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.
I can't think of anything more the antithesis of erotic Morricone than a war film. But I may be taking a chance with film music fans because this is a unique type of score for Morricone. From time to time he would do one that is decidedly lowkey. But it melds with the movie. A lot of the film takes place at night. Captain Turner (Rock Hudson) is caught behind Italian lines by himself so he is flying under the radar. The band of kids whose parents are killed by Nazis are perceived as just kids so they are flying under the radar. They combine for a mission that benefits from their unsuspecting status. It makes sense the score would also be flying under the radar. When I saw this when it first came out I was not impressed with the film or the score. But after quite awhile I've found things about it have stayed with me. For one thing this is absolutely Hudson's grittiest role. And like in SECRET WAR OF HARRY FRIGG Sylva Koscina need only be Sylva Koscina to be memorable. Then the imagery of the kids growing up way too fast in a harsh situation makes THE COWBOYS look like kindergarten.
So Morricone's music takes the tragedy, resilience, determination and most of all the resignedness there is to war and rolls it together into a few simple mournful notes that marches ever forward in an almost dour way. No exultation like the usual Hollywood fair. You can win the war but these kids have already been scarred for the rest of their lives. Ennio gives the kids a whistling theme that isn't exuberant, that would be wrong, but it does express an element the children do still have - a certain innocence.
Here is the main title and end title as heard in the film:
This film has a mainly Italian cast and crew and in some prints co-credits an Italian director - Franco Cirino, so I feel fine calling it Italian. BTW it's American director Phil Karlson (known for creating the Matt Helm and WALKING TALL series) mostly had an association with Elmer Bernstein during his latter career. But made exceptions working with the likes of Ennio, John Williams, Charles Wolcott and Leith Stevens to name a few. He seemed to have very high musical instincts.
Ennio's lowkey scores will probably never get the attention his more in-your-face ones will get, but he sometimes attains something the others cannot. For instance this one is - haunting.
I think I saw this one on TCM's schedule. Now after hearing the music and seeing the beginning and end here, I'll be sure to watch it next time it plays.
Own FSM's disc but I'm not familiar enough with this one yet to have any great input I'm afraid this time,there is something I've found with Morricone's works you can never rule many of them out,just because your not instantly into them.
I think I saw this one on TCM's schedule. Now after hearing the music and seeing the beginning and end here, I'll be sure to watch it next time it plays.
Thanks, Joan. Always chiming in early. The film is fairly harsh for it's time.
Own FSM's disc but I'm not familiar enough with this one yet to have any great input I'm afraid this time,there is something I've found with Morricone's works you can never rule many of them out,just because your not instantly into them.
Yes. Quite true. But that is often true with the best of them.
Have you received your package Wayoutwest? A second one will be departing tomorrow.
Cheers! And keep up the outstanding series Morricone. I'm counting on you guys to educate me. Eventually, I may start a series of my own or some other endeavor. You are a shinning example to us all.
This film has a mainly Italian cast and crew and in some prints co-credits an Italian director - Franco Cirino, so I feel fine calling it Italian.
Apparently the Italian prints credit Franco Cirino as co-director. U.S. prints credit him as "First Assistant Director." Although the film's primary financing was American, Rock Hudson, Phil Karlson, and producer Stanley S. Canter were the primary American cast/crew connections. The balance of the supporting cast and crew was Italian/European, and the film was filmed in Northern Italy. This was the first of Canter's five producing credits, his most famous being "Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes."
... And like in HOW TO MURDER YOUR WIFE Sylva Koscina need only be Sylva Koscina to be memorable... ... eh?
Much as I enjoyed seeing Ms. Koscina in the two or three films I have seen of hers ... I can't place her in How To Murder Your Wife ... surely that is Ms. Virna Lisi?
Anyhow, as to the Maestro's score ... I have seen this film (or at least part of it) very many years ago and wasn't impressed. I don't recall the score in the film at all but somehow seemed to remember it had a catchy tune.
On disc, the score is serviceable and yes, it has a catchy melody but it pales against so many of his other scores. My enjoyment of the score would, no doubt, be greater if it was better-sounding. Whilst I am confident that FSM did the best job on transferring from vinyl it does lack something in its acoustics.
I knew Silva exchanged inanities with some big star here in America just like Virna. But it got fuzzy which big star, Paul Newman in THE SECRET WAR OF HARRY FRIGG. They do look a bit alike.
I've never seen the film, and the score isn't in my list of favourites, so my only contribution to this thread (and a meagre one at that) is to say that I had the Poo LP at one time. (Was it Poo? And I do mean the label, rather than the contents...)
I always enjoy when this thread is put back on the board, it's such a good one with all the music on it. gives newcomers a chance to hear some fine music.
Thanks for bringing this one up. I put it in early in this series and learned a lot from it. I found personally understated Morricone could be more powerful than blatant Morricone. I also found this is not a popular opinion. This was reinforced lately when THE HATEFUL 8 got a uniform critique of “he has done better”. I don’t think he has but basically I think the biggest sin for “fans” is to water down a genre. HATEFUL 8 isn’t about western heroes. It goes into the heart of darkness (almost into the horror genre) and yet has enough masculine posturing (male chorus) to qualify as a western.
HORNET’S NEST is a war film yet the main theme is subtle and suggests all that is going on is tragic. Even the march of the film is not given to the soldiers but a whistling one given to the children. It is not that I don’t fully appreciate the glorious music from PATTON, THE COWBOYS or THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY but that I also appreciate the music that expresses other parts of the human condition equally. And when these other parts don’t get expressed half as often I tend to consider this music possibly a little more precious.
You are right Henry. Hornets Nest is another example of how unique Ennio's approach to a score is. He's like a cunning code breaker who dismisses first the obvious equasion and then the not so obvious, and then begins to work out what he's gonna do, often turning it on its head. He never goes in through the front door if there is a chimney or a crack in the window!
So many times he has delivered the unexpected - or delivered something you first think is a mismatch or not suited at all - yet he is proven right. Its one of his great strengths - knowing what a film will take. Pushing the envelope.
