 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
From FRIENDS ALONG THE WAY by Gene Lees:
"I have seen", Hugo said to me once, "two authentic geniuses in this industry, Orson Welles and Marlon Brando. And this town, not knowing what to do with genius, destroys it."
We were discussing his score for ONE-EYED JACKS, the one film Brando ever directed and for which Brando was raked across beds of broken glass by studio executives and their lackey press agents and---in supine obedience to the moguls---the newspapers. Brando was made to look the self-indulgent enfant terrible for his meticulous shooting of the picture, when in fact he was seeking that evasive goal of perfect craftsmanship. But the picture has now taken on a sort of cult status. Mort Sahl has seen it twenty times or more; I've seen it about ten times, partly for the pas-de-deux acting of Brando and Karl Malden, partly for the performances Brando elicited from Ben Johnson and Slim Pickens, partly for the cinematography, and partly for Hugo's splendid score. How heartbreaking that main lyrical theme renders the morning scene on the beach, when Brando tells the girl he has been lying to her and has shamed her. Hugo used a distantly lonely solo trumpet in front of strings, one of his favorite devices. He loved jazz and jazz musicians, and that trumpet solo is by Pete Candoli.
"I had ten weeks to work on that score", Hugo told me, "longer than I've had on any other picture."
"Brando had cut the film to about four and a half hours, and then it had been cut further to about two hours and fifteen minutes, at which point it was turned over to me for scoring."
"When I saw it at that length, it was without doubt the goddamnedest differentest western I have ever seen, and I loved it. They sneak-previewed it somewhere in the hinterlands on a Friday night with the kids and the popcorn and all that, and it bombed. They tried this and that and the other and cut it again, and it went out in a very much bowdlerized form. In fact they even butchered the music. Whole sequences I had designed for one scene were shoved in somewhere else. So the score is best heard in the UA record album, which I had the opportunity to edit. That is the real score of ONE-EYED JACKS, minus about forty-five minutes of music."
ONE-EYED JACKS, in which Hugo's genius is fused to Brando's, is a broken masterpiece. And as for the UA album of that score, if you can find a copy of it, it sells for $150 or more.
And now, for your entertainment pleasure, let me present Gene Lees and his fabulous hiney-chin.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
United Artists? I bought copies of the LP at different times back in the early and mid-60's, and I am relatively certain that the ONE EYED JACKS soundtrack was released on Liberty Records. Was there a different release?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Absolutely Liberty Records.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
LL, where have you been?? We need to have you post more.
Lovely score. Anyone know if it was nominated for an Oscar? Strange western, but I always find it compelling. Would love to see the 4 hour version.......sadly, it was not nominated for the Oscar.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
What a great film!
Makes one wish Brando would have directed again.
Was not Kubrick was the original director before being fired?
|
|
|
|
|
|
What a great film!
Makes one wish Brando would have directed again.
Was not Kubrick was the original director before being fired?
Yes, Brando fired Kubrick after the director made some disparaging remarks about an actress Brando liked. The two of them cast the movie together (one can see some of the obvious casting choices...Karl Malden, Ben Johnson by Brando...Slim Pickens, Elisha Cook Jr., Timothy Carey by Kubrick). Actress Pina Pellicer (who played Brando's love interest Louisa) comitted suicide rumored to be over her unrequited love for Brando. Sam Peckinpah wrote the first draft of the screeplay before being replaced by Kubrick.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Never seen the movie or heard the score unfortunately, but as for its being nominated for an Oscar (which someone earlier posted correctly that it was not), make sure you check out Scott Bettencourt's articles from 2002 about Oscar finalists (http://filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2002/18_Jul---Oscar_Finalists_Part_Two.asp). One-Eyed Jacks WAS a finalist for an Oscar in 1961 but didn't make the final five. Below are what WAS nominated and what just missed...
NOMINEES
Breakfast at Tiffany's - Henry Mancini (winner)
El Cid - Miklos Rozsa
Fanny - Morris Stoloff and Harry Sukman
The Guns of Navarone - Dimitri Tiomkin
Summer and Smoke - Elmer Bernstein
FINALISTS
Ballad of a Soldier - Mikhail Ziv (beautiful score)
King of Kings - Rozsa
One, Two, Three - Andre Previn
One-Eyed Jacks
The Parent Trap - Paul J. Smith
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
From Friends Along the Way by Gene Lees:
Many years ago he was assigned to score a picture about the French Revolution. There is an old and angry maxim among film composers: everybody in Hollywood has two areas of expertise, his own and music. The producer on this picture was a self-important jackass of the old school. Striding the room during the music conference, he said: "Friedhofer, this is a film about the French Revolution, so I think there should be lots of French horns in the music."
Hugo found this so hilariously stupid that he did in fact use "lots of" French horns in the score. And as he neared the end of the picture, he put a capper on his joke. In the last scene, when the escaping lovers espy the cliffs of Dover, he reprised the melody with solo English horn.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One of my favourite scores ever. I recently got the Previn-conducted Korngold CD, and it's amazing how one particular Korngold cue echoes ONE-EYED JACKS way before its time. Friedhofer, of course, worked as orchestrator for Korngold. Wish I could pinpoint the cue right now. Maybe you'd like to do it for me?
|
|
|
|
|
|
Or maybe I wouldn't. Or maybe I can't---being that I don't have access to the Korngold. Neither can I verify if Korngold also might've pioneered the inclusion of vitriolic trombone squirts. (Like the ones in CAPRICORN ONE and CONTRACT ON CHERRY STREET.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
This topic has come up before. I repeat, saw the film as a young person and was floored. I called Paramount years ago, asking them to restore the four hour version. Someone at Paramount said the film was Brando's and I would have to contact his lawyers. From what I've read, Brando directed some really gripping scenes of his character in prison.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Posted: |
Mar 6, 2004 - 12:14 AM
|
|
|
|
By: |
Valere
(Member)
|
I wish that Marlon would think about it, and pull it all out. He would then be able to show us his genius. The man is like a river, deep, undercurrents,waves, and yet, he walked away from the system, probably in disgust. If I was in his shoes, I probably would have gone to Fiji, as well.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
