 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
John Barry's music for THE BLACK HOLE is for me one of Barry's best film scores ever. It's probably my favorite score by him. The original soundtrack LP was the first "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" I ever bought (not the first I listened to, but the first I purchased with my own money), and I already loved that. The Intrada release was a major improvement, as now some of Barry's more dramatic action set pieces (and Blaster Beam uses) were on the album.
And I also think the music supported the movie extremely well, it's one of the biggest assets the movie has. Some cues, like "That's It", played when they first view the holographic image of THE BLACK HOLE, just nail what the scene is about and foreshadow the "darkness" ahead for the crew. Other cues, such as when the Palomino flies around the Cygnus, are simply excellent, the swirling synths/string theme (the Main Theme for THE BLACK HOLE) is one of my favorite Barry themes ever. The only piece of music out of place in the film (it does work musically just fine) are the cues "Laser/Kate's O.K." Those were supposed to be action scenes, but the music comes along like stately British celebration music. That piece works as "Overture" (as it is), but not for those action scenes. Well, that strangely scored section is just one of several problems the movie had, it is by no means a masterpiece. But Barry's score on its own is, in my opinion, as good as anything he has ever written.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jul 13, 2023 - 3:11 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Solium
(Member)
|
John Barry's music for THE BLACK HOLE is for me one of Barry's best film scores ever. It's probably my favorite score by him. The original soundtrack LP was the first "Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" I ever bought (not the first I listened to, but the first I purchased with my own money), and I already loved that. The Intrada release was a major improvement, as now some of Barry's more dramatic action set pieces (and Blaster Beam uses) were on the album.
And I also think the music supported the movie extremely well, it's one of the biggest assets the movie has. Some cues, like "That's It", played when they first view the holographic image of THE BLACK HOLE, just nail what the scene is about and foreshadow the "darkness" ahead for the crew. Other cues, such as when the Palomino flies around the Cygnus, are simply excellent, the swirling synths/string theme (the Main Theme for THE BLACK HOLE) is one of my favorite Barry themes ever. The only piece of music out of place in the film (it does work musically just fine) are the cues "Laser/Kate's O.K." Those were supposed to be action scenes, but the music comes along like stately British celebration music. That piece works as "Overture" (as it is), but not for those action scenes. Well, that's just one of several problems the movie had, it is by no means a masterpiece. But Barry's score on its own is in my opinion, as good as anything he has ever written.
Agree 100% with all of that.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Jul 13, 2023 - 5:12 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
MikeP
(Member)
|
I've always felt it's a very disappointing movie, one i can't rewatch and enjoy. We saw it opening weekend, all hyped, and walked crushed. Great effects and ship design, Maxamillian is awesome, Barry's score, etc - but those damn cute robuts , the hilariously slow and rigid and red wannabe Stormtroopers, and the nonsense ending are hard to forgive 
The novelization by Alan Dean Foster does a good job at telling the story better than the film, but in true The Black Hole fashion, the first printing had the last two paragraphs printed in a crazy word salad all out of order and made the ending - again - incomprehensible If you can find the second printing the last page was reset so it can be read and wraps up the story nicely.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I've always felt it's a very disappointing movie, one i can't rewatch and enjoy.
I agree that the movie easily could have been much better and made some basic level "mistakes", it's by no means a "great" or even a merely "good" movie. But I have to admit that I enjoy it and can rewatch it (I think I have seen it about three or four times over my lifetime). I found the "cute" robots much more annoying back as a kid in 1979 than I do now (now I would think they would actually build robots to look either cute or human). Like Thor, I love Vernian ship- and retro production design, and I enjoy "being" on that giant spaceship, with the loooong floors and cavernous ceilings.
Some of the movie doesn't hold up and is silly, but there are parts of it I always enjoy revisiting.
|
|
|
|
|
|
This film is best appreciated when looked at as:
1) a kid (there's some creepy and unsettling stuff for the younger set - of 1979)
2) a purely visual experience
3) a mix of the dying disaster film genre, the start of the Star Wars era and the end of 2001 inspired climaxes.
The story is "meh." The dialog is atrocious. The performances are uninspired for the most part.
This does nothing to dampen my love of this stupid movie. I revisit it every year and it's always fun. Anthony Perkins phones in every word. The robots have the most personality. This is an Irwin Allen space opera in all but name. But I am a rabid fan of Irwin Allen's body of work. So this film is right up my alley.
This was a great time in my life: Star Wars, Superman, Moonraker, The Cat from Outer Space, Star Trek TMP and them The Black Hole. What a great few years those were!
|
|
|
|
|
|
This was a great time in my life: Star Wars, Superman, Moonraker, The Cat from Outer Space, Star Trek TMP and them The Black Hole. What a great few years those were!
And ALIEN! But I did not see that one until I was 16. :-)
THE BLACK HOLE was unusual for the day, as it was a sci-fi space opera with several big name actors.
Sure, STAR WARS had Alec Guinness. Even as a ten year old child I knew who Alec Guinness was. But THE BLACK HOLE had Maximillian Schell, Anthony Perkins and Ernest Borgnine, which were well known names with distinguished careers, Academy Award nominated (two even winning) actors. I know Disney now all but pretends THE BLACK HOLE never happened, but at the time, the movie was marketed as a big "event movie".
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
This was a great time in my life: Star Wars, Superman, Moonraker, The Cat from Outer Space, Star Trek TMP and them The Black Hole. What a great few years those were!
And ALIEN! But I did not see that one until I was 16. :-)
Yeah, I wasn't allowed to see it until hit hit cable years later. The others I got to see in the theater. Moonraker was my intro to 007.
We saw Close Encounters also but as I recall, I fell asleep.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The original '79 vinyl album was the second soundtrack album I ever bought, after Raiders of the Lost Ark.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Someone recently called this "Disney's EVENT HORIZON"...
I always thought Event Horizon was "Clive Barker's The Black Hole".
I love this movie. And I know what's wrong with it and I don't care.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I was 8 years old when Star Wars hit and turned me into a space opera fanatic.
Every sci-fi flick released afterwards was a huge event for me, and even if I liked some more than others, I adored them all. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA, BUCK ROGERS, FLASH GORDON and THE BLACK HOLE were my favourite runners-up to the STAR WARS SAGA.
What I particularly liked about THE BLACK HOLE was its ghost story element. The scary ship with the crazy commander and his menacing robot, the faceless followers (being revealed as not that faceless), and then the hellish finale, no dialogue, just the haunting score by Barry… what’s not to like?
I still love this film.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: |
Jul 13, 2023 - 1:28 PM
|
|
|
|
By: |
MichaelM
(Member)
|
I loved the film as a 10-year old (I loved anything Disney), even though parts of it were truly scary - Maximilian, the faceless zombie-robots, the violent demise of a major character, and of course that bizarre ending...
It was my first film music LP purchase and it opened the gates for Star Wars, Star Trek, etc. The main theme was everything I loved about "movie music"... eerie, mysterious and memorable, like something from another world.
When I watched the film again a couple of years ago on Disney+, I was amazed at how good some parts were (the design, the special effects, the music, and of course Maximilian) and how bad everything else was.
Yet here we are still talking about it. Somehow I doubt THE FLASH will inspire this kind of discussion in 2067.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Maximilian is still my favorite bad robot. Sorry, J.J. Abrams.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Nick Z - yes, I stole the leeches and ticks line from F. Pohl.  How the hell did that line get past the writer, director, producers, the cast, etc???
Solium / Thor - yes, Jeff Bond is a terrific model kit builder. He built a refit Enterprise for me patterned after the drydock scene in TMP. Amazing work. I strongly recommend hiring him if you want a kit built - Star Trek, Star Wars, Lost in Space, 2001 - you name it. Got to see the Cygnus in his garage when I went to pick up the Enterprise.
Here's a link to a full photo spread of the Enterprise he built for me, including a quick video I cut together of the lighting effects in action:
https://www.facebook.com/john.schuermann.777/posts/pfbid0ZtYEmU1m39f5kAUx7ULx9gfg8fxS61z6w2Jvni4r1PeVeVVA1yvZ48WfzhuvEXUfl
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
