From the category archives:
Remember this one? I had once thought that it was John and Yoko that were the trail blazers for Asian-Caucasian relationships, but no, South Pacific was. I looked at the population statistics for Hawaii and saw a huge spike right after this movie came out. But it wasn’t until after 1968 that interracial relationships were [...]
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The most stunning film I’ve seen in a long time is Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon a Time in the West.” Ennio Morricone provides mystic cowboy music for the score with haunting, unforgettable leitmotivs. Every shot in the film is one I would be proud to blow up and hang on my wall. Every shot has [...]
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I rented the 1952 Stanley Kramer film, “High Noon” and discovered an old familiar song I thought was called “Do Not Forsake Me Oh My Darling” which is actually called “High Noon” with lyrics by Ned Washington and music by Dmitri Tiomkin.
The theme from the opening phrase is used, and perhaps overused, like a [...]
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Yes, at the beginning of this clip is a very cute Clint Eastwood riding off into the sunset, But Wait!! We get to hear the famous Dimitri Tiomkin cowboy classic “Rawhide.” I don’t know who the singer is, but what a voice! I’ve sung it my whole life. Some mornings I get up and just [...]
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A new responsibility has now been put on my plate as a teacher of composition. Now that UCLA has an MA in Visual Media and I am part of the faculty, we train young film composers. We expect them to know as much of the same things we expect of our traditional composers.
Part of [...]
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People ask me who my favorite film composer is. These days I say Dario Marianelli and Alexandre Desplat, but if I had to take this question seriously, I’d have to say that John Williams is right there at the top. Too many people try to accuse him of just spitting out Star Wars music over [...]
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After two years of disappointing “winners,” the Academy awarded a well deserved Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score to the Italian composer, Dario Marianelli for his score to ATONEMENT. Not since Alexandre Desplat have I heard such a terrific new voice in film music. Watch the film and listen carefully to [...]
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I watched the new Tim Burton realization of Stephen Sondheim’s “Sweeney Todd” the other day. I found it absolutely thrilling. But I realized that what I mean by “it” is probably different than what others may mean.
We went with Ronnie who looked at it as a musical trying to be a movie, as manifested by [...]
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I just watched “The Mind Benders” a fascinating film directed by Basil Dearden and starring Dirk Bogarde about the alleged dangers of sensory depravation, a topic that predates “Altered States” by ten years. The score was by French composer Georges Auric (1899 – 1983). The score seems over-composed, like he’s working too hard. It takes [...]
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