This week is potentially the most Morricone laden of my life. What to do until then?
FORZA ITALIA Sarcastic Morricone #58
This series is inspired by a controversy thread where someone posited the idea that besides THE MISSION and some Sergio Leone westerns Ennio Morricone hasn't written anything great. Rather than making my usual comment that most of Morricone's great scores are from Italy and trying to get Americans to listen to them is like getting them to see movies with subtitles, I decided to take another tact. Since I am at an age where I will only be able to make my case a finite number of times I decided to turn this into a series presenting each great score one at a time, sort of like recordman.
Ennio Morricone has always done his best work with directors he has had long associations with. Italian director Roberto Faenza is one of these. FORZA ITALIA was the third of 8 they would do together in a row from 1968 to 1995. It would be the second film they did that was banned in Italy. The first H2S was a science fiction fantasy which had a lot of similarities to A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and was banned for inciting violence. This was in 1969 the year after the Paris riots brought that country to a standstill. FORZA ITALIA, a documentary that was a tongue-in-cheek history of Italy during the post World War II era, used as a poster Rembrandt’s “Anatomy Lesson”. The doctor’s faces were replaced by Italian politicians of the time. One of them was Aldo Moro who weeks after the film was released was kidnapped and murdered by a left wing group. The film was partially blamed for this event and was pulled (BTW both films are currently available on Youtube).
The bare bones of FORZA ITALIA is a series of post War events covered in documentary footage. Each event affects Italy politically, economically and psychologically. It could be a neutral doc if it wasn’t for certain cutting between contrasting scenes by Faenza and editor Silvano Agosti and especially the overlay of Morricone’s music. From the word go he creates a commentary on the proceedings, much of which is with a straight face. A lot of the music heard away from the film could be taken as respectful, and even lilting, reflecting the strong leadership and economic upturn of the country. There is one cut entitled “Come Un Girotundo (vers. 2)” that begins with a sardonic “Anchors Aweigh” quote and follows with one of the loveliest romantic interludes you would ever want to hear. But this is all sarcasm unveiled heavily in a sardonic Rotaesque march borrowed from his score from THE END OF THE GAME "Tempo Di Marcia Con Bambino". The centerpiece of this brilliant score is a “pomp and circumstance” take-off that is bent into a number of directions. The stately version is over the main titles, but there is also a waltz version and this delightful spritely rendition:
As the film begins to reveal darker aspects of this history there is a couple spots of dissonance but this is offset by driving bongos “Allucinazione notturna” or a downward spiraling crawl “Attraverso un veio” that could have come out of THE THING. Mostly this score reflects the positive tone that is superficially reflected from the footage and maybe one moment of emotional drama “Tensione Romantica”. The underlying purpose of it all though is to reveal the slow corruption of the system. It should be noted since this film was virtually unreleased the Cometa label put out this score as a library music LP with generic track titles in 1978 under the name “Come Un Girotondo”(“Like a Girotondo” which is a child’s game like “Ring-Around-a-Rosy”). Avanz released the CD in 2007 and Cometa expanded it in 2010.
All this from a documentary that nobody saw, which indicates the iceberg of wonderful music under the surface of the name - Ennio Morricone.
Great to see the return of this pioneering series. I'm familiar with most of the music referenced in the (so far) 58 choices, but often know little or nothing about the films for which they were written. The fact that you provide this background is invaluable and the trouble you take in this respect is hugely appreciated.
This week is potentially the most Morricone laden of my life. What to do until then?
FORZA ITALIA Sarcastic Morricone #58
This series is inspired by a controversy thread where someone posited the idea that besides THE MISSION and some Sergio Leone westerns Ennio Morricone hasn't written anything great. Rather than making my usual comment that most of Morricone's great scores are from Italy and trying to get Americans to listen to them is like getting them to see movies with subtitles, I decided to take another tact. Since I am at an age where I will only be able to make my case a finite number of times I decided to turn this into a series presenting each great score one at a time, sort of like recordman.
Ennio Morricone has always done his best work with directors he has had long associations with. Italian director Roberto Faenza is one of these. FORZA ITALIA was the third of 8 they would do together in a row from 1968 to 1995. It would be the second film they did that was banned in Italy. The first H2S was a science fiction fantasy which had a lot of similarities to A CLOCKWORK ORANGE and was banned for inciting violence. This was in 1969 the year after the Paris riots brought that country to a standstill. FORZA ITALIA, a documentary that was a tongue-in-cheek history of Italy during the post World War II era, used as a poster Rembrandt’s “Anatomy Lesson”. The doctor’s faces were replaced by Italian politicians of the time. One of them was Aldo Moro who weeks after the film was released was kidnapped and murdered by a left wing group. The film was partially blamed for this event and was pulled (BTW both films are currently available on Youtube).
The bare bones of FORZA ITALIA is a series of post War events covered in documentary footage. Each event affects Italy politically, economically and psychologically. It could be a neutral doc if it wasn’t for certain cutting between contrasting scenes by Faenza and editor Silvano Agosti and especially the overlay of Morricone’s music. From the word go he creates a commentary on the proceedings, much of which is with a straight face. A lot of the music heard away from the film could be taken as respectful, and even lilting, reflecting the strong leadership and economic upturn of the country. There is one cut entitled “Come Un Girotundo (vers. 2)” that begins with a sardonic “Anchors Aweigh” quote and follows with one of the loveliest romantic interludes you would ever want to hear. But this is all sarcasm and every once in a while he reveals his hand like with “Tempo di Marcia con bambino” an outrageous Rotaesque march. The centerpiece of this brilliant score is a “pomp and circumstance” take-off that is bent into a number of directions. The stately version is over the main titles, but there is also a waltz version and this delightful spritely rendition:
As the film begins to reveal darker aspects of this history there is a couple spots of dissonance but this is offset by driving bongos “Allucinazione notturna” or a downward spiraling crawl “Attraverso un veio” that could have come out of THE THING. Mostly this score reflects the positive tone that is superficially reflected from the footage and maybe one moment of emotional drama “Tensione Romantica”. The underlying purpose of it all though is to reveal the slow corruption of the system. It should be noted since this film was virtually unreleased the Cometa label put out this score as a library music LP with generic track titles in 1978 under the name “Come Un Girotondo”(“Like a Girotondo” which is a child’s game like “Ring-Around-a-Rosy”). Avanz released the CD in 2007 and Cometa expanded it in 2010.
All this from a documentary that nobody saw, which indicates the iceberg of wonderful music under the surface of the name - Ennio Morricone.
Thank you Henry, a lot of time and effort must have gone into assembling all those threads. I found them very informative and hugely enjoyable.......I wish I had your knowledge and patience.
But this is all sarcasm and every once in a while he reveals his hand like with “Tempo di Marcia con bambino” an outrageous Rotaesque march.
"Tempo di marcia con bambino" was not composed for FORZA ITALIA, but for MaximilIan Schell's 1975 crime drama DER RICHTER UND SEIN HENKER (an adaptation of the famous novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt) which was a German/Italian co-production. The Italian title of that film was IL GIUDICE E IL SUO BOIA and Beat released the complete score on CD in 2010: http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/24511/Giudice+E+Il+Suo+Boia%2C+Il
"Tempo di marcia..." was then later also reused in CINEMA PARADISO.
Thanks Henry for taking the time to write these wonderful and informative posts. As always, your choices show the amazing diversity of the maestro's work. There is so much to discover, learn and enjoy, so thanks for sharing this with us. We really appreciate these posts and look forward to many more. And in the meantime, enjoy all your upcoming Morricone activities!
But this is all sarcasm and every once in a while he reveals his hand like with “Tempo di Marcia con bambino” an outrageous Rotaesque march.
"Tempo di marcia con bambino" was not composed for FORZA ITALIA, but for MaximilIan Schell's 1975 crime drama DER RICHTER UND SEIN HENKER (an adaptation of the famous novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt) which was a German/Italian co-production. The Italian title of that film was IL GIUDICE E IL SUO BOIA and Beat released the complete score on CD in 2010: http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/24511/Giudice+E+Il+Suo+Boia%2C+Il
"Tempo di marcia..." was then later also reused in CINEMA PARADISO.
Thank you. I laugh when some have addressed me as some ultimate Morricone expert when I have been corrected by a number of the real ones on here and elsewhere many, many times. I will now correct the entry to credit END OF THE GAME as it was known here starring Jon Voight and Martin Ritt. Grazie!
But this is all sarcasm and every once in a while he reveals his hand like with “Tempo di Marcia con bambino” an outrageous Rotaesque march.
"Tempo di marcia con bambino" was not composed for FORZA ITALIA, but for MaximilIan Schell's 1975 crime drama DER RICHTER UND SEIN HENKER (an adaptation of the famous novel by Friedrich Dürrenmatt) which was a German/Italian co-production. The Italian title of that film was IL GIUDICE E IL SUO BOIA and Beat released the complete score on CD in 2010: http://www.soundtrackcollector.com/title/24511/Giudice+E+Il+Suo+Boia%2C+Il
"Tempo di marcia..." was then later also reused in CINEMA PARADISO.
Thank you. I laugh when some have addressed me as some ultimate Morricone expert when I have been corrected by a number of the real ones on here and elsewhere many, many times. I will now correct the entry to credit END OF THE GAME as it was known here starring Jon Voight and Martin Ritt. Grazie!
I insist on "specialist" rather than "expert" in my fairly narrow professional field. Call yourself the latter and there's a queue of people waiting to disprove it!
