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Posted: |
Mar 1, 2002 - 11:25 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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Lately I've been musing about music connections and how they relate to why I have revered The Twilight Zone virtually from its inception way back in 1959. A strong common link between fans of the show is our respect for the incredible universal nerve writer and series creator Rod Serling and others hit re the everyday human experience. They often reduced places and events in order to focus more on honest-to-God real feelings, real emotions, real sufferings, real joys, etc. You get the feeling a lot of empathy was passed down from writer to story and such empathy no doubt touched many of the actors in turn. We've heard and read the stories. TZ also has been beyond any doubt the greatest influence on the types of films I've always come to admire. Now, as members of the film music 'priesthood' we know that music is usually the least talked about and most woefully underrated element of filmdom. And it doesn't make sense because music is also the most emotional medium with an immediacy second to none. Thankfully, TZ was blessed with some of the greatest composing talent Hollywood has ever known. A fellow enthusiast of this landmark series opined that "a casual viewer can flip on the television set and automatically know if they're watching a theatrical movie or something from television, based on the music. A casual viewer can flip on an episode of TZ and not know that they're watching a television show because the musical scores are so good, and they sound like movie scores." Thus, it's not by accident I find myself using music as the core element in making connections, be they odd or sensible. I'm not so sure too many other Zoners, in general, recognize the music link, particulary when it comes to lists of Zonelike films. ANYWAY, ya want connections? I am positively adamant that Jerry Goldsmith's score for The Big Tall Wish was a direct precursor of his wonderful score for A Patch of Blue in at least 2 ways: (1) the ethnic elements common to both stories as well as that of innocence and coming of age and (2) orchestrations; think of harmonica (which eventually became a trademark of his), harp, vibraphone, harp over vibraphone, and strings. The h over v combo is one he has often used to underscore innocence, especially the childlike kind. Think of his Carol Ann Theme for Poltergeist, too, in this regard. I have also noticed certain aspects of Tall Wish's score in Magic as well, particularly the use of harmonica and the "late-Friday-night" feel of Magic's main theme in strings so similar in mood to that of the other. And some may know that the story in Magic is a dead-on companion piece to a pair of TZ episodes. In another back-handed relation, I am a big champion of Goldsmith's score for Matinee, a film whose story could easily be characterized as a somewhat light-hearted companion to TZ's The Shelter. Tell me Goldsmith's fabulous trumpet echoes in Patton aren't positively Zonesque. I specifically have in mind the scene when The General recalls ancient battles when "he was there." And right now I'm also recalling the San Francisco/San Francisco Bay scenes in On the Beach while I'm thinking Zonesque. --OK, that was Gold not Goldsmith but close enough! Other connections must include Planet of the Apes. The Serling link is obvious and I have always felt Mr. G may have been influenced by Fred Steiner's score to TZ's A Hundred Yards Over The Rim, specifically in terms of atonal blips and dissonance. It's as if he viewed Apes as a TZ episode and scored it accordingly. The most obvious connection is Twilight Zone: The Movie. One could say he came full circle here. I am particularly fond of his score to Kick the Can even if I'm not fond of the Spielbergian remake itself. The music simply makes a marvelous stand alone listening experience. It's A Good Life has some fine moments, too, but oddly enough I've always felt his score to Time Out, the film's most notorious and least favored segment, was truest to Zone-past. Even felt like a 'TV' score. The Omen's story contained The Howling Man and later, The Last Rites Of Jeff Myrtlebank elements. Not as Oscar worthy as others of his career's repertoire, IMHO, but it's his only one to date so who am I to complain! The point is that music is a powerful connector. And I suppose by all counts, Jerry Goldsmith is arguably the most responsible for such a connection (in the context of this thread) in my head. He and Herrmann. The latter's a most deserving thread unto himself, too.
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I'd just like to point out that I didn't fully appreciate the score to Matinee---in fact, I hadn't listened to it in months---until speaking to Howard about it on that cool Detroit evening. You are truly a spirit of The Twilight Zone, Howard! That is a total compliment, pal! Thanks! Shaun
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"You are truly a spirit of The Twilight Zone, Howard!" Rutherford, You Magnificent BASTARD! Howard is NOT "A" spirit of The Twilight Zone, he is THE spirit of The Twilight Zone!
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And there's talk of reviving it AGAIN on UPN.
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"Chris and I would be the first buyers!! (Autographed copies, of course.)" HARRRRUMMPH! Joan, if you & I don't receive COMPLIMENTARY autographed copies of Howard's book, I'll have the hissy fit of the century! This afternoon, I was walking along an unfamiliar street, when I came face-to-face with...Rod Serling!!! There he was, standing in the doorway of a darkened room, and that room was filled with mementoes from the original Twilight Zone series; the familiar robots ("Robby" included), rocketships and flying saucers; the ventriloquist dummy, the Vegas slot machine, the fortune-telling devil's head gizmo, and many others. I was looking at a pinball machine inside the window of a pizza shop. I immediately felt as though Howard was right there by my side. I must go back there with a pocketful of quarters, and see what happens...
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Posted: |
Mar 5, 2002 - 10:10 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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If UPN's proposed new The Twilight Zone is anything like the many UPN Star Trek offspring, I'll stick to my fond memories of Serling's original, just like I stick to my fond memories of Kirk/Spock's original. Pen Densham (Robin Hood: Prince Of Thieves) will write and produce the new version. Mr. Densham was also behind the new Outer Limits series. Although I am not familiar with the latter, I am hearing that if the new new TZ is anything like the new OL --well, better left unsaid. Thank you everybody for the neat responses. Connections continue to abound: Speaking of Kirk, much of Mr. Goldsmith's music for TZ's The Invaders was tracked into that unforgettable critically acclaimed William Shatner star turn called Kingdom Of The Spiders. And yes, Dead Of Night is the well-known cinema precursor to both The Dummy and Caesar and Me and then Magic, of course. Musically speaking, we cannot omit Goldie's clever Nervous Man In a Four Dollar Room when you consider the underrated Joe Mantell ("Jackie Rhoades") would go on to play Jack Nicholson's sidekick in Chinatown, while the Nervous Man sound would eventually creep into L.A. Confidential oh, a mere 35 + change years later. And by the way, just as Poltergeist was actually an expanded remake of Little Girl Lost, so Planet Of The Apes has mucho MUCHO in common with I Shot an Arrow...especially the same trademark Serling twist at the end!
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The Invaders was also used in either Alligator or Pirhana. It's been too long for both of those, I'm afraid. Shaun
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Piranha, pronounce pee-ran-ya.
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Thanks! I can't spell EVERYTHING correctly, man, so I'm glad you pointed out the error! Shaun
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"I missed many of the original OUTER LIMITS and thought the few I saw weren't all that impressive" The Original The Outer Limits, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, ranks with the finest Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents anthologies, if only for these six episodes: The Sixth Finger, The Chameleon, The Bellero Shield, The Man Who Never Was Born, The Architects Of Fear, and Demon With A Glass Hand. There are other notable episodes, but those happen to be the ones that I find to be the most memorable. The Outer Limits featured wonderful production values, including scripts by the likes of Robert Towne, William Bast and Harlan Ellison, direction by Byron Haskin and James Goldstone, incredibly beautiful black and white cinematography by Conrad Hall and William Fraker, and, of course, the signature musical scores by Dominic Frontiere. If that isn't enough to make a favorable impression, you have not truly experienced The Outer Limits!
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I would add to that The Inheritors. As for the piranha, they're such nasty little fish, and don't like to see their name misspelled (though I think they can only read Portuguese).
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