Malcolm Arnold, Andre Previn, Patrick Doyle, John Williams, and the Village People. There’s an odd quintet (or octet if you count the Village People as four).
HOBSON’S CHOICE (1954) – Finale
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A 1915 play about a London boot maker admittedly doesn’t sound like a rollicking good time at the cinema, even if it is directed by the great David Lean and stars Charles Laughton and John Mills. But if Malcolm Arnold‘s score is any indication, it is. A loping melody in the strings and winds is interrupted by drunken glissandi in the trombones. Arnold’s score is a total delight and deserves a full recording. The property was later adapted into a flop Broadway musical, WALKING HAPPY, with a tuneful score by James Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn.
THE FASTEST GUN ALIVE (1956) – The Fastest Gun
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A surprisingly good Western starring the reliable Glenn Ford and featuring the always excellent music of Andre Previn. Dark chords, a brief quote of the love theme, and a brittle 7-note trumpet fanfare mark this cue. Previn’s music is jagged and off-center, much like Ford’s reticent gunman. I don’t care if Previn doesn’t want to acknowledge his film music. I’m a sucker for it.
HAMLET (1996) – Go Bid the Soldiers Shoot
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After cutting his Shakespearean cinematic chops on HENRY V and MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, it was only a matter of time before Kenneth Brannagh tackled the Prince of Denmark. What distinguished this HAMLET was Brannagh’s insistence on filming every word of text of Shakespeare’s longest play. What emerged was a four-hour long experiment in audience attention span that contained some beautiful and moving sequences, and excellent performances by Kate Winslet, Julie Christie and Charlton Heston. But the film is plagued with stunt casting (Billy Crystal, Robin Williams, Jack Lemmon) that takes you out of the drama. Patrick Doyle‘s score does its best to hold things together. Though HAMLET is not as strong musically as Doyle’s earlier Shakespeare scores for Brannagh, this final track pulls together many of the major themes of the score including the moving choral “In Pace.”
JAWS (1975) – Man Against Beast
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One of the true film classics, JAWS needs no flag-waving from me. This track has gone by different names, depending on which version of the soundtrack you own. Originally it was labelled “Sea Attack Number One.” Either way, the moment when Brody, Quint, and Hooper first meet the shark is one of the great action cues. The goosebump moment for me comes at 4:07 with the trumpet fanfare as the boat turns to starboard and heads our way. When I lived in Boston, this was the scene that John Williams used to demonstrate the power of film music. Without the music, the scene is just a collection of images and sound effects. With the music, it becomes a thrilling, pulsating roller coaster ride.
CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC (1980) – The Sound of the City
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In a year that gave us such musical dreck as POPEYE, HONEYSUCKLE ROSE, and XANADU, CAN’T STOP THE MUSIC stands in a class all by itself. Valerie Perrine, Bruce Jenner, and the Village People… Sounds like a recipe for success, no? (he asks with tongue firmly implanted in cheek) No. The film is excruciating and unwatchable on every level, sinking even below the level of camp. But it does contain one of my fondest musical memories of the early 80s. David London’s “The Sound of the City” provided me with many an enjoyable evening on the dance floor. The air thick with disco smoke, my drunken (and occasionally sober) self would air conduct each and every punch-punch and string glissando. (So it’s perhaps not so shocking that I usually went home alone.) It may be difficult for fans of techno and electronica to understand how stuff like this was ever played at a dance club, but it was. Once upon a time, dance songs had lyrics. The 80s…who knew?
Embarrassingly, I own no versions of Jaws. Which would you recommend?
Get the latest version, I think it’s the 20th anniversary version. It has 20 tracks. If there’s a newer one out there, I don’t know about it.
You? Alone?
Odd, eh? LOL It happen/ed/s. :)
I’d find all three versions because they all offer something different. The original MCA Records release was a re-recording with re-arranged cues and brilliant sequencing for ultimate listening pleasure. A great, GREAT album!
The 20th anniversary release is the first time ever that the original soundtrack recording was made available and while the sound quailty isn’t the best it’s great to hear the original tracks.
McNeely’s re-recording brings the score into the 21st Century with a full digital recording. While the Royal Scottish National Orchestra sounds distant (most Varese/RSNO recordings do) the performances are excellent and the sequence is in chronological order unlike the 20th anniversary release which has some cues out of film order.
Good to know, Erik. Thanks. I barely remember the original recording and I’ve never heard the McNeely version. I’ll have to check it out.