Friday Minute
No. 51 | March 12, 2010

What’s the Score?

Our theme this week (theme introduction)
Unforgettable film scores of the 1960s

Featured this week
Monday         —   Bernard Herrmann:  “Psycho” (1960)
Tuesday         —   Elmer Bernstein:  “The Magnificent Seven” (1960)
Wednesday    —   Ennio Morricone:  “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966)
Thursday        —   Henry Mancini:  “The Pink Panther” (1963)

Maurice Jarre:  “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962)

About Maurice Jarre

• French, 1924-2009; active in film 1952-2001
• Left his engineering studies at the Sorbonne to pursue music at the Conservatoire de Paris
• Best known for his collaborations with director David Lean; four films, including three Oscars
• Wrote primarily orchestral works, though composed electronic scores in the 1980s (Witness, Fatal Attraction)
• “Somewhere My Love,” a Top 10 hit from 1966, is based on Jarre’s “Lara’s Theme” from the Doctor Zhivago soundtrack

Honors

• Academy Awards: 3 Oscars, 9 nominations
• One score among the top 25 American film scores chosen by the AFI in 2005 (Lawrence of Arabia, #3)

Select list of film credits

• Eyes Without a Face (1960)
• Sundays and Cybele (1962)
• The Longest Day (1962)
• Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
• Doctor Zhivago (1965)
• Is Paris Burning? (1966)
• Grand Prix (1966)
• Isadora (1968)
• Topaz (1969)
• Ryan’s Daughter (1970)
• The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972)
• The Man Who Would Be King (1975)
• The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
• A Passage to India (1984)
• Witness (1985)
• Fatal Attraction (1987)
• Dead Poets Society (1989)
• Enemies: A Love Story (1989)
• After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
• Ghost (1990)
• Mr. Jones (1993)
• Fearless (1993)

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Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Maurice Jarre, composer

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Lawrence of Arabia
David Lean, director
Freddie Young, director of photography

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Quote of Note
“You know what the business community thinks of you?  They think that a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other’s heads off and that’s where you’ll be in another hundred years, so on behalf of my firm I accept your offer.”
—Bryan Woodman (Matt Damon), Syriana (2005)

…58…59…60.

Thursday Minute
No. 50 | March 11, 2010

What’s the Score?

Our theme this week (theme introduction)
Unforgettable film scores of the 1960s

Featured this week
Monday         —   Bernard Herrmann:  “Psycho” (1960)
Tuesday         —   Elmer Bernstein:  “The Magnificent Seven” (1960)
Wednesday    —   Ennio Morricone:  “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966)

Henry Mancini:  “The Pink Panther” (1963)

About Henry Mancini

• American, 1924-1994; active in film 1952-1994
• After World War II, he joined the Glenn Miller Orchestra; he later scored The Glenn Miller Story for the big screen
• Best known for his film collaborations with director Blake Edwards, including Breakfast at Tiffany’s featuring the hit “Moon River,” and the Pink Panther series
• A major influence in introducing jazz themes for film scores, but a versatile composer ranging from classical to pop
• Other work included composing for television (theme to Peter Gunn) and conducting

Honors

• Academy Awards:  3 Oscars, 18 nominations
• ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards:  Lifetime Achievement Award
• One score among the top 25 American film scores chosen by the AFI in 2005 (The Pink Panther, #20)

Select list of film credits

• It Came from Outer Space (1953)
• The Creature from the Black Lagoon 1954)
• The Glenn Miller Story (1954)
• This Island Earth (1955)
• The Benny Goodman Story (1956)
• Touch of Evil (1958)
• Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
• Hatari! (1962)
• Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
• Charade (1963)
• The Pink Panther (1963)
• A Shot in the Dark (1964)
• The Great Race (1965)
• Arabesque (1966)
• Darling Lili (1970)
• Sunflower (1970)
• Sometimes a Great Notion (1970)
• 10 (1979)
• S.O.B. (1981)
• Victor Victoria (1982)

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The Pink Panther (1963)
Henry Mancini, composer

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The Pink Panther (1963)
A Shot in the Dark (1964)
The Return of the Pink Panther (1975)
The Pink Panther Strikes Again (1976)
Revenge of the Pink Panther (1978)
Blake Edwards, director
Henry Mancini, music
Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau

 

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Point of View
“In California, they like to pigeonhole you.  From the time I began working for Hitchcock, they decided I was a big suspense man.  On other occasions, I’ve had fantasies of bittersweet romantic stories.  I think I’d enjoy writing a good comedy score, but I’ve never had the luck to be offered such films.  Mancini gets the cheerful ones.”
—Bernard Herrmann

…58…59…60.

Wednesday Minute
No. 49 | March 10, 2010

What’s the Score?

Our theme this week (theme introduction)
Unforgettable film scores of the 1960s

Featured this week
Monday         —   Bernard Herrmann:  “Psycho” (1960)
Tuesday         —   Elmer Bernstein:  “The Magnificent Seven” (1960)

Ennio Morricone:  “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” (1966)

About Ennio Morricone

• Italian, born 1928; active in film 1959-present
• Educated at Rome’s Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, he worked in classical and jazz before scoring films
• Best known for his collaborations with Sergio Leone and a host of Italian directors
• Among the most prolific of film composers

Honors

• Academy Awards:  5 nominations; Honorary Oscar
• ASCAP Film and Television Music Awards:  Lifetime Achievement Award
• National Board of Review:  Lifetime Achievement Award
• Venice Film Festival:  Career Golden Lion
• One score among the top 25 American film scores chosen by the AFI in 2005 (The Mission, #4)

Select list of film credits

• A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
• For a Few Dollars More (1965)
• The Battle of Algiers (1965)
• The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
• Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
• The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1969)
• Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
• Sacco e Vanzetti (1971)
• Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975)
• 1900 (1976)
• Orca (1977)
• Days of Heaven (1979)
• The Thing (1982)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
• The Mission (1986)
• The Untouchables (1987)
• Cinema Paradiso (1988)
• Bugsy (1991)
• In the Line of Fire (1993)
• Bulworth (1998)
• Malèna (2000)
• Ripley’s Game (2002) 

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
Ennio Morricone, composer

 

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The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Sergio Leone, director
Tonino Delli Colli, director of photography

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Quote of Note
“Today everything is different.  There’s no action—have to wait around like everyone else.  Can’t even get decent food—right after I got here, I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup.  I’m an average nobody—get to live the rest of my life like a schnook.”
—Henry Hill (Ray Liotta), Goodfellas (1990)

…58…59…60.

Tuesday Minute
No. 48 | March 9, 2010

What’s the Score?

Our theme this week (theme introduction)
Unforgettable film scores of the 1960s

Featured this week
Monday         —   Bernard Herrmann:  “Psycho” (1960)

Elmer Bernstein:  “The Magnificent Seven” (1960)

About Elmer Bernstein

• American, 1922-2004; active in film 1951-2004
• Educated at the Walden School and New York University
• Was friends with, but not related to, composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein
• A versatile composer, his work ranged from orchestral to jazz to light comedic scores
• The score for The Magnificent Seven, probably his best-known work, was used for Marlboro TV commercials in the 1960s

Honors

• Academy Awards:  1 Oscar, 14 nominations (the only person to be nominated in each of six decades, from the 1950s to 2000s)
• National Board of Review:  Career Achievement Award
• ASCAP Film & Television Music Awards:  Lifetime Achievement Award, ASCAP Founders Award
• Two scores among the top 25 American film scores chosen by the AFI in 2005 (The Magnificent Seven, #8; To Kill a Mockingbird, #17)

Select list of film credits

• Sudden Fear (1952)
• The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
• The Magnificent Seven (1960)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Return of the Seven (1966)
• Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
• True Grit (1969)
• The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
• The Great Santini (1979)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• My Left Foot (1989)
• The Grifters (1990)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• The Age of Innocence (1993)
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• Far from Heaven (2002)

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The Magnificent Seven
John Sturges, director
Charles Lang, cinematographer

 

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Movie Lexicon
Foley Artist:  A crew member who creates sound effects during a film’s post-production.  The foley artist uses a wide variety of props to mimic the sound of the action.  Often, the source of the sound effect is unrelated to what’s onscreen.  For example, the sound of thunder can be created from flapping an aluminum sheet, or the sound of breaking bone from snapping a celery stalk.  The name foley artist comes from Jack Foley, one of Hollywood’s early sound effects specialists.

…58…59…60.

Monday Minute
No. 47 | March 8, 2010

What’s the Score?

Have you heard any good movies lately? 

Film is much more than a visual medium.  Many movies we cannot think of without hearing their unforgettable scores.  Some of the greatest musicians of our time compose for film, and this week, let’s hear from them.  With a vast selection to choose from, we’ll focus on scores spanning just a few short years, a time when the film music, it seems to me, was in its golden age.

I’ll be keeping my comments to a minimum this week.  Let’s listen to music.

Our theme this week
Unforgettable film scores of the 1960s

Bernard Herrmann:  “Psycho” (1960)

About Bernard Herrmann

• American, 1911-1975; active in film 1941-1975
• Educated at New York University and the Juilliard School
• Best known for his collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock during the 1950s and ’60s (he famously changed Hitchcock’s mind about the shower scene in Psycho, for which the director originally intended to have no music)
• One of the most original and innovative of film composers (his experimentations included the Theremin in the score for The Day the Earth Stood Still)

Honors

• Academy Awards:  1 Oscar, 5 nominations
• Two scores among the top 25 American film scores chosen by the AFI in 2005 (Psycho, #4; Vertigo, #12)

Select list of film credits

• Citizen Kane (1941)
• The Devil and Daniel Webster (1941)
• The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
• Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
• Portrait of Jennie (1948)
• On Dangerous Ground (1951)
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
• The Trouble with Harry (1955)
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
• The Wrong Man (1956)
• Vertigo (1958)
• North by Northwest (1959)
• Psycho (1960)
• Cape Fear (1962)
• Marnie (1964)
• Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
• Taxi Driver (1976)

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Psycho (1960)
Bernard Herrmann, composer

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Psycho
Alfred Hitchcock, director
John L. Russell, director of photography

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Quote of Note
Man:  “It’s the end of the world.”  Thus sayeth the Lord God.  “Unto the mountains and the hills, and the rivers and the valleys.  Behold I, even I shall bring a sword upon ye.  And I will devastate your high places.”  Ezekiel, chapter six.
Waitress:  Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning that they may follow strong drink.
Man:  Isaiah, chapter five.  It’s the end of the world.
Mrs. Bundy:  I hardly think a few birds are going to bring about the end of the world.
—Man at Bar (Bill Quinn), Waitress (Darlene Conley), Mrs. Bundy (Ethel Griffies), The Birds (1963)

…58…59…60.