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'Hawaii" only managed to scratch the surface of James Michener's epic novel. I found "The Hawaians" to be more faithful to the spirit of the novel, and with a superior score by Henry Mancini.
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Posted: |
Sep 7, 2014 - 11:48 AM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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One of the keys to Elmer was when he was studying with Aaron Copland he was fascinated that Aaron arrived at the first genuine American symphonic sound through studies into folk music. Elmer took care of the symphonic side of his studies by working with Roger Sessions, Stefan Wolpe, and the renowned teacher Israel Citkowitz. But he never forgot the importance of Copland's integration of folk idioms to create something really original. So anytime they gave him the opportunity he would jump into the local color of a subject for as diverse set of films as GOD'S LITTLE ACRE, THE BUCCANEER, RAMPAGE, THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, WHERE'S JACK, THE HALLELUJAH TRAIL, CAST A GIANT SHADOW and KINGS OF THE SUN. HAWAII he had the most time to dig in more than usual and, despite Pauline Kael calling it fake Hawaiian (probably because it is integrated with his symphonic style, like Copland), I have gotten feedback each time I visited the island that many of the patterns and colors derive from the real thing (as opposed to most Hollywood scores n the same subject). HAWAII is not just spectacular and unique for me, it is the real McCoy!
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Elmer gave a famous interview to Tony Thomas where he explains that the awful twangy thing
that passes as Hawaian music is a 20th Century invention. He goes on to say that the only authentic music of the period involved short 'rocking' 2 note chants, nose flutes and percussion. He then owns to having to invent his own Hawaian style and that indigenous Hawaians approved and thought it sounded true.
Elmer also was a regular visitor to and lover of Hawaii and felt it rubbed off.
As for Miss Kael .... why do these people get so easily deified?...
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Elmer gave a famous interview to Tony Thomas where he explains that the awful twangy thing
that passes as Hawaian music is a 20th Century invention. He goes on to say that the only authentic music of the period involved short 'rocking' 2 note chants, nose flutes and percussion. He then owns to having to invent his own Hawaian style and that indigenous Hawaians approved and thought it sounded true.
Elmer also was a regular visitor to and lover of Hawaii and felt it rubbed off.
As for Miss Kael .... why do these people get so easily deified?...
Not by me. I found her a foolish woman, who always seemed desperate to be accepted as cool. She was pathetic and somewhat repulsive to me. On top of that, she never convinced me she knew the first thing about making motion pictures.
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Posted: |
Sep 7, 2014 - 4:39 PM
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By: |
Morricone
(Member)
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Amazing how almost every thread can turn negative. I guess I shouldn't have mentioned Kael's review. For the record I didn't know what a critic was until Kael came along. I remember someone like John Simon rejoicing in slicing and dicing a film with unrequited relish. So I assumed the measure of a critic was his destructive power. But Kael came from a philosophy angle, her major in college, and also was a master debater. So she was used to backing up her opinion. What I was amazed at was she made me understand her point of view in even when I disagreed. Unlike practically all other critics she was articulate in praise. They are all human and flawed and certainly, reading her bio, she was too. But I find more critics (and posters) put all their energies into bashing. I still maintain she was one of America's best based on the obits of many a critic. Of Pauline, Judith Crist, Roger Ebert, Bosley Crowther, Vincent Canby and Gene Siskel, Pauline had the only mention of positive reviews (BONNIE & CLYDE, LAST TANGO IN PARIS) being hallmarks in her career. Big difference.
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...But Kael ...was used to backing up her opinion.
You can back up facts, but not opinion, since they're only a subjective viewpoint. I always felt Kael knew nothing about music, and not sure how much she knew about films. But to stay on topic, I think Bernstein's score to "Hawaii" was first rate, one of the redeeming things in an otherwise disappointing film.
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...But Kael ...was used to backing up her opinion.
You can back up facts, but not opinion, since they're only a subjective viewpoint. I always felt Kael knew nothing about music, and not sure how much she knew about films. But to stay on topic, I think Bernstein's score to "Hawaii" was first rate, one of the redeeming things in an otherwise disappointing film.
Opinion is basically an argument. In debate an argument can employ logical consistency, factual accuracy and some degree of emotional appeal to the audience as important elements of the art of persuasion. Apply all of that to a work of art, THAT is how an opinion is backed up.
And yet it's simply a subjective viewpoint, not empirical data. My subjective viewpoint is that she was full of crap.
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PhiladelphiaSon:
Not by me. I found her a foolish woman, who always seemed desperate to be accepted as cool. She was pathetic and somewhat repulsive to me. On top of that, she never convinced me she knew the first thing about making motion pictures.
Is this comment meant to be criticism of her as a person, or about her as writer, or both?
It's a comment on how I felt about her as a critic.
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Bernstein's HAWAII is a great score. Too bad the stereo tracks were never found.
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Elmer gave a famous interview to Tony Thomas where he explains that the awful twangy thing
that passes as Hawaian music is a 20th Century invention. He goes on to say that the only authentic music of the period involved short 'rocking' 2 note chants, nose flutes and percussion. He then owns to having to invent his own Hawaian style and that indigenous Hawaians approved and thought it sounded true.
Elmer also was a regular visitor to and lover of Hawaii and felt it rubbed off.
As for Miss Kael .... why do these people get so easily deified?...
Not by me. I found her a foolish woman, who always seemed desperate to be accepted as cool. She was pathetic and somewhat repulsive to me. On top of that, she never convinced me she knew the first thing about making motion pictures.
And she had nothing nice to say about Jerry Goldsmith, constantly putting him down when one of his scores was in a film. Film critics are nothing but illiterate fools!
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Sometimes an obituary can be as negative and wrong-headed as a review. Any obit of Roger Ebert which doesn't mention his "thumbs up" as well as his "thumbs down" does him a great disservice, and if there happen to be any such Ebert obituaries I dispute and rebuke them. This man clearly loved movies and sang their praises whenever he could. After all, he filled three books with nothing but positive reviews, ("The Great Films," Vol's. 1-3). Of those critics mentioned by Henry, I think Mr. Crowther was the only other one beside Ebert to have written such a compendium.
As for Miss Kael, I have no intention to bash her here. (I've already done that elsewhere in other FSM threads.) But in reading the posts above, I find it interesting to note the one assertion that she didn't know how movies are made, and the other statement that her critical basis was philosophical. Curiously, I think these two con and pro statements tend to support each other. I would submit that she was so philosophical in her approach to films that it was no surprise her brief Hollywood studio employment ended when she demonstrated that indeed she was not very aware of the process.
Back to square one, I'm very happy to see us singing the praises of Elmer's HAWAII. Although I always loved his music, the HAWAII LP, which I bought without ever seeing the movie, was never a particular favorite of mine, but over the years, I've come to appreciate Elmer's HAWAII more and more. And it certainly didn't hurt when I finally saw the film and heard the complete score so superbly supporting the drama.
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Critics who have a breadth of experience and a solid grounding in cultural history are, in my opinion, invaluable. I don't have time to watch every film ever made in a given genre or even every film ever made by a certain director. Critics who know more than I do are always a joy to encounter - especially if their opinions digress from my own. That often makes me think about my own opinions and tastes. For example, my favorite film magazine is "Video Watchdog" -- and the criticism they publish, especially by Tim Lucas, is superb. I don't think the current backlash against critics is especially healthy. There are people who know more than I do!
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