Soundtracks

[Ollie]

A lot of great choices. I can heartily recommend BIG NIGHT (1996) as another great previously-recorded 'songs' soundtrack, and as a film, also.

My favorite 'songs' film remains HAROLD AND MAUDE because I think the songs chosen and their placement are 'perfect'.

And STOP MAKING SENSE - yes, my favorite Concert Footage Film, although MAD DOGS & ENGLISHMEN is closer to my heart because it was a good push for me into its professional world.

[knitwit45]

Saw the Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour with Joe Cocker and Leon Russell back in the day....tooooooo cool!!!!!

[MissGoddess]

April:

I watched "On Dangerous Ground" last night. My bride enjoyed it as well. (She was trying to guess what was going to happen.) I enjoyed the music very much. It is not very often you get an "anvil" in the music but it was nice punctuation. Some of the deep string sections reminded a little of the sound Hermann used in "Psycho."

Very good at helping set the mood. Good score.

Hi Chris! Wow, you never saw On Dangerous Ground before? Did you like it? You know it's one of my all time favorites, including the music.

Yes, that pounding anvil sound is almost like getting inside the head of Jim Wilson, it's like he had a pounding inside him that drove his rages. Wonderful idea of Herrmann to translate that in musical terms.

My other favorite movie composer is the less talked about Alex North. He wrote musical themes for two of the most interesting female characters in movies: Rosalyn in The Misfits and Blanche in Streetcar Named Desire. Each film features very strong, defined yet haunting---almost terrifying---music.

[movieman1957]

It had been a while since I saw it. After all the talking about it you have done I knew I needed to see it again. Sometimes I know how Ryan feels in the early part of the film. Not so much about people but when life gets frustrating enough that you don't know what you will do about it.

Lupino does well at playing blind. Bond is fine and a nice contrast to Ryan's now more mellow demeanor. Great mood. I was intrigued by the way they introduce Lupino's brother (Danny?) Several shots before they show his face. The outdoor locations helped as well.

[JackFavell]

I hate to sound like a broken record, but Ghost and Mrs Muir would be my favorite score.

Korngold's Adventures of Robin Hood comes in second.

Elmer Bernstein's The Great Escape is third.

The Searchers

In The Grapes of Wrath , the song Red River Valley chokes me up. Ford used it in other films, but never to such effect.

The way Yankee Doodle Dandy is orchestrated can make me weep with patriotism. It is very moving to me.

Charlie Chaplin's score for The Kid

In Curse of the Cat People, Simone Simon singing Il Est Nee le Divine Enfant, while the adults are inside singing Christmas carols is one of the best musical moments ever.

I rank it right up there with La Marseillaise from Casablanca, which also has a great, perfectly over the top score.

I just love the Johnny Green arrangements in the Fred and Ginger musicals. His two beat dance band sound is SO catchy and can also be very romantic.

Harold and Maude is absolutely my favorite song based soundtrack.

I love Harry Nilsson so I have to add Midnight Cowboy to the list.

Last night, I started watching Ride the High Country and the score really caught me, I don't know who wrote it, but I am enjoying it.

[movieman1957]

Ride The High Country = George Bassman. Not a familiar name but his "imdb" credit is loaded.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0005956/

[MissGoddess]

Say, I noticed the music in RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY, too, just this last viewing.

[JackFavell]

Thanks guys! I am really enjoying this movie. The music really sets up the friendship perfectly, quite beautiful and poignant. George Bassman. I have to remember that.

[feaito]

I could mention so many soundtracks, composers and songs, but if I narrow it down a little bit to the very best I'd say that my favorite film composer is Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

As for musicals my favorite scores belong to "Kiss Me Kate" (1953) and "Roberta" (1935)/ "Lovely To Look At" (1952).

[movieman1957]

It looks like next season the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra is going to screen Chaplin's "The Gold Rush" and provide a full orchestral accompaniment. I'm hoping....

[klondike]

Reserve me a seat in the peanut gallery:

You Only Live Twice

[JackFavell]

In the last week -

The Birdman of Alcatraz - Elmer Bernstein

I especially love the music for this section of the movie.....

Hobson's Choice - Malcolm Arnold

I really LOVE the music from this film.

[Jezebel38]

I have an original LP of the soundtrack from NEVER ON SUNDAY which is a cherished possession – my mother bought this soon after we all had seen the movie as a family. Being just a little girl, I liked how Ilya was such an independent woman who had so many nice male friends (?!) I fell in love with this music, and when I was in high school, us girls got to take folk dancing as an elective PE course – we were taught a simple Greek fold dance to the title tune. Years later, I ended up working with a young man who played in a bouzouki band; other co-workers teased him because they thought it was some kind of weird polka band, but I remember how his face just beamed when I told him how much I loved the music from NOS. I still play this LP, with it’s scratches and pop’s, on warm summer nights when I want to recapture the spirit of joie de vivre displayed in the film; and yes, I get up and dance circles around my living room furniture the steps I learned back in school.

[movieman1957]

With the 50th anniversary of "Psycho" the Wall Street Journal did an article on Bernard Herrmann's music. You can find it here

[JackFavell]

Now I have to go watch Psycho again. I want to hear that geyser.

Thanks for the link!