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Posted: |
Jun 23, 2022 - 2:39 AM
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By: |
Graham Watt
(Member)
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I'm actually fairly lukewarm when it comes to (Patrick) John Scott, but coincidentally I watched one of his "from your era" (moolik) films last night - the Freddie Francis frighful frightfest from 1974, CRAZE, which had Jack Palance sacrificing all sorts of young lovelies (Julie Ege, Suzy Kendall, eh... Diana Dors, eh.... Edith Evans...) to a bug-eyed statue of the African god Chuku (?). Lots of nutty nonsense, and Palance is just so much fun to watch when playing a sleazy, wheezy antiques dealer (in this case).
John Scott's score was pretty good, with lots of chamber-style groupings, rattling percussion etc. There's a recurring theme, or more of a motif, which appears throughout, often on saxophone (but not used in a jazz style). I wouldn't be surprised if it was the composer himself playing the instrument.
Have you seen that one, moolik? It's on YouTube in "acceptable" quality for those of us who got used to going to the local fleapit in the '70s and watching the films out of focus or half off the screen.
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Don't forget Hennessy.
The score is excellent and the film is also quite good.
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Some of the Bruton Music library cues ended up in the ITC series RETURN OF THE SAINT. Scott had been engaged to do the incidental music for the series - and very good it was too - but they couldn't afford it so did a deal with Bruton. It was the case that the stuff specifically composed for the series no longer survives or is missing. That would make a good CD if ever it does show up.
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I'll never understand why John Scott didn't become an A-lister - he and Michael J. Lewis were perhaps the two most gifted composers who emerged around the same era, capable of writing big orchestral scores with memorable themes that fully deserved but didn't manage to do bigger things in their careers. And if we know what happened with Lewis, in Scott's case I'm scratching my head...
According to John Scott in an ancient interview (I can't refer you to the precise source), he said his career was just about to really take off in Hollywood with Shoot To Kill but he declined the following high profile offers because he returned to England to look after his ailing mother instead. This decision might have cost him the A-List status but made him a real human being.
Accoring to a member of this board who doesn't post that often anymore MJL seemed to have serious issues with certain parts of his 'lifestyle' which prohibited him from getting at the top, or, at least land a decent film to score in Hollywood.
But hey, Lewis scored 11 Harrowstreet which is a terrific score and an excellent film all in one package.
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11 HARROWHOUSE
11 Harrowhouse it is!
I so often misremember that particular film title.
Glad to read you like the film and music, too.
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I have more than 40 CDs of John Scott's scores, so I'd say he's quite well represented.
But there's always room for more of his fine music.
It would be great if he would release the full score for Greystoke- so much excellent material missing from the commercial release. Until then there is a lovely suite a "friend" of his post on YouTube with Scott's permission (evidently)
https://youtu.be/LSXss5OfMm0
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