FILM SCORE FRIDAY 4/11/03

Abra cadabra
I sit on his knee

Presto change-o
Now he is me

Hocus pocus
We take her to bed

Magic is fun
We're dead

For most of our readers, this will seem a strange way to open a column, but for those of us who grew up in the seventies (or earlier), this weird bit of doggerel should strike a chord as the unforgettable ad-line for Richard Attenborough's 1978 film of William Goldman's novel MAGIC.

It was a fascinating choice for Attenborough to follow up the all-star WWII epic A Bridge Too Far (and I mean truly all-star: Redford, Hackman, Connery, Caine, Olivier, O'Neal, Bogarde, Caan, Gould, Hopkins, Schell, Ullmann) with an intimate thriller featuring essentially only four actors -- Anthony Hopkins, Ann-Margaret, Ed Lauter and Burgess Meredith.

The movie didn't quite work -- Hopkins, though a superb actor, was too old, too British and too creepy for the role of the troubled ventriloquist "Corky," and much of the impact of Goldman's novel was predicated on a plot twist impossible to recapture on film, but the film did feature the scariest score Jerry Goldsmith ever wrote, beautifully mixing strings and piano with a genuinely disturbing harmonica to create a much more suitable follow-up to Herrmann's superlative Psycho score than Goldsmith's own fresh but not entirely successful Psycho II score.

I go on about Magic at length because it, blessedly, is one of the four new releases of the Varese Sarabande CD Club, now available for order from their website.

The Magic score has until now been commercially unavailable -- its only previous release was a sixteen minute suite on the superb, Doug Fake-produced "Tribute to Jerry Goldsmith" CD given to guests at the Society For the Preservation of Film Music Goldsmith dinner in 1993. The Varese CD features thirty-six minutes of Goldsmith's sparse, haunting score, as well as two source cues.

For film music fans who aren't as obsessed with Goldsmith's Magic as I am, the crown jewel in the new set of Club releases will probably be Elmer Bernstein's HAWAII: THE DELUXE EDITION, a two-disc set which pairs the original soundtrack album (a stereo re-recording) with seventy five minutes of original score cues in mono (on the website, album producer Robert Townson describes at length the hunt for the Hawaii score, and how the process delayed this latest group of CD Club releases.) Hawaii features one of Bernstein's most famous themes, and the composer was Oscar nominated for both Original Music Score and Song (for Hawaii's "My Wishing Doll"), but lost in both categories to John Barry's Born Free.

Another "Deluxe Edition" release is Laurence Rosenthal's rousing score to THE RETURN OF A MAN CALLED HORSE. Directed by Irving Kershner (who later went on to helm such other "Part Twos" as The Empire Strikes Back and RoboCop 2), the film features what is arguably Rosenthal's finest music, highlighted by a wonderful main theme reminiscent of Fred Karlin's score to The Stalking Moon. While the score was previously released on LP by United Artists, the Varese edition adds seven cues, making the disc nearly an hour long.

The fourth release, Franz Waxman's BELOVED INFIDEL (about the romance between F. Scott Fitzgerald and Sheila Graham) is a score I've never heard, but considering that Waxman is one of the greatest film composers of all time, it's sure to be worth a purchase. And no, Robert Townson doesn't send me any free CDs for saying that. I wish.

Beloved Infidel - Franz Waxman - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Bulletproof Monk - Eric Serra - Lakeshore
Ghosts of the Abyss - Joel McNeely - Hollywood
Hawaii: The Deluxe Edition - Elmer Bernstein - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Irreversible - Thomas Bangalter - Thrive
Magic - Jerry Goldsmith - Varese Sarabande CD Club
The Return of a Man Called Horse: The Deluxe Edition - Laurence Rosenthal - Varese Sarabande CD Club
The Wild Thornberrys Movie - Drew Neumann, Randy Kerber - Silverline

Anger Management - Teddy Castellucci
Better Luck Tomorrow - Michael Gonzales
Ghosts of the Abyss - Joel McNeely - Score CD on Hollywood
House of 1000 Corpses - Rob Zombie - Song CD on Geffen
XX/XY - The Insects

April 15
Identity - Alan Silvestri - Varese Sarabande
April 22
Levity - Mark Oliver Everett - Pleximusic
People I Know - Terence Blanchard - Universal
Varese Sarabande 25th Anniversary Collection - Varese Sarabande
April 29
Confidence - Christophe Beck - Thrive
May 13
Something Wild - Aaron Copland - Varese Sarabande
Date Unknown
Amerika - Basil Poledouris - Prometheus
The Big Sky - Dimitri Tiomkin - Screen Archives/BYU
Captain From Castile - Alfred Newman - Screen Archives
The Dreamer of Oz - Lee Holdridge - Percepto
From Beyond - Richard Band - La-La Land
Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Denny Zeitlin - Perseverance
Mighty Joe Young, etc. - Roy Webb, et al - Monstrous Movie Music
Monte Walsh/The Crossfire Trail - Eric Colvin - La-La Land
Roughing It - Bruce Broughton - Intrada Special Collection
A Summer Place - Max Steiner - Screen Archives/BYU
This Island Earth, etc. - Herman Stein, et al - Monstrous Movie Music

April 11 - John Williams wins fourth Oscar for E.T. score; Jack Nitzsche wins Oscar for Officer and a Gentleman song; Henry Mancini wins for Victor Victoria song score (1983)
April 11 - Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Byrne, Cong Su win Oscars for Last Emperor score (1988)
April 12 - Ronald Stein born (1930)
April 12 - Hugo Friedhofer begins recording score to Soldier of Fortune (1955)
April 12 - Miklos Rozsa begins recording score to Lust For Life (1956)
April 13 - Vladimir Cosma born (1940)
April 13 - Bill Conti born (1942)
April 13 - John Addison wins his only Oscar for Tom Jones score (1964)
April 14 - John Barry wins third Oscar for Lion in Winter score; Jerry Goldsmith, nominated for groundbreaking Planet of the Apes score, is probably bitterly disappointed (1969)
April 14 - Georges Delerue wins score Oscar for A Little Romance; David Shire wins song Oscar for Norma Rae (1980)
April 15 - Francis Lai wins Oscar for Love Story score; Jerry Goldsmith, nominated for Best Picture winner Patton, is probably even more bitterly disappointed than when he didn't win for Planet of the Apes (1971)
April 15 - Michael Kamen born (1948)
April 16 - Henry Mancini born (1924)
April 17 - Ernest Gold wins his only Oscar for the Exodus score (1961)

THE GOOD THIEF - Elliot Goldenthal

"Elliot Goldenthal's score is supplemented by a superbly chosen batch of fresh pop tunes, including Leonard Cohen's 'A Thousand Kisses Deep,' Johnny Hallyday's French-lingo cover of 'Black Is Black' and Bono's treatment of the chestnut 'That's Life.'"

Eddie Cockrell, Variety

THE GUYS - Mychael Danna

"Certain scenes are also marred by piercing, overwrought string music -- the eerie buzz of silence would have said so much more.

Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

A MAN APART - Anne Dudley

"This mess is driven by Anne Dudley's bombastic score and phony street lingo from screenwriters Christian Gudegast and Paul Scheuring, whose script also provides suitably leaden voice-overs for Diesel to mumble his way through."

David Germain, Associated Press

"Production package is extremely sleek and ultrapro, starting with Green's fine way with light and including production's capacity to re-create several North American settings in the L.A. area and composer Anne Dudley's expansive electronic score -- itself another [Michael] Mann echo."

Robert Koehler, Variety

"The soundtrack gets sad and Vetter is forced to turn in his badge."

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe

PHONE BOOTH - Harry Gregson-Williams

"Although gussied up with all sorts of cinematic tricks and a jittery, ticking soundtrack, 'Phone Booth' is essentially a one-act radio play in which a sadistic voyeur with a high-powered rifle plays humiliating cat-and-mouse games with an urban everyman and taunts him into breaking down and confessing his sins."

Stephen Holden, New York Times

Recently, reader Josh Zach wrote in asking for help in identifying a particular piece of music:

I know of only two places it has been used. During Warner Brothers 75 Anniversary, the company released a theatrical montage which ran before their films started. The piece of music I'm looking for accompanied that montage. The other place I've heard the tune in the past was during an Oscars ceremony. I believe it was used during the 'In Memoriam' segment. I don't know what ceremony it was used in, but I do know it was within the past six years.

FROM: "Mark So" <mark_so@hotmail.com>

I believe the answer is Randy Edelman's music from Dragonheart. I'm certain it's been used over the dead people segment of the Oscars, and I'm pretty sure I remember gagging at the sound of it over the Warner montage, as well. But then, I may be thinking of the AFI 100 montage.

If this is the montage I'm thinking of (there may have been more than one), than it is none other than an arrangement of Herman Hupfeld's "As Time Goes By," popularized by one of Warner's most loved films, "Casablanca." Of course, "Casablanca" is now on MGM home video.

FROM: "Jeremy Moniz" <DeviantMan@aol.com>

SUBJECT: Broken Glass
 
Hello Mr. Bettencourt,

"Mr.?" A bit too formal I think, but if you insist. Your point is quite valid that too many composers get little to no recognition at all. I really disliked the intro delivered by Rene Zellweger, during the awards, that implied that nobody has ever noticed or is supposed to notice a film score. Her intro does however explain why many scores chosen for nomination are, at times, less than deserving and that masterpieces are ignored. Another major problem with the nominations lies in the constant recognition of Williams, who blocked out again, every one of the other composers on your list who still deserves a nomination. You'd think that the president of the Film Music Society, Christopher Young, would be a "shoo-in" for at least one nomination.

Your point about Glass isn't so valid because, from the way you responded, it simply states that you do dislike his music to a certain degree. Granted many people dislike his repetitive style (sometimes referred to as noise music) and "Hours", is clearly not his best work, but is there more to it than just Glass was lucky enough to be nominated because he scored a highly acclaimed picture and that he is also respected in the concert hall? From this rationalization, Aaron Copland, John Corigliano and Elliot Goldenthal have been very lucky men as well. Does Glass have the same kind of negative fan base that Zimmer had (or still has) when he won his Oscar during Disney's tenure as automatic best score nominee (and a popular "target" at FSM)?

All this aside, Morricone is most overdue to receive an Oscar (as you said) and will probably be the next, along with Elmer Bernstein, recipient of the lifetime achievement Oscar. If they're lucky.

With all deliberation about "The Hours," it certainly did not deserve to win an Oscar for score. Then again the problem lies with the biases of the Oscar nomination selection which you've presented in depth online and within FSM.

Hey, here's an idea for a poll -- On a list of composers of your (Bettencourt's) choosing, which composer is most overdue or most deserving to win an Oscar for their work?

(By the way, Glass fans should be pleased to learn that his label, Orange Mountain Music, is about to release his score to the Errol Morris's memorable documentary The Thin Blue Line -- this time with no dialogue.)

I like your poll idea, but alas Lukas (or whoever was writing the polls before I came onboard and took over those duties) already had a similar poll a few years ago, and this one reads like it may actually have been free of the traditional ballot stuffing:

Which previously nominated composer is most deserving of a first Oscar?

Ennio Morricone - 257 votes 34.9 %
Danny Elfman - 243 votes 33.0 %
Thomas Newman - 74 votes 10.0 %
James Newton Howard - 46 votes 6.2 %
Lalo Schifrin - 42 votes 5.7 %
Randy Newman - 35 votes 4.7 %
Elliot Goldenthal - 31 votes 4.2 %
Marc Shaiman - 9 votes 1.2 %

Total Votes: 737

Of course, since then both Randy Newman and Elliot Goldenthal have each won their much deserved first Oscars.

Obviously, this reader didn't see the website's notice that all letters of praise should be about me.

FROM: "Dennis J Logsdon" <logied@juno.com>

SUBJECT: Choice of Critics
 
When spending my fan money on movies and scores I hesitate to waste it, if I can, by listening to critics that, in most cases, lean in my direction of likes and dislikes. In today's daily, Cary Wong again writes with grace of pen and judgment on CDs on my list. There are a number of very good critics that fill the pages of FSM but no one has swayed my choices and spent my money more than Cary. Thanks.

FROM: Sam Krezma <samkrezma@yahoo.com>

SUBJECT: Michael Ware/THE SUM OF ALL FEARS
 
Memo to Scott Bettencourt and All Mankind: Well if nothing else, Goldsmith's THE SUM OF ALL FEARS inspired the following eloquence from Michael Ware: "Beautifully, the elements of light within the score find a threnodic expression in conjunction with the future Ryan couple, as if to say, this is what is important and what is at stake, this is what you have to lose." Beautifully put. It's just a shame that the word "threnodic" can't help but put me in mind of Krzysztof Penderecki's THRENODY FOR THE VICTIMS OF HIROSHIMA, arguably the most painfully boring piece of music since -- oh -- I'd have to go back to Mitch Miller in his prime.

Where the heck was I? Oh yeah. Michael neglected to bitch about the inclusion of a Puccini tune called NESSUN DORMA. So I guess the duty has devolved on me. Firstly, let me stress that I take a backseat to no-one when it comes to appreciating Puccini's TURANDOT. (Specifically, the last part of the last act, when it's almost over.) But nevertheless, its inclusion came at Goldsmith's expense. And I really don't give a fig for the fact that opera is germane to the movie's plot. Puccini's gain is Goldsmith's loss. And consequently *our* loss.

This happens to be the second time that NESSUN DORMA has displaced a movie composer. It previously displaced John Williams in THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK, where its inclusion acted as a totally irrelevant musical non-sequitur. Which is why I'm forced to issue the following open threat to the Hollywood Powers That Be: If anyone pulls this Puccini crap one more time, I'm gonna program my Orson Welles android to sit on a few faces. Consider yourselves warned, people. Three strikes and you're out. And that's the name of *that* threnody.