FILM SCORE FRIDAY 5/6/05
By Scott Bettencourt
Intrada
has announced the next in their Special Collection series. The second volume
of their NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC PRESENTS series features two scores
by Oscar-winning composers -- THE LAST VIKINGS by Ernest Gold
from 1972, and DR. LEAKEY AND THE DAWN OF MAN by Leonard Rosenman
from 1966. The CD, which may be ordered now, will be limited to 1500 copies
and will be available around June 7th.
On May 16th, Varese
Sarabande will announce the latest releases in their CD Club. There
will be five new titles -- three Club releases, one from Masters Film Music,
and one "special" fifth title.
On May 24th, the Buysoundtrax
label will release a limited (1000 copies) edition of Blake Neely's
score to the 2005 romantic comedy THE WEDDING DATE, which starred
Debra Messing and Dermot Mulroney.
On June 7th, Superb Records will release Alexandre
Desplat's score for HOSTAGE in the U.S. Gut Records has already
released the CD in the United Kingdom, though copies are hard to come by.
Though not quite as temp track ridden as Miss Congeniality
2: Armed and Fabulous, Ridley Scott's new epic KINGDOM OF HEAVEN,
scored by Harry Gregson-Williams, features credited cues from Graeme
Revell (The Crow), Marco Beltrami (Blade II) and Jerry Goldsmith
(The 13th Warrior). Given Scott's history with Goldsmith (the butchered
Alien, the rejected-and-later-restored Legend), the composer's
inclusion in the final release of Kingdom is ironic to say the least.
I suppose I must be slow witted for never making the connection
between SIN CITY's three stories and three composers, but the cue
credits on the Varese Sarabande CD indicate that each of the composers
was primarily responsible for one of the stories. Director Robert Rodriguez
scored "That Yellow Bastard," the Bruce Willis story that begins and
ends the film (not counting the Josh Hartnett framing sequences), Graeme
Revell scored "The Hard Goodbye" (originally published as "Sin City,"
starring Mickey Rourke), and John Debney scored "The Big Fat Kill"
(starring Clive Owen).
CDS AVAILABLE THIS WEEK
De Battre Mon Coeur S'Est Arrete - Alexandre Desplat - Naive
(import)
Downfall (Der Untergang) - Stephan Zacharias - Colosseum (import)
Earth and Ashes - Francesco Russo/Khaled Arman - Sound of World
(import)
Hitman/Hitman 2 - Jesper Kyd - La-La Land
Il Cuore Nel Pozzo - Ennio Morricone - Rai Trade
Je Suis un Assassin - Krishna Levy - Amelie Aime Le Cinema (import)
Karol: Un Uomo Diventato Papa - Ennio Morricone - Image (import)
Le Couperet/Amen - Armand Amar - Naive (import)
Revenge of the Sith - John Williams - Sony Classical
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill - Chris Michie - Catch a
Rabbit
IN THEATERS TODAY
Crash - Mark Isham - Soundtrack CD due on Superb
Fighting Tommy Riley - Tim Simonec
Happily Ever After - Christian Chevalier, Brad Mehldau
House of Wax - John Ottman - Score CD due May 14 from Varese
Sarabande
Jiminy Glick in Lalawood - David Lawrence
Kingdom of Heaven - Harry Gregson-Williams - Score CD on Sony
COMING SOON
May 10
The Incredible Film Music Box - various - Silva
Music From the Films of Steven Spielberg - John Williams, et
al - Silva
May 10
Carrie - Pino Donaggio - Varese Sarabande
House of Wax - John Ottman - Varese Sarabande
May 17
Angel - Robert Kral - Rounder (U.S. release)
Hour of the Gun - Jerry Goldsmith - Varese Sarabande
Spartacus - Randy Miller - Intrada Signature Collection
May 24
Cinderella Man - Thomas Newman - Decca
The Film Music of Stanley Black - Stanley Black - Chandos
The Wedding Date - Blake Neely - Buysoundtrax
June 7
Caveman - Lalo Schifrin - Aleph
Hostage - Alexandre Desplat - Superb
National Geographic Presents: The Last Vikings & Dr. Leakey
and the Dawn of Man - Ernest Gold/Leonard Rosenman - Intrada Special
Collection
June 21
Loch Ness - Trevor Jones - Perseverance
June 28
War of the Worlds - John Williams - Decca
August 23
The Punisher - Dennis Dreith - Perseverance
Date Unknown
Battlestar Galactica: Season One - Bear McCreary - La-La Land
The Big Empty - Brian Tyler - La-La Land
Book of Stars - Richard Gibbs - La-La Land
Farscape Classics Vol. 2 - Guy Gross - La-La Land
The Howling - Pino Donaggio - La-La Land
Johnny Belinda - Max Steiner - Screen Archives
Killer Klowns From Outer Space - John Massari - Percepto
Marjorie Morningstar - Max Steiner - Screen Archives
Mirrormask - Iain Ballamy - La-La Land
Rediscovering Lost Scores Vol. 1 - Wendy Carlos - East Side
Digital
Rediscovering Lost Scores Vol. 2 - Wendy Carlos - East Side
Digital
Seed of Chucky - Pino Donaggio - La-La Land
Son of Fury - Alfred Newman - Screen Archives
We Are Not Movies? - Mark Mothersbaugh - Commotion
THIS WEEK IN FILM MUSIC HISTORY
May 6 - Recording begins on Alfred Newman and Hugo Friedhofer's
score to The Bravados in Munich, Germany (1958)
May 6 - Tom Chase born (1965)
May 6 - Michel Legrand begins recording score to Ice Station
Zebra (1968)
May 7 - Jack Elliott born (1914)
May 7 - Anne Dudley born (1956)
May 8 - Nathan Van Cleave born (1910)
May 9 - The Informer is released in theaters (1935)
May 9 - David Benoit born (1953)
May 10 - Max Steiner born (1888)
May 10 - Dimitri Tiomkin born (1899)
May 10 - Jay Ferguson born (1947)
May 12 - Gordon Jenkins born (1910)
May 12 - Burt Bacharach born (1928)
May 12 - Klaus Doldinger born (1936)
May 12 - Humphrey Searle died (1982)
DID THEY MENTION THE MUSIC?
THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY - Joby Talbot
"In addition, the score, alternatingly bombastic and saccharine, often
is used with no irony, suggesting that someone didn't get the whole point."
Andy Klein, Los Angeles Citybeat
LADIES IN LAVENDER - Nigel Hess
"As its romantic score (composed by Nigel Hess and played by Joshua
Bell) billows and swells, 'Ladies in Lavender' suggests a more level-headed
variation of 'Humoresque.'"
Stephen Holden, New York Times
WARM SPRINGS [TV] - Bruce Broughton
"Shot in some of the actual Southern locations, pic spares no expense
in its trappings, from the costumes and cars to Bruce Broughton's excellent
score."
Brian Lowry, Variety
XXX - STATE OF THE UNION - Marco Beltrami
"More than any other production contributor, stunt coordinator R.A.
Rondell labors above and beyond the call of duty, while composer Marco
Beltrami apparently has never heard a fortissimo he doesn't like."
Robert Koehler, Variety
AND YET STILL MORE FILMS BETTER THAN
THEIR SCORES
FROM: "Sean McDonald"
Fun question.Well here goes
20.000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA. Great movie but Paul Smith's score
is pretty lame stuff. Instantly forgettable. The only good music heard
is J.S.Bach's Toccata And Fugue In D Minor and a catchy little tune sung
by Kirk Douglas. The followup movie to 20.000 LEAGUES, MYSTERIOUS ISLAND
had an awesome score by Bernard Herrmann. Ah if only Herrmann had been
asked to do 20.000 LEAGUES...written a similar score...
LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW /THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR.TOAD.
Oliver Wallace did some nice work for Disney yes but I've always strongly
felt that the music he provided for SLEEPY HOLLOW was completely unworthy
of the film. I think this film was simply out of Wallace's league. Maybe
he tried his best but the results show that he just wasn't up to it. The
only good music heard is the ballad Bing Crosby sings about the Headless
Horseman. That's it. A lot of thought, imagination and hard work went into
the visuals, the animation, the atmospheric background paintings, etc.
but apparently very little thought, passion, and feeling went into Wallace's
music. Sounds like he wrote it all in a couple of days. It's flat and cheap
sounding. The music he wrote for the big chase? Feh. Hasn't stopped me
from enjoying the movie.
This is just my personal feeling. But I find myself as I watch
SLEEPY HOLLOW, wishing I was hearing Bernard Herrmann's death hunt or the
hunt scherzo music from his ON DANGEROUS GROUND score instead of Wallace's
lame mush. Ever since I first heard the Chas. Gerhardt recording of the
Death Hunt from ON DANGEROUS GROUND on that great Herrmann album he did
for RCA I've always associated this with the Headless Horseman. [Not Robert
Ryan chasing some half wit doofus around in a not so great movie.] SLEEPY
HOLLOW would've been right up Herrmann's alley. Oh well. I'm glad FSM has
finally released the full score for ON DANGEROUS GROUND. I look forward
to getting a copy.
TIME BANDITS. Great movie. The score written for it is terrible.
Can't remember the hack's name. Mike Moran? Can't help but notice that
this person ripped off the march theme from the first movement of Mahler's
6th symphony and used it as the theme for the time bandits. Turned an awe
inspiring march by Mahler into a cheap shoddy little joke. Enjoy the movie
ignore the score if you can.
GONE WITH THE WIND. Great film. Absolutely fascinating. But I can't
resist slamming this sacred cow as far as it's score is concerned. Beyond
its sweeping main title music I feel the majority of the score is to borrow
a phrase coined by Quincy Jones "emotion lotion". Yeah that's what dull,
plodding, wall-to-wall music like this is as far as I'm concerned. Lotion.
The movie works in spite of its score not because of it. I've never been
a real big admirer of Max Steiner. I get a kick out of how Pauline Kael
always slammed him. Yes he wrote a number of first rate scores. KING KONG,
NOW VOYAGER, THE FOUNTAINHEAD, THE CAINE MUTINY, THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS
et al. It actually sounds like he must've actually been inspired enough
to do his absolute best on those. But for the most part I've found his
work to be boring. Not very compelling or interesting. Big and symphonic
yes but flat as the paper it was written on. Just my opinion. Steiner's
music only makes me appreciate composers like Aaron Copland, Hugo Friedhofer,
David Raksin, Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rozsa, or Hans J. Salter and other
talented composers who wrote music that had a cutting edge all the more.
ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST. Jack Nitzsche gets my vote as
one of the worst film composers of all time. What an unimaginative hack
he was. I have to say NitZsche's score for CUCKOO'S NEST is so bad it almost
succeeds in ruining this powerful and moving film especially in the ending
when Will Sampson after putting the lobotomized Jack Nicholson to sleep
rips up that sink, completing Jack's wish and throws it out the window
and escapes, The "music" accompanying all this is absolute garbage. Jerry
Fielding sure was right when he said "The best composers don't always get
first crack at these films." God I wish Alex North or Jerry Goldsmith had
scored this film...
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
|
