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Re: "Here in Europe, Chariots of Fire still remains a top-seller and you can find the CD easily in stores."
I rest my case.
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I received today my copy of the most recent special edition Blu-ray of "Chariots of Fire," and for a primarily 1 disc set (along with some of the soundtrack on a bonus CD) with a nice booklet of text and photographs), it's nice. But I have a gripe with those who had the bad sense to attach a promo sheet on the back touting all the extras -- the problem is that it was attached with very large blobs of a combination of glue and cement, and I spent over 30 minutes trying to CAREFULLY remove the blobs WITHOUT permanently marring the outside surface of the box, and it was very hard NOT to scratch the surface with my fingernail and there remain some vestiges of the glue after I gave up. I have great familiarity with opening DVD and Blu-ray boxes (I have over 4,000 DVDs and nearly 200 Blu-rays), so I'm not unfamiliar with studios attaching promo sheets like this, But I've never NEVER seen one so hard to remove, and I blame Warner Bros. for that. Since everything was sealed in shrink wrap, there was no need to make the flyer, which was SUPPOSED to be removed to reveal the rest of the permanent graphics, so difficult to completely remove. What an ordeal!
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OP..Ron...Have you ever thought about two or three paragraphs? It is hard reading when you have this long..went with the wind paragraph.
Now onto Vangelis's Cosmos...Oh I mean Chariots of Fire...
Your Oscar theory is wrong. Warren Beatty won DGA, and won the Oscar..but Best Picture was up for grabs...No..Not even On Golden Pond..it was between Reds and Chariots of Fire.
The Academy forte is not Music...Everyone was playing the Theme from Chariots of Fire..Everyone. The Theme won best score.
On Golden Pond, and Raiders was the best scores that year.
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Posted: |
Oct 23, 2013 - 8:54 PM
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By: |
skyy38
(Member)
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Last night, while watching "Chariots of Fire," I wanted to know who edited that movie, because he or she did an amazing job, especially with the music perfectly accompanying the action on screen.
It was Terry Rawlings, the same editor who worked on Blade Runner
MOST of the time, it is the aegis of the composer to write music to what the director has deemed fit-UNLESS the music in question existed before the production (ie Hawaii 50 having to cut the visuals of the open to the original tune by Mort Stevens)
When the composer steps in, the picture has been locked, meaning that THIS is the version that the composer scores to. If ANYONE is responsible for perfect interplay between the music and the visuals, it IS the composer......EXCEPT!!!
For the original cue that John Williams wrote for the "Flying Bicycles" sequence in "ET". I'm going off of memory here, but essentially, Spielberg RECUT that entire sequence, just to intensify the power of the music that Mr. Williams wrote-maybe he wrote too much and Spielberg wanted that in....?
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Posted: |
Oct 23, 2013 - 9:44 PM
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By: |
skyy38
(Member)
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I don’t think I’ve seen this in its entirety since I saw it in the theaters in 1983. To say I didn’t “get” it at 14 is surely an understatement.
Something I’m not sure modern listeners may not get (or for the aged of us, remember) is that this theme was EVERYWHERE. We don’t hear movie music outside of films anymore. (Or do we? I admit I don’t listen to the radio much anymore. Of course, I didn’t then either…) The last film music I remember being everywhere in the public conscious was Titanic.
Anyway… I only have the tracks of this that are on Themes. I still think they’re terrific. It’s funny how Blade Runner is such a Holy Grail but this score seems to be much more widely dismissed. Maybe because it beat Raiders of the Lost Ark?
Maybe I should get the original album.
TallGuy: There have been a few more than the ones you cited. The theme to "Midnight Express" was EVERYWHERE, as was the one for "Beverly Hills Cop," as well as songs from "Saturday Night Fever" and "Flash Dance" and "Fame." And yes, you really should get the original soundtrack for "Chariots of Fire" and see the movie again for the first time as an adult -- you may be pleasantly surprised about both!
A LOT of great stuff, both songs AND instrumentals that you couldn't escape. From personal experience, I offer the following:
Bonanza-Main Theme
Hawaii 50-Main Theme
Lost In Space ( New Theme for the Color Switch)
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Main Theme)
Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head (Song)
The Godfather (Main Theme)
Super Friends-The FIRST! (Main Theme)
The Towering Inferno- (Main Theme)
STAR WARS!!!!!! Even in "little old Anchorage,ALASKA-The MAIN TITLES got played on ROCK RADIO! BACK IN THE DAY!!!
The Imperial March-(Theme) In spite of the comparisons made between THIS and "Mars, The Bringer Of War, I would direct you to the overture of "Swan Lake" instead.Go ahead and *listen*!
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For the original cue that John Williams wrote for the "Flying Bicycles" sequence in "ET". I'm going off of memory here, but essentially, Spielberg RECUT that entire sequence, just to intensify the power of the music that Mr. Williams wrote-maybe he wrote too much and Spielberg wanted that in....?
I thought the story went thus: They were having a terrible time getting the ending of Close Encounters to work out. So Spielberg said “just play it and I’ll cut to it.” Then for E.T. Spielberg had Williams write the finale FIRST and then he cut to that.
Then there’s The Phantom Menace… Well, nevermind.
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Itstownerman:
Re: "Your Oscar theory is wrong. Warren Beatty won DGA, and won the Oscar..but Best Picture was up for grabs...No..Not even On Golden Pond..it was between Reds and Chariots of Fire. "
And you base that on what? Do you have access to the vote count? Or is this just your opinion?
I remember that year quite vividly, and so much of the pre-Oscar talk for Best Picture centered on "Reds" and "On Golden Pond" but definitely NOT on "Chariots of Fire." And when the winner was announced, the auditorium was in shock. I was, of course, delighted, and it gave "Chariots" a far longer life than it probably would have had had it NOT won Best Picture.
Incidentally, I've been away visiting my parents in Helena Montana, but am now back.
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First time I've seen this thread too. I loved Ron's enthusiasm for movies and their music. I miss him on the board.
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Posted: |
May 31, 2021 - 4:38 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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10-4, Peter. And in the spirit of this thread and his spirit, I wish to add to my response of a few years ago (by starting off with someone else's):
CHARIOTS OF FIRE, as a film, is badly dated when you watch it nowadays because of its score. What may have seemed "fresh" (for whatever reason) then sounds cheap and laughable today. I watched parts of the film again lately, and it was painful.
Well bully for you. I re-revisited it a few months ago and was just as pulled in as ever. Fresh, stale, whatever approach, bah humbug. Back in its original theatrical viewing, the music was extremely effective for the motion picture experience. I didn't sit there and say, "The film takes place in the 20s for crissakes what is an electronic score doing here?!" No, the visuals with the music both hit the emotions and drove forward the story. Masterfully.
It was only afterwards that the film score analytical powers kicked in due in no small measure to the talk here. Fair enough. Is the score appropriate for the period depicted in the film? After all the talk and giving it a good ponder, my conclusion was that I couldn't give a damn. It worked then and it STILL works. That's all that matters!
I saw Reds which took place in the same era, and loved it. Although not surprised that COF beat out On Golden Pond, I was when it beat out the Beatty film. And delighted. Sentimental favorite, ya know? Still consider COF the finest sports film ever. Even if some don't consider it a "sports film," per se. Double that bh.
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Back in its original theatrical viewing, the music was extremely effective for the motion picture experience. I didn't sit there and say, "The film takes place in the 20s for crissakes what is an electronic score doing here?!" No, the visuals with the music both hit the emotions and drove forward the story. Masterfully.
I've heard a lot of people bust on Chariots of Fire for being "anachronistic" -- and then turn around and bestow praise on Hoosiers, which was also heavily synthesized (and arguably even more "anachronistic").
I see Chariots of Fire as "a score that happens to be electronic", rather than an "electronic score" -- i.e. it is not deploying synthesized timbres in the manner which is normally associated with synth scoring. Rather Vangelis is getting to the heart of the drama in his own unique way. And as such, Vangelis helped change the perception electronic scoring.
I also think a lot of people just never got over the fact Vangelis "stole" the Oscar that year from Alex North (or John Williams).
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).