Latin Swords Swashbuckling Film Scores

Latin Swords Swashbuckling Film Scores

by 

in
2 responses

Feeling a little out of shape? Boxed in? Blue? This week on “Picture Perfect,” put some swagger back into your step with an hour of audacious music from Latin swashbucklers.

Alfred Newman gets the blood pumping with his virile soundtrack for “Captain from Castile” (1947), in which Tyrone Power flees persecution at the hands of the Inquisition to join Cortés’ expedition to conquer Mexico. The film was shot on location with one sequence set against the backdrop of an erupting volcano!

Power, of course, was one of the screen’s great Zorros. However, with “The Mask of Zorro” (1998), Antonio Banderas becomes the Zorro for our time. He’s aided and abetted by Anthony Hopkins, as the elder Zorro who mentors him. (TWO Zorros in one movie! I could expire of joy.) Catherine Zeta-Jones is radiant, and the music by James Horner literally hits all the right notes.

This film was already a throw-back upon release, with plenty of real-life, real-time swordplay and stunts galore, with the barest minimum of computer-generated bells and whistles. I wish to God popcorn entertainment could still be like this. “The Mask of Zorro” was like a belated last gasp of the 1980s; easily the best swashbuckler of the ‘90s – though, really, was there much competition?

Banderas got a chance to send-up his image in the Dreamworks’ computer-animated feature, “Puss in Boots” (2011), a spin-off from the Shrek series that actually turned out to be a better sequel than “The Legend of Zorro” (2005).

The film sports plenty of Zorro in-jokes, which extend even to Henry Jackman’s entertaining score. How is it that animated movies are just about the only movies these days that seem to keep up the great orchestral tradition of classic film scoring?

Finally, Errol Flynn has one last swash left in his buckle for “The Adventures of Don Juan” (1948), his last wholly satisfying period adventure. Max Steiner rises to the occasion and provides one of his best scores, just about on the same level as those of the master of the genre, Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

A cape, a plume, and seven-league boots are guaranteed mood-elevators. Forget your cares! Join me for Latin swords, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies. We ride hell-for-leather, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org


Comments

2 responses to “Latin Swords Swashbuckling Film Scores”

  1. … [Trackback]

    […] Information on that Topic: rossamico.com/2020/08/21/latin-swords-swashbuckling-film-scores/ […]

  2. … [Trackback]

    […] Here you can find 35430 more Info on that Topic: rossamico.com/2020/08/21/latin-swords-swashbuckling-film-scores/ […]

Leave a Reply to รับทำหลังคาโรงรถCancel reply

Tag Cloud

Aaron Copland (92) Beethoven (95) Composer (114) Film Music (119) Film Score (143) Film Scores (255) Halloween (94) John Williams (185) KWAX (229) Leonard Bernstein (99) Marlboro Music Festival (125) Movie Music (134) Opera (198) Philadelphia Orchestra (86) Picture Perfect (174) Princeton Symphony Orchestra (106) Radio (87) Ralph Vaughan Williams (85) Ross Amico (244) Roy's Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner (290) The Classical Network (101) The Lost Chord (268) Vaughan Williams (102) WPRB (396) WWFM (881)

DON’T MISS A BEAT

Receive a weekly digest every Sunday at noon by signing up here


RECENT POSTS