The Hills are Alive with the Sound of Christopher Plummer's Yackin'

Wow, I did not realize what an ornery old man Christopher Plummer is. The Sound of Music is really the only movie I (and most people I think) have ever seen him in, much to his dismay, I'm sure. I knew there was some weirdness between him and that movie, but I finally got the chance to listen to him begrudgingly recall his experience on the Sound of Music Two-Disc 40th Anniversary Special Edition DVD audio commentary. This is not to say that he isn't wildly entertaining.

My friend recently purchased this DVD and we've been looking forward to listening to the commentary on it for awhile. It wasn't quite as amazing as it could have been...it wasn't like they were all sitting together watching the movie and talking. That's the best kind. But basically Julie Andrews talked most, and they broke in with comments from the others (Christopher Plummer, Charmian Carr who played Liesl, and the choreographer) during their scenes. This is what I learned (all of these were actually said or at least heavily insinuated by the various commentary...ers):

- Christopher Plummer hates kids. He hates them because they steal his thunder, being so darn cute and all.
- Julie Andrews feels somewhat the same way about the kids but has the tact to not actually say it.
- Christopher Plummer likes booze.
- Christopher Plummer plays the piano, but cannot sing or play guitar.
- Austria is cold and wet.
- Christopher Plummer is a huge pain in everyone's butt. Strangely, they all seemed to at least mildly enjoy working with him. Unless they're just being polite, which is likely.
- Christopher Plummer thought Eleanor Parker (The Baroness) was pretty hot and he kind of wanted to dump Maria for her.
- Charmian Carr is pretty sure that when they shot the scene with the Captain coming in to sing The Sound of Music with the children (after Maria and the Captain fight), the kids actually started to cry in real life because they finally thought maybe Christopher Plummer didn't hate them. In reality, he did hate them. He was just acting. He did like Charmian Carr though because she was 21 and he could give her booze.

There you have it. Now you don't even need to watch the commentary. In the end, Christopher Plummer did act like he enjoyed his experience, and he even said he ended up liking the children, though I'm not completely convinced.