MovieChat Forums > The Music Man (1962) Discussion > "His father was taken from him . . ."

"His father was taken from him . . ."


In one scene when Harold says, "Why don't we let the boy's father decide" Marion angrily tells Harold that "Maybe you can explain to him why his father was taken from him 2 years ago."

I never fully understood that line. You'd have to assume that he was drafted for the war but the movie was set 2 years before WWI. Unless she implied that the man simply died young and was taken as in taken too soon?



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I don't think he died in a war. "Taken from" was an old-fashioned, considerate way of saying that someone died, by any cause.

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I've seen a lot of movies and T.V. that use the phrase they're gone or taken away. Goes back years like it wasn't o.k. to say so and so died.

"Great theater makes you smile. Outstanding theater may make you weep."

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Right before that line, Hill asks to speak to the boy's father and either Marian or her mother explicitly says, "You can't. He's dead."

So yeah, "taken away " is referring to the fact that he died.

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