FILM SCORE FRIDAY 5/31/02

One last reminder -- The Society of Composers & Lyricists' State of the Art Conference is tomorrow, Saturday, June 1st, at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood, CA. Events include:

Jerry Goldsmith presenting clips from The Sum of All Fears, and discussing its score with the film's director, Phil Alden Robinson.

Elmer Bernstein presenting the first SCL Hall of Fame awards and introducing a restored print of The Great Escape.

Mark Isham and director Frank Darabont discussing their collaboration on The Majestic.

Richard Sherman, Alan Menken and Glenn Slater (Menken's new collaborator) discussing songwriting for film.

BT giving "a live demonstration of his amazing re-mixing and scoring techniques."

Other presentations include editors Ralph E. Winters, Alan Heim and Donn Cambern discussing editing and film music; a panel on television music; and a discussion on ethics and business in Hollywood, featuring Shirley Walker.

Registration/Check-in & Breakfast are at 8:00 am; First Panel at 9:00 am, Evening Program at 7:30. Register at: http://www.filmscore.org

Percepto Records in association with Creature Features in Burbank, CA will be celebrating the World Premiere of THE FLY TRILOGY, the deluxe limited edition 2-CD set of original scores from THE FLY, RETURN OF THE FLY and THE CURSE OF THE FLY, with a special in-store autograph signing with actor DAVID HEDISON on Saturday, June 8th. Hedison also starred in TV's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and is the only actor to have played CIA agent Felix Leiter in two James Bond films -- Live and Let Die and License to Kill.

The Fly films were scored by Pawl Sawtell and Bert Shefter. Coincidentally, Sawtell also wrote the TV theme to Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and the two composers collaborated on the movie version, whose score is of course available from Film Score Monthly.

The signing will be held from 1pm-3pm at 1802 West Olive Avenue in Burbank. Creature Features is also accepting orders for signed CDs from those who cannot attend in person. To place an order, call (818) 842-9383. Price for the 2-CD set (including a 56-page booklet!) is $29.95 + $3.50 for shipping.

Varese Sarabande has announced two new score albums due July 16th. Edward Shearmur scores Reign of Fire, a lavish monster movie wherein Christian Bale and Matthew McConaughey battle fire-breathing dragons in a demolished England in the latter part of the 21st century. That's certainly one we haven't seen before. Rob Bowman, director of Airborne, The X-Files movie, and some of the most stylish Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes, is at the helm.

Danny Lux scores Halloween: Resurrection, the latest in the prototypical slasher series, directed by Rick Rosenthal who over two decades ago helmed Halloween II. Lux also recently scored Stolen Summer, aka "The Project Greenlight Movie," and has many TV credits including the late, lamented News Radio. Varese has managed to release every single Halloween score on CD, thus pleasing the obsessive-compulsive in all of us.

Vulgar - Ryan Shore - OCF
World Traveler - Clint Mansell - Omnipedia

The Sum of All Fears - Jerry Goldsmith - Score Album on Elektra Due June 4th
Undercover Brother - Stanley Clarke - Song Album on Hollywood Records

CQ - Mellow

"Mr. Coppola extends an invitation to audiences to join his retro love-in to become helplessly caught in the thrall of a dazed sexiness reminiscent of 60's pop, which the score by Mellow evokes thoroughly and beautifully."

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times

"The poppy score by Mellow steals liberally -- and well -- from the BeatlesÖ"

Gregory Weinkauf, New Times

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST - Charlie Mole

"Pic features one of the worst examples of "funny" music in recent film."

Robert Koehler, Variety

"An aggressively buoyant score (by Charlie Mole) washes through the movie, giving it a perky vo-dee-o-do flavor that feels more 1920's than 1890's."

Stephen Holden, The New York Times

"With everyone beautifully costumed by Maurizio Millenotti and cavorting to Charlie Mole's snazzy, Klezmer-tinged rags, the movie's a rare treat indeed."

Gregory Weinkauf, New Times

INSOMNIA - David Julyan

"David Julyan's music supports the story with turbulent inflections."

Todd McCarthy, Variety

SPIRIT: STALLION OF THE CIMARRON - Hans Zimmer

"Also filling in the gaps are a musical's worth of songs by Bryan Adams, who collaborates with composer Hans Zimmer to attach a lyric to almost every mood change Spirit faces, from his birth ("Here I am, this is me") to later homesickness and separation ("Wherever I wander, here I will always return"). That's more communicating than some people do."

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

13 CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING - Alex Wurman

"Ö Alex Wurman's piano score, which is as restrained as the characters' expectations."

Chuck Wilson, L.A. Weekly

"Ö and Alex Wurman's spare, elegant score contributes strongly to creating and sustaining the film's shifting moods."

Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

The recent Rhino/Elektra release of Randy Newman's score to Ragtime features terrific liner notes by Jerry McCulley, detailing the film's history and liberally spiced with quotes from the always amusing Newman.

Newman's introductory page is especially wry:

Here it is -- the only record yet to be released in this exciting new format, the compact disc. The record company bided its time and waited for the perfect moment to maximize commercial prospect for this, the last disc. The compact disc is indeed compact. It is much smaller than your vinyl "records." The sound is clearer, and there is no surface noise.

We think that the disc is a remarkable technical advance The high end sucks, but we're going to fix it and call it something else and rerelease everything. Good for you, good for us. Hope you enjoy this exciting new product.

-- Randy Newman

This week in the film music game that still really, really hasn't caught on, we pair two composers with a background in the theater, who write music that's original, distinctive and dramatic but not always as accessible as that of their more famous peers -- Alex North and Elliot Goldenthal.

Sorry there aren't more movie pairings, but Goldenthal makes it damn tough by scoring so few films. Despite their titles, The Dead isn't really anything like Interview With the Vampire, but Vampire certainly makes a tempting pairing for Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf -- after all, they're both about bickering long-term relationships.

The Agony and the Ecstasy - Frida
The Bad Seed - The Butcher Boy
Cleopatra - Titus
Hard Contract - Heat
The Long, Hot Summer - A Time to Kill
Shanks - Pet Sematary
2001 - Sphere
Under the Volcano - Drugstore Cowboy
Viva Zapata! - Michael Collins

From: " Tim Burden" <JEDIMAESTRO@cs.com>

A thousand thank yous to Robert Townson for consolidating a gaping void in the wonderful world of film music, Georges Delerue's achingly beautiful and exuberant score to the infamously flawed Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan coupling debut; Joe Versus The Volcano, is finally available!

Years ago I remember going so far as to holding my tape recorder to the TV set to record his glorious end credit movement so that I could wonder at the sheer beauty of his composition, thankfully technology has advanced since then!

For those of you that long for a score that literally sweeps you away and makes you feel great to be alive, I urge you to check this CD out straight away! Delerue's themes and trademark Parisian strings are as gorgeous as ever, with an excellent action cue thrown in for good measure in the form of The Storm/Rescue.

Needless to say, Sarabande's 2 CD set of Delerue's music from 2000 has also been in my CD player incessantly over the past few days! Let us never forget what a truly wonderful composer Georges Delerue was. I am sure he would be thrilled to know that this score will now gain the recognition it has always deserved.

From: Preston Jones

re: THE WILD BUNCH. Years ago, I saw on display at the Academy library, amidst much Peckinpah correspondence, a letter he wrote complaining to composer Fielding in words to the effect of, "I wanted Mexico, and you gave me Vienna!" But later, I understand, Peckinpah came to appreciate the WILD BUNCH music, which would certainly account for all those subsequent Fielding scores in Peckinpah pictures.

I was amazed by Sam Peckinpah's comments on Jerry Fielding's score for the Wild Bunch. Peckinpah's direction on Wild Bunch and also on Straw Dogs is amazing, but Fielding's score for the Wild Bunch is even better!

Long one of my favorite scores, there are few musical sequences ever written that set the tone as brilliantly as Fielding's music does over the title credit sequence. By turns moody, suspenseful and even bringing in "Shall We Gather at the River" as the narrative moves from the Bunch to the deputies and bounty hunters, then on to the townspeople and even to the children with their deadly games of fire and scorpions, this sequence shows one of the best meldings of image and music ever, IMHO. As great as the images are, the music improves upon them crystalizing all of the cinematic elements into a forceful, powerful whole.

From: "Mark Ford" <Mark.Ford@uth.tmc.edu>

I was glad to see someone finally mention John William's haunting theme from his score to Jane Eyre when finding parallels for the "Across the Stars" theme in Attack of the Clones.. Although similarities to Nixon are evident, I think that the theme is closer in spirit to Jane Eyre. I'm sure many people haven't heard the Jane Eyre score and I've just about worn out my ancient vinyl copy (some of you may remember those big black shiny disks or seen one in a museum). I heartily recommend the score for any fan of Williams' "smaller/intimate" scores.

That said, all three themes use shifting modalities to craft the haunting, beautiful and sad sound that creates a unique emotional resonance in the listener. At first I didn't think it was a Williams' "tune" that I would go around singing or whistling, but darn it, I've been doing just that for weeks now. Although I don't think it will enter into the pantheon of William's tunes that make their way into our culture, I do find it to be moving as well as doing a good job of capturing the importance of what the love theme represents to the overall story line of the saga.

As a follower of John Williams music for some time, I have noticed a shift in the writing of his music. Don't get me wrong, I think John is one of the best film composers, but I think he may be running out of steam. If you compare the sound of the films of the early seventies and eighties,(Star Wars-Indiana Jones/Temple of Doom) to what he creates today,(including the new Star Wars films and Indy Jones/Last Crusade) his newer scores lack the stand alone telling a story by itself quality that his previous work did . If you don't feel this way, compare any track from Phantom Menace/Attack of the Clones to Empire's Asteroid Field or Superman's Main Title. you can clearly see that these examples speak for themselves. Maybe the absence of Herb W. Spencer as the orchestrator is a main problem. I just don't think he still has that same creative edge he had. Maybe he should listen to his previous works to get back to basics.

Hilarious! I had been out of town since Monday and wasn't able to check anything online, so I decided to start playing catch-up with Film Score Friday. I had to respond to some of your comments about Attack of the Clones.
 
I had a chance to see it in Chicago this past Wednesday at one of the digital screens showing the film. I thought the picture was good, but damn that film was LOUD. As to the mix of John Williams' score, I thought it interesting that the music goes from blazing forth to completely buried at times. A friend of mine who saw it the first night remarked about the similarity of the love theme to Jane Eyre, but it is a beautiful theme.
 
Overall, I found the film profoundly uninvolving. I think you hit the mark with your comments about the battle scenes towards the end. They seem to go on forever and have no focus, although I did think the proto-walkers were pretty cool. However, all I kept thinking was that Mr. Lucas was just trying to show up Starship Troopers.
 
As to your thoughts on Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman, I think you need look no further than the scene after the one with the Sand People. He's going at it ("...I killed them all, etc., etc..."), the music's rising up, intensity building...and then they cut to her and she has one of the most empty expressions on her face that I have seen on an actor in a recent movie (in Miss Portman's defense, this could also be the result of bad direction[?]) Ah yes, the passion that changed a galaxy!
 
Being a fan of Christopher Lee, it was great to see him in this film (although I thought his entrance could have been a little more impressive...what, just walking along talking to his cronies?). I thought his lightsaber duel with Yoda was easily the highlight of the film for me (and the audience I saw it with). Again, my friend who saw it before me nailed it, referring to Yoda's moves as something "between The Matrix and Speedy Gonzalez."
 
Well, I thought I would respond after reading your column. It was great and keep up the good work!

And for those who haven't had enough of the subject, John Takis has made an exhaustive list of what music is used where in the final film, which can be found at this link.

From: Alex_Von_Hauffe@dot.ca.gov

Not in the film itself but in some of the ads, "Gentlemen Prefer Blondes" stars Russell and Monroe are on ladders wearing gendarme type hats in a set with the Eiffel Tower drawn in the background . What was the musical number, was it ever shown in a released version, does it still exist, are they going to restore it so I can spend even more money on my umpteenth version? Now that I think about it, was there a number with them wearing top hats as shown in some ads?

From: " Hermes Camacho" NCSOP76@aol.com

Subject: Film scoring as an undergrad

To all aspiring film composers:

One place that is growing as a music school is California State University, Long Beach, located in beautiful southern California, just 15 minutes away from LA. It is one of the only schools I know of that offers courses in film at the undergraduate level (no actual degree or certificate, but the department is working it out). It is also a very ideal setting, just being outside of Hollywood and one can make many connections (much of the performance faculty play in many of the major motion picture studios). More people should check the place out.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Chris Columbus will not be directing the inevitable third Harry Potter film (the second began shooting immediately upon the release of the first one), and that Alfonso Cuaron may take the helm.

This will come as pleasant news to those who know Cuaron from his terrific A Little Princess, but will be alarming to those who only know him as the director of the amazing Y Tu Mama Tambien. Perhaps in this third Potter saga, Harry and Ronald will drive up the British coast accompanied by a sexy older witch and have a journey of personal and sexual discovery.

Either way, it means there's a pretty good chance Patrick Doyle (who scored Princess as well as Cuaron's Great Expectations) will get to score a Harry Potter film.

From: Alex_Von_Hauffe@dot.ca.gov

Subject: Bettencourt's dictionary
 
Thank you for defining 'erstwhile' Puhleeezzzz.....

I apologize for my pedantry regarding the proper use the word "erstwhile." I didn't know the right use of it until just a few years ago, like most people assuming it meant "loyal and trustworthy." Here's a simple way to remember it. Jane Wyman is Ronald Reagan's erstwhile wife. Nancy Davis isn't.

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