Movie themes

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

“The Mighty” was excellent.

I have trouble w/ Williams and the “Star Wars” soundtrack, not because it isn’t good but because I can always get sidetracked by his “borrowing”, namely “The Planets” by that guy I’m too pooped to remember for the ominous Empire-nasties seqences.

Totally lowbrow, but the James Bond/007 theme was great for it’s purpose: atmospheric and instantly indentifiable. Same w/ the Godfather soundtracks. The Big Chill was notable for using topical music for topical themes. (Hey, I’ve been to a few funerals where mourners smiled a bit and hummed a few applicable bars from the Stones, in safe clumps in the pews.)

I’m sure there are pots more that I’m too swacked out right now to remember.

Dazed into musical ozone by Daylight Savings,
Veb

22

The Planets, by Holst.

Actually, I like the non-Planets stuff in the Star Wars soundtrack - things like the Rebel Fanfare, and the Cantina Jizz-Wailing.

But 'tis true, many people have either borrowed from The Planets, or stolen from Star Wars, when it comes to Science Fiction movies.

“Vyvyan! Where did you get that Howitzer?” “…I found it.”

The Legend Of PigeonMan - updates every Wed & Sat

23

I would like to add the industrial metal music you hear during the opening credits of Seven. It suits this movie SO well.

Coldfire

“You know how complex women are”

  • Neil Peart, Rush (1993)
24

Call me simple, but I vote for “The Wall,” by Pink Floyd. Yeah, I was a heavy drug user in those days.

Dopeler effect:
The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.

25

Highlander

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

26

Steph’s right. Bernard Herrmann is the greatest film-score composer in the history of the talkies.

He was no slouch as a “straight” composer, either…try out his String Quartet, Clarinet Quintet, and Symphony (he wrote one of each), if you don’t believe me.

In addition to VERTIGO, I like

CITIZEN KANE
THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER
JANE EYRE
THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL
NORTH BY NORTHWEST
PSYCHO

so much I actually own them on CD.

Uke

27

-Vangelis’ work in Blade Runner
-Whoever did the music in Heat, Michael Mann is incredible.

28

Ukulele Ike: Do you have the CD conducted by Esa-Pekka Salonen (sp?) of the LA Philharmonic? I have that CD - fabulous. I have several other Herrmann CDs - you are right, he is wonderful. A big favorite of mine, along with Jerry Goldsmith (of course) and Ennio Morricone.

You forgot to mention
“Taxi Driver” and “Farenheit 451”. I also never tire of “The Day the Earth Stood Still” - it sounds so contemporary and classic at the same time.

Even though I was glad that my favorite Jerry Goldsmith won the Oscar in 1976 for “The Omen”, I am saddened that he won over Herrmann. Herrmann wrote his last score, the brilliant “Taxi Driver”, and died the night that he finished recording the score. <sniff> That is a sad story…