FILM SCORE FRIDAY 4/18/03

Just another reminder, the latest CD releases from Film Score Monthly are in stock and ready to order. FSM presents its first Alex North CD with our Silver Age release of two North scores, ALL FALL DOWN and THE OUTRAGE. Our Golden Age release pairs two Miklos Rozsa scores, GREEN FIRE and BHOWANI JUNCTION.

The Don Davis website has been redesigned, and includes a link to Maverick Records' website featuring information on the upcoming soundtrack to THE MATRIX RELOADED. The two-disc set, due May 6, largely consists of songs, but the second disc includes a handful of Davis cues including a seventeen-minute suite.

All Fall Down/The Outrage - Alex North - Film Score Monthly
Green Fire/Bhowani Junction - Miklos Rozsa - Film Score Monthly
Identity - Alan Silvestri - Varese Sarabande
Ripley's Game - Ennio Morricone - Warners (import)
The Thin Blue Line - Philip Glass - Orange Mountain (music only)

Bulletproof Monk - Eric Serra - Score CD on Lakeshore
Chasing Papi - Emilio Estefan, Jr. - Song CD on Sony
Holes - Joel McNeely - Song CD on Disney
Lilya 4-Ever - Nathan Larson
Malibu's Most Wanted - John Debney, John Van Tongeren, Damon Elliott
A Mighty Wind - Song CD on DMZ/Columbia/Sony
Raising Victor Vargas - Roy Nathanson, Brad Jones
Venus & Mars - Nathan Barr

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 6
The Matrix Reloaded - Don Davis - Maverick
May 13
Something Wild - Aaron Copland - Varese Sarabande
Date Unknown
Amerika - Basil Poledouris - Prometheus
The Big Sky - Dimitri Tiomkin - Screen Archives/BYU
Bones - Elia Cmiral - Intrada
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 18 - Miklos Rozsa born (1907)
April 18 - Maurice Jarre wins his second Oscar for Dr. Zhivago score; presumably decides to stick with this David Lean kid (1966)
April 19 - Sol Kaplan born (1919)
April 19 - Dudley Moore born (1935)
April 22 - Bride of Frankenstein, featuring groundbreaking score by Franz Waxman, released in theaters (1935)
April 23 - Patrick Williams born (1939)
April 23 - Jay Gruska born (1952)
April 23 - Bernard Herrmann begins recording North by Northwest score (1959)
April 24 - Barbra Streisand born (1942)
April 24 - Dana Kaproff born (1954)

Alas, the only new film in wide release last week was Anger Management, scored by Adam Sandler's house composer Teddy Castellucci, and none of the dozen reviews I found for the film saw fit to mention the score. Sorry, Teddy.

Do any of our readers have the Rhino CD "Golden Throats 4: Celebrities Butcher the Beatles?" This disc was part of Rhino's series of "Golden Throats" CDs, featuring memorably off recordings by celebrities one doesn't normally associate with rock music.

The highlight of this disc is a Grammy winning (for "Best Contemporary Pop Performance By a Chorus") single by Alan Copeland, which melds the Beatles' tender "Norwegian Wood" with Lalo Schifrin's classic Mission: Impossible theme to unforgettable effect. Trust me, this one's worth a listen.

Is anyone out there familiar with Mr. Copeland's work? Did he ever do any other pieces like this? The mind boggles.

David Cronenberg, on A Beautiful Mind:

If you see that movie, you're going to say, wow, let me be a schizophrenic. I've got this really beautiful chick who I have no trouble sustaining this relationship with, I have fun with Ed Harris when I'm bored, I win the Nobel Prize, then I have a movie made about my life starring Russell Crowe, and then we win Oscars. So let me be a schizophrenic.

A couple weeks ago, reader Josh Zach wrote in for help 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.

One writer suggested it was Randy Edelman's Dragonheart, while another thought it might be an arrangement of "As Time Goes By." Here is a third choice--

FROM: "Shaun Rutherford" <assretard@hotmail.com>

SUBJECT:  That WB 75th Anniversary Thing
 
Maybe I'm thinking of something else, but for the home video circuit, Warner has used a ripoff of Far And Away on some of their commemorative trailers.

FROM: "Marcelo Ferreyra" <ferreyramarcelo@usa.net>

SUBJECT:  THE LOST JAMES BOND THEME

I was listening the new expanded release of LIVE AND LET DIE and I chose the James Bond theme, (track 14) to compare it with the old EMI release, just to check the differences on the improved sound. Suddenly I found out something that made my heart stop. In the new CD version the introduction before the guitar comes in is longer. At first I thought that they cut it out the intro until the drum break comes due to LP duration. But a closer listening showed that there was a different take indeed. At 0.09 comes a second violin line absent in the original. At 0.17 appears a woodwind line with the familiar countermelody played later with the trumpets.

Now, at 0.20 comes the part that is similar but not the same as the LP release. On the LP the strings played long notes on a directional line. On this version there is a counter melody below that seems to be the violas playing a kind of jeopardy rhythm. Finally at 0.27 comes in the drums break and from there follows the original arrangement. So, unless I'm mistaken we have a lost gem on our hands.

Finally I would like to thank you for this wonderful magazine of which I'm one of the proud owners of the complete collection and for Your CD releases that are a dream come true. The TV scores of The Green Hornet (Billy may), Zorro (William Lava) and The Untouchables (Nelson Riddle et all) have being always on my wish list, and I hope in Yours.

SUBJECT:  Attenborough and MAGIC
 
One of the reasons Richard Attenborough chose to do MAGIC was because his previous picture, originally meant to be a roadshow, A BRIDGE TOO FAR, bombed with both the critics and the box office. Perhaps he thought MAGIC would be a better prospect, since it was derived from a best-selling novel.
 
Attenborough never repeated his GHANDI success in later years. Even his film of A CHORUS LINE is still lambasted in many quarters.
 
Frankly, I've always liked his first directorial effort, the movie of OH! WHAT A LOVELY WAR, which has never been released to video. It was both theatrical and cinematic, a mix rarely attempted, but which can be extremely effective, as it was for Ken Russell in THE BOY FRIEND, and even for Laurence Olivier in HENRY V.
 
I am hoping that someday, WAR will be released on DVD. It's well worth seeing.

FROM: "Dennis Cannon" <DPCJ44@aol.com>

SUBJECT:  Scott Bettencourt/ score for Beloved Infidel
 
You wrote that you have never heard the score to Beloved Infidel. Well, I think it is a very wonderful score -- in fact, it is better than the movie and I can't wait to receive my copy. This is the second score that I have waited years for: The View From Pompey's Head was the first which Film Score Monthly released two years ago. So little by little my collection is growing thanks to Film Score and Varese Sarabande. I hope you both continue in bringing us collectors the scores we are waiting for.

Thank you again

FROM: "Michael Graves" <mgraves@vtown.com.au>

SUBJECT:  FSM poll
 
My favorite John Barry song just so happens to be "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown" (from On Her Majesty's Secret Service) -- inexplicably missing from your poll!

And, of course, most people HATE "Do You Know How Christmas Trees Are Grown?" -- I don't, but then I have that special fondness for it that I have for a lot of songs I grew up listening to, and which may not actually be very good.

The release of Chasing Papi this week reminds me of one of my least favorite trends in contemporary cinema -- two-word movie titles that begin with a gerund (as in "taking," "making," "loving," etc.), followed by a person's name.

For example: Boxing Helena, Chasing Amy, Chasing Papi, Deconstructing Harry, Delivering Milo, Drowning Mona, Finding Forrester, Guarding Tess, Killing Zoe, Losing Chase, Losing Isaiah, Meeting Venus, Owning Mahowney, Regarding Henry, Saving Silverman, Serving Sara, Surviving Picasso. (Not to forget TV shows like Crossing Jordan and Judging Amy, and even non-fiction books like Killing Pablo.)

There also plenty of three-word versions of this same title formulation, but for some reason they don't seem quite so tiresome: Being John Malkovich, Driving Miss Daisy, Raising Victor Vargas, Saving Private Ryan, Teaching Mrs. Tingle.

While I'm indulging petty grievances, another thing I hate is thrillers -- usually serial-killer movies or heist films -- where the characters constantly talk about "the game" -- "heís a real student of the game," "so, youíre ready to start the game again," and so forth. The trailer for the Italian Job remake is full of these. NOBODY talks like this, except characters in lame thrillers trying to sound cool. And if the studios insist on supporting lazy scriptwriting, they might as well buy some of my screenplays.

Regular readers of this column may remember that last spring I published a couple letters from "Nalton," a reader who was enthusiastic, to say the least, about his love of Hans Zimmer and his hatred of my columns and what he perceives as my politics.

I had hoped that by simply ignoring him -- neither printing nor responding to his letters -- he would just give up and go away, but that has not proven to be the case, and a recent letter contained a charge so blatantly false that I felt I had to reply. Here are the recent letters, which I am presenting unedited and with no correction of spelling mistakes, neither his nor mine (so enjoy my use of "poltical" and "anounced").

FROM: Ned Alton <nalton@bellatlantic.net>

DATE:  Thu, 03 Apr 2003

SUBJECT: re: Bettencourt's Oscar "favorites" -- please!

You are, and likely will remain, -- a CLOWN! Do you Really think we now take your film expertise/opinions with anything beyond a pinch of dirt? Please -- Sandra Bullock for a future Oscar? Her career is in such decline -- but hell, maybe you actually liked Hope Floats and Miss Congeniality. Who else do take as a serious Actress -- Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Pamela Anderson. Yes, I agree with most of your actor choices -- but STOP with this trying to be something for everyone. You already have ENOUGH reader's pissed with your anti-war, left-wing, I hate-George-Bush statements. But hey, didn't someone famous on this site recently mouth off, "What do you expect from this site -- its free for godsakes!!!". Maybe you're right -- in this instance, you get what you pay for --

DATE:  Thu, 03 Apr 2003
 
Sir:

I wrote to you once in the past, to correct an error in one of your letters. You had claimed I insulted Nancy Reagan's loyalty to her husband in one of my columns, while in fact I had used her as an example of wifely loyalty. After I wrote to you of your mistake, I heard nothing more from you for a long time -- and never anything resembling an admission that you were wrong.
 
Your latest letter contains the following passage:

You already have ENOUGH reader's pissed with your anti-war, left-wing, I hate-George-Bush statements.

I defy you to find anything in any of my columns that can be construed as an "anti-war, I hate-George-Bush" statement. My columns are all still accessible on the website -- you're welcome to track down a reference and prove me wrong.

Besides once referring to myself in the column as a "Village Voice reading lefty," I never discuss politics in the column, as it has no place in the column. It is a website about movies, music, and movie music.

You, however, seemingly cannot write a letter without expousing your own pro-war, I-love-George-Bush views, and you are welcome to your views. This is America, that's what free speech is all about. However, those political views have no place in a column on movie music, which is one of many reasons I do not print them.

You have often remarked that I do not print letters crticizing me. This is clearly untrue, since one of those printed letters garnered my "it's free" rebuttal which bothered you so much. For the most part, I don't get very many critical letters, and with good reason -- unlike you, most people who don't like my columns simply stop reading them, instead of sending in letters with the same criticisms over and over again.

If you wish to discuss political topics on the website, I suggest you go to the "Off Topic" section of the Message Board. If you wish, you can also start a topic on the Film Music Message Board expressing your criticisms of my column and looking for like-minded readers. I would be fascinated to read those replies.

And as I said before, I challenge you to find any "anti-war, I hate-George-Bush" statement of mine on the website.

Scott Bettencourt.

DATE:  Thu, 03 Apr 2003

SUBJECT:  Re: politics and FSM

Scott,

Let's clarify a few things -- shall we? While I appreciate your response, it doesn't really address everything I take umbrage with you on. Okay, you don't knock our President in every op ed -- but, yes -- you do print several emails of readers that do take a stance against both him and the Republican message -- and yes, I can go back and locate those, if you wish?

Next, you've STILL yet to apologize to many readers (several of who you bravely displayed their outspoken admonishment towards YOU) surrounding your (and you MUST admit) boneheaded response, responding to one reader's response "what do you expect to get from this site -- its free?" And PLEASE -- do not tell me several readers were irrated by that statement from you -- I've already received a separate email from one of your colleagues indicating different. You did a diservice (or lack of respect) towards the long-time readers of FSM, towards your colleagues at FSM, and mostly towards the name of FSM by making that smug, condescending remark -- like politics (which I agree w/you) - No place for it on this site. You need to make a public apology on that -- I think several tenured readers still have a distaste in their mouth from when you responded like that. More so, why did you add fuel to the fire by (rightfully so) showing a few emails from readers who adamently opposed your view???

Lastly, you in particular STILL show too many readers con and not pro towards Zimmer. Play it both ways with him. Yes, Goldsmith, Barry and Williams (and even Morricone) were great composers who greatly contributed to promoting film music towards where it is today. However, it is the likes of people such as Zimmer, Horner, Newton Howard, etc who've elevated it to the next level. And if that's not the case -- why is MV universally regarded as THE place for aspiring filmscore enthusiasts to aspire to get their start. It is virtually impossible to get in there -- but you get my point! Is he the highest paid per project and one of the only to boldly ask for points in the business -- is this all accurate? Does he, and Not your faves like Young, Broughton, etc have his Pick of top level project, ie the A-list, and literally when he's unable to participate -- is then STILL asked to have one of his proteges (formely Mancina, Rabin, Gregson-Williams, Rona, Bandelt, Cassidy, etc.) participate??? Who else has this kind of influence & power??? As of this email, you've still yet to address this point -- is that perhaps because its difficult to refute??? You guys are suppose to discuss everyone in the filmscore industry evenly (and supposedly w/no bias). Most informed readers here do Not look at FSM the same way they do towards Broughton.com (ie Intrada). They've unfortunately tarnished their credibility tremendously the past few years, with their obvious bias towards composers that just so happen to be under the Intrada label (how convenient). The funniest is when Douglas Fake raves about Lost In Space as a "truly monumental filmscore not only for sci-fi but in movie-scoring in general". Please do not let FSM reach that level. Your articles unfortunately are viewed by me (and many others I believe) that show obvious bias towards certain composers -- many of them so far beyond their best years (and scores) that it boggles my mind. In conclusion, begin giving Zimmer his due -- there is probably no film composer today who's score releases are more greatly anticipated for then Hans Zimmer. And yet, in your site and articles-- you make him seem like marginal B-player. Once you get it right, I'll then be satisfied that you're properly giving the King his due.

Edward

DATE:  Fri, 4 Apr 2003

SUBJECT:  Find them.

Okay, you don't knock our President in every op ed

No, in fact, I NEVER talk about the President or the war at all in my columns, and I defy you to find any examples of when I did,

you do print several emails of readers that do take a stance against both him and the Republican message -- and yes, I can go back and locate those, if you wish?

If you want to convince me you're right (and printing political e-mails is a lot different than expressing my own political opinions, which is what you accused me of), you'll have to locate those emails, since I make a practice of not printing political letters, and I excise political remarks when they creep into otherwise non-political letters. As I said before, this is not a website about politics -- not yours, nor mine.

Next, you've STILL yet to apologize to many readers (several of who you bravely displayed their outspoken admonishment towards YOU) surrounding your (and you MUST admit) boneheaded response, responding to one reader's response "what do you expect to get from this site -- its free?"

I do not accept any lesson in manners from a letter writer who regularly addresses me a "CLOWN," and who accuses me of things I provably did not do, like maligning Nancy Reagan's wifely loyalty or criticizing President Bush or the war.

More so, why did you add fuel to the fire by (rightfully so) showing a few emails from readers who adamantly opposed your view???

I don't understand your point. First you accuse me of not printing critical letters, then you criticize me for printing critical letters?

Lastly, you in particular STILL show too many readers con and not pro towards Zimmer.

I print nearly every letter I get (except those with political content), and I have never not printed a letter simply because it praised Zimmer.

I do not print YOUR letters anymore because they are rude (do you really think that calling someone a "CLOWN" will make them respect your opinion?), and all you do is say the same thing over and over again -- your columns suck, Zimmer is king, liberals suck.

You have written variations on this same letter for over a year. Why do you continue to read (and write to) a website that you clearly despise? There are plenty of other film music websites, as well as message boards where you can discuss your opinions with like minded readers. Why do you continue to waste your time attacking my columns? Being called a clown and having my poltical views (which you know virtually nothing about, since I never discuss them in my columns) attacked is hardly going to make me more sympathetic to your viewpoint.

I mention Zimmer frequently in the column.  On three separate occasions I praised his score to The Ring. I announce each of his new CDs, and even anounced his first venture into film producing, Waiting. In one Friday column I even wrote an entry complimenting him for sticking by his word and mentoring so many new composers.

Do I talk about Zimmer as much as I talk about some other composers? No, because I like those other composers more. If you wrote this column, there would be much more about Zimmer and less about Williams, Goldsmith, etc. Since I write it, I talk a lot about MY favorite composers.

Your articles unfortunately are viewed by me (and many others I believe) that show obvious bias towards certain composers.
 
Yes, I show obvious bias toward my favorite composers, and I make no bones about it. But they are clearly my OPINIONS, and always presented as such. I certainly would never go so far as to claim one composer is "The King."

I'm still waiting for you to find any examples of "anti-war, I-hate-Bush" sentiment in my writing.

Scott Bettencourt.

P.S. I would love to see the e-mail that you claim one of my colleagues wrote to you. Knowing my colleagues, they would not have shown your insulting letters a fraction of the patience and respect that I've shown.

1. Miss Congeniality grossed $105 million and Two Weeks Notice grossed $93 million, and Bullock produced both films as well as starring in them. Whatever you may think of Sandra Bullock's talents, I don't think it's fair to say her career is in decline.

2. I invite the rest of our readers to try to find any "anti-war, I-hate-George-Bush remarks" in my columns. And no, I haven't altered any of the columns since they were uploaded -- I'm too lazy even to fix the copious factual mistakes. I'd also be curious if any similar sentiments have popped up in any of the e-mails I've printed. Itís possible that they have, but I don't remember any. Anyone care to point them out?

3. Last year, I listed Hans Zimmer as the third most employable composer in Hollywood, and ranked several of his protégés (Mancina, Rabin, Powell, Gregson-Williams) in the top 40 as well. This hardly suggests that I treat him as a "marginal B-player."

4. Intrada is not a news site -- it is a record label and an on-line record store. I hardly think it's fair to expect them to maintain journalistic objectivity about the work of Bruce Broughton, as they are the number one producer of his CDs (and bless them for it). Would you also criticize the Varese Sarabande site for writing glowingly of each of their new Goldsmith releases?

5. Do any of our readers agree with Nalton that I don't give Zimmer his due? Not that I don't like him as much as his fans do -- that much is obvious -- but that I don't give him the attention warranted a composer of his stature in the industry. If so, please write in.

MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com