This News Friday 12/12/97
by Jeff Bond
(This week's installment of this column is by Jeff Bond since Lukas
Kendall was too busy yelling at his broken postage meter.)
First, the bad news. I was interviewing David Arnold last week and I
asked him what sorts of projects he'd been offered lately. One of them
which I knew about was Alien Resurrection. The other was Lost
in Space. I said "I thought Jerry Goldsmith was doing that,"
and he replied "No, he had a scheduling conflict." DOH!
We confirmed this news with the redoubtable Lois Carruth, Jerry's personal
assistant (she's the one who's always there at Jerry's office to confirm
that, yes, Jerry still hates us). Arnold turned down the project because
it would have had to be finished by the end of the year (another facet
of this film which makes no sense to me; this thing has a post-production
schedule only rivaled by Star Wars Episode One; aren't there three
more months after December to finish the score?). As a fan of both Goldsmith
and the cheesy old Lost in Space series, and one who thinks the
upcoming movie looks pretty damned cool, I'm very disappointed by this
news. I can only hope there's someone of outstanding ability out there
left to do the movie in the time remaining. Any guesses on who? I really
can't imagine John Williams returning to his old Irwin Allen stomping grounds
after scoring Amistad. Anyway, on to news and questions:
A Lengthy Topic
Connwulf <Connwulf@aol.com> writes:
I skimmed an article about The Postman in the latest issue of Premiere
magazine today. At one point one of the film's producers is trying to explain
where all of the money in the budget went (other than to Kevin Costner).
One of the items he cites is "over two-and-a-half hours of music performed
by a 100 piece orchestra." In terms of length, that sounds pretty
impressive to me. What are some of the longer scores in recent years? I'm
also curious which mainstream Hollywood movie holds the record in volume
of original music. I would guess Ben-Hur, but there are plenty of other
candidates.
One thing almost every composer I've talked to in the past year has
mentioned is how much more music movies have in proportion to their running
time than they did in the past. So to answer this question, the simple
rule of thumb, epic length = epic length score doesn't always hold true.
Three hour epics like Patton and The Sand Pebbles had between
30 and 60 minutes of scoring, whereas the three hour The Postman
evidently has music through over 80 percent of its running time. Ben
Hur, Spartacus and Cleopatra probably qualify as some of the
lengthiest scores, and how about War and Peace? Anyone willing to
sit down and time out the scores to all 3-hours+ films is welcome to contribute
to this debate.
Various Things
dcfree@aol.com writes:
How about the Soundtrack CD for the Sundance Film Festival Triple
Winner "Hurricane Streets" that comes out on Feb 13. The CD is
out but no info is available on your site. I know it is at www.hurricanestreets.com.
or can be accessed from www.mgm.com.
Thank you for replying to your own question. Readers: our operation
would be far more efficient if all of you would show the same can-do attitude.
j--aquino@cats.ucsc.edu (jimmy aquino) writes:
I read the This
News Friday from 11/14, and you said you were planning on creating
a database of existing film music radio shows. I'd like you to include
in your database the show I host in the Santa Cruz/Central Coast area of
California for KZSC 88.1 FM, University of California-Santa Cruz's radio
station. It's called "A Fistful of Soundtracks" - I named it
after "A Fistful of Dollars," a favorite score of mine from my
favorite composer, Morricone, and I use that film's opening title music
for my show's opening music. It airs every Sunday night, 10 PM-midnight.
In past weeks, I've done special shows highlighting the works of
Ennio Morricone, John Barry, and Howard Shore (they each had birthdays
in the fall). Last week, "Superfly" turned 25 years old (it was
originally released on Nov. 28, 1972), so I did a show focusing on the
"Superfly" soundtrack, and the recent Rhino CD rerelease (I also
played a bit of Curtis Mayfield's music from the 1990 sequel, "The
Return of Superfly"). My upcoming Christmas show (Dec. 7) will inculde
Vince Guaraldi's score from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and Danny
Elfman's Christmas scores ("The Nightmare Before Christmas,"
"Edward Scissorhands"). And on Dec. 14 and 21, to celebrate the
release of "Tomorrow Never Dies," I'll be doing a two-part show
of James Bond theme songs and scores--a show I've always wanted to do.
PS - Is your "Taking of Pelham One Two Three" soundtrack
available in stores? I would really like a copy of that to play on my show.
Lukas is even now rigging the FSM site so that you can click on Pelham
and a copy of the CD will automatically be beamed to your location.
Until it's up and running, just track down the Retrograde
Records info on the site.
(We do plan to have a radio show database up some time next year. Soundtrack
deejays, hold off until then to give us your info. -LK)
Kikaida295 <Kikaida295@aol.com> implores:
I've been trying to find the soundtrack for Hard Boiled. Any hints?
What is the music playing in the background during the trailer for
Lost in Space?
Well, we can certainly answer the second, oft-posed question: the Lost
in Space trailer music is Goldsmith's specially-composed trailer music
(available on the Hollywood '95 Varese Sarabande compilation conducted
by Joel McNeely). Sadly, the trailer music is now Goldsmith's only contribution
to either film. By the way, I think some kind of blinking light should
be installed in theaters that indicates "Goldsmith Judge Dredd Trailer
Music Playing" so we won't have to answer this same question twice
a week.
Michael Gibbs's Hard-Boiled score is available as a hard-to-find
British import on the Mute label. Check Footlight Records in NYC
(212-533-1572).
Oscar Speculation
Jeff Comings <Jeffswim@aol.com> writes:
In response to Chris Kinsinger's letter in the Dec.
5 edition of This News Friday, I think if he is tired of watching John
Williams and Alan Menken win Oscars, then he is not a true film score fan.
In fact I think that John Williams has not won enough Oscars. Judging by
what scores have been released and will be released for this year's Oscar
race, I really hope that both the Dramatic and Musical/Comedy categories
will be tight this year, as they have been since Best Score was split.
In the Dramatic side, I think so far that Williams, Goldsmith and Horner
will be the main players with Williams taking up two spots (most likely
for Amistad and Rosewood). I think Goldsmith's score for Air Force One
was far better than L.A. Confidential, but it depends on which one is more
memorable. And being the most anticipated film of the year, Horner's Titanic
will definitely be among the nominees. But in terms of picking the winner,
I think Williams will be competing with himself. I think he's looooooonnnnngggggg
overdue.
From Roman Deppe:
OSCAR-guesses:
Dramatic score:
Titanic, Amistad, Seven Years in Tibet, The Horse Whisperer... (winner
Titanic, because it's the biggest and most hummable)
Comedy-scores:
MIB (hopefully Elfman gets his deserved oscar), Hercules, Flubber(?),
My Best Friends Wedding...
By the way: If you are fed up with listening to Basic Instinct while
you are tying your girlfirend on your bed try Howard's Devil's Advocate
instead (sounds like Basic Instinct with choirs).
While I sympathized with Chris Kinsinger's feelings (I too weary of
Williams and Menken being shoo-ins every year at least as regards nominations,
although I remain a big fan of Williams's output), as someone said to me
when I moved to L.A., "You won't make any friends insulting John Williams."
The Horse Whisperer won't be a candidate for this year's Oscars.
It's a foregone conclusion that Williams will be nominated, and probably
twice. Even though Seven Years in Tibet was a box office washout,
it was a high-profile prestige film with a lot of beautiful scenery and
nice costumes, and Williams's score (while somewhat repetitive) was beautiful.
As for Amistad, it's an artsy Spielberg production: barring incredible
controversy from the accompanying plagiarism suit against the picture,
it will certainly gain a nomination. Too bad The Edge slipped below
the radar so soon; Air Force One might be problematic for a nomination
(see reasoning below) and L.A. Confidential will require a major
sweep for Goldsmith's subdued, percussive score to win anything. I will
be very curious to see whether Titanic's obvious Enya inspiration
will harm it in the Best Dramatic Score category.
From Carlton Fisk:
I don't think Air Force One will get a Best Score nomination, for
two reasons: 1. the additional music by Joel McNeely credit; 2. I believe
that a few years ago (around the time of Last of the Mohicans, significantly),
the Academy changed the rules so that a score couldn't be nominated if
it had two composers, which would rule A.F.O. out.
My current guesses for Best Score
Amistad, Titanic, Oscar & Lucinda (the Newman music in the trailer
is great, as you would expect), L.A. Confidential
...and I don't know what will be fifth. My guesses are Donnie Brasco/Great
Expectations, Kundun, Ice Storm, or possibly Lost World.
My guess would be that Donnie Brasco has faded from memory (although
it seems to have gained a following on video, which is always a good idea
come Oscar time). Despite its earnings, The Lost World is a movie
that really wasn't well-liked by anybody, and with Williams's name on two
high-profile "prestige" releases, I have to wonder if people
will choose to nominate The Lost World...even though his "Island
Adventure Theme" is more memorable than anything in Seven Years
in Tibet or Amistad. I certainly hope Mychael Danna snags a
nomination for The Ice Storm.
Valuable Info
Geoff Leonard writes:
On the Tomorrow Never Dies front, Channel 4 in the UK will be showing
a programme at twenty past midnight on Xmas day (I suppose to be accurate
that will be 26th December) called Shaken & Stirred: Music Of James
Bond. It is a look at the original soundtracks, Arnold's cover album (sorry
Pete!) and his work on the new film. Interviews with Barry, Black, Arnold,
Chrissie Hynde, Iggy Pop etc.
We received some questions about where to obtain a copy of Videohound's
Soundtracks book, edited by Didier Deutsch, with contributions from
Lukas and a number of frequent FSM writers. The answer is, write to:
Visible Ink Press, Gale Research, 835 Penobscot Building, Detroit MI
48226-4094, or call 1-800-776-6265. Overseas folks, here's a store that
carries it: Samuel French Bookshop, 7623 Sunset Blvd, Los Angeles CA 90046,
213-876-0570.
Scott Hanson <srh@shore.net> writes:
In reply to the letter from "Felix" regarding Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom, I have the following info:
Japanese pressing - Polydor POCP-2014.
German pressing - Edel TCS 102-2 or (stereo) 513879-2
Scott adds that you can always check his Unofficial John Williams Home
Page (http://www2.shore.net/~srh/jwhome.htm)
for catalog information like this.
Also discussing Williams, Scott mentions that California Split,
a 1974 movie Lukas attributed to Williams last week,
...was composed by Phyllis Shotwell. Not John Williams. The rest
of the listings you have for him in 1974 are indeed correct. The year in
which he composed music for the most films (5) was 1966 for The Plainsman,
Penelope, Not With My Wife You Don't, How to Steal a Million and The Rare
Breed.
(My bad. -LK)
Tomorrow Never Dies Info
Laird M. Malamed provided some lengthy speculation as to why the Tomorrow
Never Dies album is missing some of the music from the end of the film.
The answer is simply that the film was scored chronologically over several
months, and the last recording sessions (covering the end of the movie)
took place too late to include on the record, which had to be out around
Thanksgiving for commercial considerations.
David Arnold has said that a second Tomorrow Never Dies album
is in the works, although he also said that only around 20 minutes of the
score (chronologically the last cues in the film) remains, so how that
second CD will be filled out remains to be seen. From my point of view
Tomorrow Never Dies, while certainly the most exciting and effective
Bond score in recent years, sounds pretty much like Independence Day mixed
up with licks from earlier James Bond. Nevertheless, Arnold's Barry quotations
work to give the film a classic feel and he was astute in his use of Barry's
stylings. In short, there was a thematic reason for their use, unlike,
say, the use of quotations from Cocoon and Apollo 13 (not
to mention Goldsmith's Capricorn One) in Horner's Titanic score.
That having been said, Horner's score is mostly enjoyable, and one gratifying
trend I've noticed this year is that some movies (Titanic, The Edge)
actually have music in them that's exciting enough to be used in their
trailers.
Starship Trooping
James L Perry <jlperry@U.Arizona.EDU> writes:
I have not seen Starship Troopers, but I've seen enough trailers
to think that I am not going to like it.
The score set aside, this movie looks cheezy. It's got a cheezy
title, the whole thing with the God-awful tatoos, and the cornball swearing-in
sequence, and all the troopers going crazy showing off their tattoos. Then
there's the ugly fresh-off-the-line looking ships (George Lucas said something,
I should think, with his idea of a used universe?)--let's not forget the
"Attack of the Giant Ants" look (whatever that movie was) to
it. All the bugs look like the thousands of little drones from ID4. I mean,
shouldn't we expect to see MST 3000's Joel, Crow, and Tom Servo on the
bottom of the screen here?
I love Basil Poledouris' writing that I have heard. I love Conan
the Destroyer - I still need to purchase it. Tell me, is ST's score worth
buying to listen to by itself?
Oh, one more thing. That crappy Pop song with the "Woo-Hoo"
is the worst thing I have EVER seen come out of the Sci-Fi Genre. Oh, and
I already hate blood and guts, and cheezeball movies. Hopefully the article
in November (Just Another Bug Hunt?) was right, and people will be turned
off to it.
Mr. Perry, just what the hell do you have against tattoos? Starship
Troopers was a love-it or hate-it movie, and I loved it. It was deliberatley
unpleasant and a bold, subversive critique of other films in the genre,
masquarading as a typical blood-and-guts action pic. Its box office failure,
I think, indicates two things: that the satire came a little too late (the
flagging receipts of mediocre action movies like Con Air, The Lost World
and The Peacemaker and the surprise success of Face/Off
show that people are already beginning to reject the simple-minded approach
that accompanies most action fodder), and that even those who didn't quite
get Paul Verhoeven's boldly subversive Nazi imagery (like The Washington
Post, which accused Verhoeven of promoting fascism) were made to feel
uncomfortable by it, and movie goers don't go back to see films that make
them uncomfortable.
As for Basil Poledouris's music, it's his first full-bore sci-fi adventure
score since the original Robocop, so what's not to like? I'm not
sure what the crappy "Woo-Hoo" pop song you're discussing is
(the ill-advised TV commercial music?), but I also enjoyed Zoe Poledouris's
song ("Into It"), which I'm sure most soundtrack collectors will
shudder in horror at.
***
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