So when I was a kid I always thought Christopher Plummer was the villain

and I was disappointed when he turned out to be nice and he and Maria got married. I wanted him to be a frightening abusive tyrant that they had to overthrow. Moyer did a great job showing the Captain in a sympathetic light. I could easily see him as an embittered widower who just didn't know how to cope with raising children on his own, so used the only skills he knew--his navy skills. I completely bought everything that he was selling. Plummer was great but during "The Hills Are Alive", when he had been so gung-ho about kicking Maria out of the house, his sudden about-face was sort of surprising. I sort of went "Wait? What? Why is he singing too? Shouldn't he be beating them for daring to sing? No! This isn't right! No! NO!"