, since so much of this music here most likely was a strong presence during their growing years. Don't miss this one!