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For me, the blue max is one of that rare exceptions where a score would be way much better and enjoyable reduced to a 10 minutes suite or less, because the expanded version (and even the LP) are repetitive to death. Never seen the movie, but if you have to believe the music, the script probably was something like "and now... somebody shows up and... he's flying" - sounds another variation of the main theme -
You can't have been listening. The unbelievably intricate layering of the German Army Retreat Passacaglia (you couldn't even get that one cue into '10 minutes'!), the whole tragic feel of the variations on the main theme. The exhilaration of the air battle, the onomatopoeia of the brass engine sounds, the Germanic basslines and military rhythms, even the whirl of string slipstream against the morbid brass, the intimate love-waltz, the whole 'high and low' thing (this film is all the Icarus myth, y'know)... The only place you find real repetition is in the Entr'Acte. And there's so much wonderful Bachian fugato and counterpoint, and Romantic height, and impressionistic tension ... it's a history of Western music in a plant-pot.
Whether you think it Goldsmith's best or no, it's certainly a showcase of his craftsmanship and scope like no other.
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Posted: |
Jan 19, 2010 - 9:58 AM
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By: |
Bob Bryden
(Member)
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For me, the blue max is one of that rare exceptions where a score would be way much better and enjoyable reduced to a 10 minutes suite or less, because the expanded version (and even the LP) are repetitive to death. Never seen the movie, but if you have to believe the music, the script probably was something like "and now... somebody shows up and... he's flying" - sounds another variation of the main theme -
You can't have been listening. The unbelievably intricate layering of the German Army Retreat Passacaglia (you couldn't even get that one cue into '10 minutes'!), the whole tragic feel of the variations on the main theme. The exhileration of the air battle, the anomatopoeia of the brass engine sounds, the Germanic basslines and military rhythms, even the whirl of string slipstream against the morbid brass, the intimate love-waltz, the whole 'high and low' thing (this film is all the Icarus myth, y'know)... The only place you find real repetition is in the Entr'Acte. And there's so much wonderful Bachian fugato and counterpoint, and Romantic height, and impressionistis tension ... it's a history of Western music in a plant-pot.
Whether you think it Goldsmith's best or no, it's certainly a showcase of his craftsmanship and scope like no other.
I agree with you totally WILLIAMD!!! You're probably the person to ask this question: I love the 'Retreat' cue - but in the film I noticed that it starts but then seems to be dialed out once the strafing of the troops starts - and then returns later. Is this what happened? Did Jerry write for the entire bit (including strafing)
and then someone figured the mid-section didn't need music!?
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I love the 'Retreat' cue - but in the film I noticed that it starts but then seems to be dialed out once the strafing of the troops starts - and then returns later. Is this what happened? Did Jerry write for the entire bit (including strafing)
and then someone figured the mid-section didn't need music!?
I'm not sure I'd be the best authority ... in fact I'm not ... but that's what seems to have happened. Why they dialled that down ... and 'The Bridge' too ... is unfathomable.
I suppose you could argue that Goldsmith gave such a great musical 'picture' of those scenes that the droning brass and bass music just couldn't be heard above the SFX whilst the higher strings could. Certainly they've opted for cutting bass as a rule in favour of violins.
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Hearing the love theme on piano is what sold me on this one. Vintage Goldsmith.
Right on. It is one of my favorites. It offers such a wonderful contrast to the battle music. Kind of like The Omen's theme for Kathy surrounded by all the darkness of Jerry's black mass. I love these tragic love themes that he was so adept at creating.
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I have to admit I was not that familiar with this score (war scores are not my taste) and only knew it from the attack cue.
Hearing the love theme on piano is what sold me on this one. Vintage Goldsmith.
The REAL 'war' in the screenplay is one of class, so it's not yer straightforward Ron Goodwin action/heroics type of score.
I dunno if this needs a spoiler, but the film is basically about Bruno Stahel, a working-class soldier who dreams of flying. He joins an officer-cadre elite, and feels he must prove himself. He becomes more and more ambitious in the face of the 'chivalrous' aristos, and inflates somewhat when he enters a dangerous relationship with a Countess, and forces himself into a position where he's made a war-hero for publicity in hard times. The aristos think he's ruthless (and he plays up to that, though it's a misunderstanding) and eventually conspire to have him 'honourably' killed in a test-flight with a plane with unsafe wing-struts ... get the Icarus thing? So it's a bit like 'Lawrence of Arabia' in that the upper classes make him, use him, then ditch him when he's no longer useful. It's a tragedy, and the music reflects that.
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I've ordered this -- will supplement the old lp and Varese release in my library -- and the various suites and rerecords. It is a wonderful score.
Gosh my clearest memory of this film is Ursula Andress and that damn towel...has a simple, draped piece of cloth ever received so much rapt attention from an audience of adolescent males?
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