This 1967 comedy film was one of the great joys and hits of the year.
Robert Redford and Jane Fonda brought burgeoning star power and luster to a strong property. The film was beautifully mounted by director Gene Saks, tightly edited and beautifully acted, especially by co-stars Mildred Natwick and Charles Boyer. The icing on all of this was one of Neal Hefti's best scores (and song with lyrics by Johnny Mercer).
It was out of sight for many years but has happily resurfaced on both CD (backed with "The Odd Couple"), courtesy of Varese Sarabande, and it's on blu ray.
This was the film where I fell for Hefti's music, and the theme song. I played that Dot album for years. When I first traveled to New York before moving there, I stayed at The Washington Square Hotel. The first full day in the city, I explored Washington Square and thought it 'looked familiar' to me. (It turned out the small hotel was Katty-Cornered to the part of the park where Redford plays drunk in the film). I even enjoyed the song Jane Fonda sings, 'Shama-Shama', I don't know if Hefti wrote the lyrics. The great Mildred Natwick should have won her Oscar that year for this film, but it was not to be. Comedy is Hard, Drama is easy, but not to the Oscar voters I guess.
I just watched this film again and the music is such a delight. As happy as I was when Varese put the actual mono score tracks on CD, I still hope the stereo Dot Records LP rerecording (which is what the Youtube video above contains) makes it to CD one day. It's a much higher fidelity recording of course and one of the best things in all of Hefti's discography!
I just watched this film again and the music is such a delight. As happy as I was when Varese put the actual mono score tracks on CD, I still hope the stereo Dot Records LP rerecording (which is what the Youtube video above contains) makes it to CD one day. It's a much higher fidelity recording of course and one of the best things in all of Hefti's discography!
This was the film where I fell for Hefti's music, and the theme song. I played that Dot album for years. When I first traveled to New York before moving there, I stayed at The Washington Square Hotel. The first full day in the city, I explored Washington Square and thought it 'looked familiar' to me. (It turned out the small hotel was Katty-Cornered to the part of the park where Redford plays drunk in the film). I even enjoyed the song Jane Fonda sings, 'Shama-Shama', I don't know if Hefti wrote the lyrics. The great Mildred Natwick should have won her Oscar that year for this film, but it was not to be. Comedy is Hard, Drama is easy, but not to the Oscar voters I guess.
The lyric to Shama-Shama was written by Daniel (Danny) Gould. I had the pleasure of knowing both Mr. Hefti and Mr. Gould. Mr. Gould was the music librarian at Warner Bros. and was a tremendous help to me locating scores and sketches when I was editing Mancini's Thorn Birds book. I still have his card which reads: Daniel Gould Vice President Forensic Musicology His sister is actress Sandra Gould.
I've just played the two scores on this VS release, courtesy of TIDAL streaming. I've seen both films more than once ... enjoyable but neither sufficiently great that I want to keep copies (I did have the DVD of The Odd Couple but recycled it years ago).
I like all the scores I have by Neal Hefti ... though Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad is, perhaps, something of a challenge
But, having played Barefoot in the Park and The Odd Couple I'm pleased I didn't opt to buy the CD (I recall being tempted). I'm not taken with the title song of the former (the tune is used several times) though the score is pleasant and sound quality is very good.
However I found the sound quality of the second score very poor and it's basically the same tune played several times. I used to own the title track (probably the re-recording from the album release) on a vinyl LP compilation and now have a faithful recording by Billy May. I was often surprised when members called for the release of this score as from watching the film I know there's very little music available. The 1968 album release has about 15 minutes of music ... the rest is dialogue. Presumably the music sounds a lot better than this very poor release.
This was the film where I fell for Hefti's music, and the theme song. I played that Dot album for years. When I first traveled to New York before moving there, I stayed at The Washington Square Hotel. The first full day in the city, I explored Washington Square and thought it 'looked familiar' to me. (It turned out the small hotel was Katty-Cornered to the part of the park where Redford plays drunk in the film). I even enjoyed the song Jane Fonda sings, 'Shama-Shama', I don't know if Hefti wrote the lyrics. The great Mildred Natwick should have won her Oscar that year for this film, but it was not to be. Comedy is Hard, Drama is easy, but not to the Oscar voters I guess.
The lyric to Shama-Shama was written by Daniel (Danny) Gould. I had the pleasure of knowing both Mr. Hefti and Mr. Gould. Mr. Gould was the music librarian at Warner Bros. and was a tremendous help to me locating scores and sketches when I was editing Mancini's Thorn Birds book. I still have his card which reads: Daniel Gould Vice President Forensic Musicology His sister is actress Sandra Gould.
Sandra Gould was the second actress to play Gladys Kravitz on "Bewitched".
Mr. Gould was the music librarian at Warner Bros. and was a tremendous help to me locating scores and sketches when I was editing Mancini's Thorn Birds book. I still have his card which reads: Daniel Gould Vice President Forensic Musicology
His sister is actress Sandra Gould.
Sandra Gould was the second actress to play Gladys Kravitz on "Bewitched".
Danny Gould composed and conducted the disco music in TIME AFTER TIME, that should have been on the CD but wasn't. I never knew he was related to Sandra.
This 1967 comedy film was one of the great joys and hits of the year.
Robert Redford and Jane Fonda brought burgeoning star power and luster to a strong property. The film was beautifully mounted by director Gene Saks, tightly edited and beautifully acted, especially by co-stars Mildred Natwick and Charles Boyer. The icing on all of this was one of Neal Hefti's best scores (and song with lyrics by Johnny Mercer).
It was out of sight for many years but has happily resurfaced on both CD (backed with "The Odd Couple"), courtesy of Varese Sarabande, and it's on blu ray.
It's a fun film, with a fun score!
This was Hefti's only collaboration with Johnny Mercer.
