Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Bernard Herrmann

De Palma’s Picture Perfect Soundtracks

Brian De Palma is an extraordinarily adept filmmaker, who has been criticized for his adherence to “genre trash.” He has always been attracted to suspense and crime thrillers, usually of an especially violent nature, many of them tinged with horror.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” with Hallowe’en right around the corner, we’ll hear music from four of De Palma’s films.

It’s hardly surprising that such an admirer of Alfred Hitchcock would also hire Hitch’s signature composer. Bernard Herrmann scored two films for De Palma – “Sisters,” in 1973, and “Obsession,” in 1976.

“Obsession” is a spin on Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” A botched rescue attempt results in the death of a businessman’s kidnapped wife. Years later, he encounters someone who could be her doppelganger. The film stars Genevieve Bujold, John Lithgow, and a very tan Cliff Robertson.

“The Fury,” from 1978, is a supernatural thriller based on a novel by John Farris. Two teenagers, endowed with powers of telekinesis and extra-sensory perception, are targeted by researchers who plan to harness them for their own nefarious ends. For a time, Kirk Douglas has fun as a former CIA agent, and John Cassavetes is a particularly slimy villain. Cassavetes’ comeuppance makes for one of the most memorable movie endings of its era – and we’ll leave it at that!

Critic Pauline Kael praised the music, which is by none other than John Williams – hot off his third Academy Award, for “Star Wars” – characterizing it as “as elegant and delicately varied a score as any horror film has ever had.”

Of course, “The Fury” was not the first De Palma film to deal with telekinesis. His adaptation of Stephen King’s “Carrie,” from 1976, became one the decade’s landmark horror films. It broadened King’s popularity and propelled De Palma into the A-list of Hollywood directors. It also essentially launched the careers of Amy Irving, John Travolta, and Nancy Allen, among others. Sissy Spacek was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the title role, as was Piper Laurie as Carrie’s overbearing, fundamentalist mother.

The music was by Pino Donaggio. The director had wanted to continue his collaboration with Herrmann, but the composer died before the film could be completed. Donaggio, though classically trained, made his fortune writing popular songs. His biggest hit was “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” which was recorded by Dusty Springfield and treated to a well-known cover by Elvis Presley. Donnagio went on to become a regular De Palma collaborator, providing the music for seven of his films.

Finally, we’ll turn our back on horror, to listen to music from a successful period crime thriller, loosely based on the real-life exploits of Eliot Ness and his fellow prohibition agents – “The Untouchables,” from 1987. Kevin Costner plays the by-the-book federal agent who is given a valuable lesson in street smarts by an Irish beat cop played by an Academy Award winning Sean Connery. (“He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That’s the Chicago way, and that’s how you get Capone.”) Capone is played, incidentally, by a baseball bat wielding Robert De Niro.

The score is by Ennio Morricone. Morricone, of course, was propelled to fame through his work on Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns. He applies some of that same mythmaking skill to this big screen adaptation, which had previously been published as a memoir and developed into a popular television series starring Robert Stack. The high point of the film must be the director’s nail-biting homage to Sergei Eisenstein, a slow motion shoot-out around a baby carriage as it teeters down the stairs of Chicago Union Station.

Start your weekend with a step in the right direction, with music from the films of Brian De Palma, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

October 4, 2024
City Mouse Country Mouse Movie Music

There are, of course, a great many movies about “city mice” and “country mice” – those from the city displaced to a rural setting, and those from the country dazzled by the city. These often take the form of fish-out-of-water comedies. But a trip the country can also be restorative, or even have redemptive qualities. Though in the end, more often than not, the central characters return to their place of origin.

“Witness” (1985) employs elements of both “city mouse” and “country mouse.” The plot is set in motion with the witness of a murder by an Amish boy at Philadelphia’s 30th Street Station. The investigation reveals a vein of corruption in the Philadelphia Police Department, forcing a wounded detective, John Book (played by Harrison Ford), to lay low among the Amish. There are certainly comic elements, but also fascinating dramatic possibilities, in throwing together these figures from two very different cultures.

The music was by Maurice Jarre. Jarre is best known for his scores rendered on large orchestral canvases, for films like “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Dr. Zhivago.” But by the 1980s, he was experimenting with electronic music in films like “The Year of Living Dangerously,” “The Mosquito Coast,” and “Dead Poets Society.” The approach worked particularly well in “Witness.”

Another police thriller, “On Dangerous Ground” (1952), throws together a detective with definite anger management issues (played Robert Ryan) with the backwoods father of a murder victim (played by Ward Bond) for a wild mountain manhunt. Ryan finds redemption through his interactions with the suspect’s blind sister, played by Ida Lupino. Bernard Herrmann wrote the music. If you find yourself trying to identify the solo string instrument, it’s actually a viola d’amore, an instrument rarely heard outside of the Baroque.

“George Washington Slept Here” (1942), based on the play by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman, is a “fixer-up” comedy, kind of a precursor to “Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House” and “The Money Pit,” with perhaps a touch of “Green Acres” thrown into the mix. Jack Benny and Ann Sheridan play a Manhattan couple fed up with city living. They transport their family to a dilapidated Bucks County farmhouse, with predictably disastrous results.

The somewhat cartoonish music is by English-born composer Adolph Deutsch, one of the less remembered names of Hollywood’s Golden Age, although he scored such high-profile films as “The Maltese Falcon” and “Some Like It Hot.” His is an old-fashioned approach – at any moment you might expect to hear a “sad trombone” – but it’s wholly appropriate in a film that features abundant pratfalls.

Finally, the Billy Crystal comedy “City Slickers” (1991) is built on the premise of three middle-aged Manhattanites who find renewal and purpose at a kind of cowboy fantasy camp. Jack Palance gives an Oscar-winning performance as the intimidating trail boss. The music is by Marc Shaiman. Shaiman has also written for Broadway. He may be best known for his scores for the musicals “Hairspray” and “The Book of Mormon.”

Whether you’re on the lam or on the lamb, the fresh air will do you good, as “city mice” go to the country this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Clip and save the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

August 9, 2024
Herrmann Patriotism on Sweetness and Light

When the plan is to get a jump on Independence Day, but it’s also Bernard Herrmann’s birthday – and you don’t have a film music show on Saturday – what’s one to do? Why, include Herrmann’s score for “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot” on “Sweetness and Light,” of course!

“Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot” (1957) is the longest continuously-exhibited film of all time, shown at the Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center for over five decades. (Screenings were interrupted during the pandemic, but have resumed, now with four shows daily.) Peppered with recognizable patriotic tunes from the Revolutionary era, the charming score includes quotations from “Yankee Doodle” and the William Billings hymn “Chester.”

The music will be the centerpiece on this morning’s program, as we anticipate the Fourth of July and light some candles on a red, white and blue birthday cake for Herrmann, who also wrote the music for “Citizen Kane,” “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Psycho,” “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad,” and “Taxi Driver.”

In addition, we’ll have some selections on patriotic airs by Dudley Buck and Louis Moreau Gottschalk, a festive work for band, “Celebrating the Fourth,” by Princeton-area composer Samuel A. Livingston, “Fireworks” by Jerry Goldsmith, and an incendiary performance of a march by John Philip Sousa, in transcription for solo piano.

I’ve always had an INDEPENDENT streak (having been born on the FOURTH myself), so I’ve taken the LIBERTY to PURSUE HAPPINESS, even if it is still June. Feel FREE to join me for an hour of flag-waving and sparklers on “Sweetness and Light,” music calculated to charm and to cheer, this Saturday morning at 11:00 EDT/8:00 PDT, exclusively on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Stream it, wherever you are, at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTOS: Herrmann fuels his genius, with stills from “Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot,” starring Jack Lord!

June 29, 2024
Remembering War Memorial Day Music

To a great many, Memorial Day is the unofficial start of summer, a time for picnics and trips to the shore, for Hollywood to flood the multiplexes with soulless blockbusters, a signifier of the end of school, and the beginning of three long, lazy months of way too much daylight.

But it didn’t always bear those associations. The precursor of Memorial Day was Decoration Day, first widely observed in 1868, to honor and remember those who died in the Civil War. It was a time for decorating graves, making solemn speeches, and marching in parades. These customs metamorphosed to the point where, after World War I, Memorial Day was seen as an occasion to honor those who died in ALL American wars.

Regardless of how one may perceive armed conflict, of whether any given war may be called just or unjust, it is not war itself or conflict in general that is being celebrated. Rather, it is the sacrifice of those who died in defense of a larger cause, and ostensibly that cause has been for the common good.

One would think, were one an idealist, that by this stage of our collective development, when any disruption in the global fabric obviously effects all of us, that wars would be considered obsolete. But sadly, human nature being what it is, there will probably always be reasons to remember.

This week on “The Lost Chord,” we’ll salute those who made the ultimate sacrifice, by listening to three works commemorating the dead of World War II, including “For the Fallen,” a berceuse for orchestra by Bernard Herrmann; Aaron Copland’s Violin Sonata, dedicated to Lt. Larry H. Dunham, who was killed in the Pacific in 1943; and the peace cantata “A Time for Remembrance,” by John Duffy.

Duffy himself was a World War II veteran, who lied about his age when enlisting. He became part of the Amphibious Scouts and Raiders, forerunners to the Navy SEALs, before deploying on the USS Hopping, a destroyer escort in the Pacific. His duties included detonating Japanese mines by shooting them from ship deck. When his ship took fire from shore batteries at Okinawa, the sailor standing next to him was killed. Duffy had to stand guard over the dead man’s body until burial at sea in the morning. That night watch determined the course of his life. “Since our time is so fleeting and unpredictable,” he later commented, “I knew I had to dedicate my life to music.”

War is no picnic. I hope you’ll join me for “Requiescat in pace,” on “The Lost Chord,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon.

Here, for your convenience, are the start times for all three of my recorded shows:

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday at 11:00 AM EDT/8:00 AM PDT

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday at 7:00 PM EDT/4:00 PM PDT

Stream them, wherever you are, at the link:

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

John Duffy on his war experiences and his decision to become a composer:

May 25, 2024
Rejected Film Scores: Herrmann & Hitchcock

Rejection! Any film composer of reasonable experience has, at one time or another, had his or her music replaced. It’s an occupational hazard. Poor test screenings, creative differences, interpersonal difficulties, and producer panic have all contributed to the rejection of original film scores. Since music is usually the last ingredient in the creation of a film, it is also the most vulnerable to change. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll work through the pain to lavish some belated respect on the efforts of four eminently- (perhaps over-) qualified composers.

A strong argument could be made that there was no greater film composer than Bernard Herrmann. Of the eight films he worked on with Alfred Hitchcock, three are indisputable masterpieces: “Vertigo,” “North by Northwest,” and “Psycho” (Hitch’s biggest box office success).

However, things began to change within the studio system, and Hitchcock became increasingly insecure. The emphasis shifted more and more to the bottom line, and the mounting pressure extended to every aspect of his subsequent films.

After “Marnie,” only a moderate success with audiences, Hitchcock became desperate for another hit. It was the studio’s thinking that its music scores should forthwith be attuned to a younger sensibility. In particular, the suits were interested in a hit single that they could use to help promote the film. All of a sudden, Herrmann’s reliance on a symphony orchestra was perceived as terribly old fashioned.

By the time Hitchcock and Herrmann began work on “Torn Curtain,” in 1966, the tension between director and composer neared the breaking point. When Hitch learned Herrmann hadn’t produce what he had requested, the composer was fired halfway through the first day’s recording sessions. Of course, Herrmann had defied Hitch before – when the director instructed him that the shower scene in “Psycho” should play without music!

Herrmann’s replacement was John Addison, who was a hot commodity at the time, having won the Academy Award in 1963 for his music for Tony Richardson’s freewheeling adaptation of “Tom Jones.” Ironically, instead of going “popular,” as the studio wanted, save for one incongruous, Mancini-esque song at the end, Addison did what all of Hitch’s subsequent composers did – he emulated Herrmann. “Torn Curtain” failed to gain traction with younger audiences, and the film was not a success.

Herrmann and Hitchcock would never work together again. The “Torn Curtain” debacle spelled the end of one of the greatest artistic partnerships in all of cinema. Chalk it up to another boneheaded decision by management.

I hope you’ll join me for selections from Herrmann’s original, rejected score, alongside jettisoned music for “2001: A Space Odyssey” (by Alex North), “Edge of Darkness” (John Corigliano), and “The Battle of Britain” (Sir William Walton).

Take it from a guy who knows a thing or two about rejection. We’ll show some belated appreciation for these talented, seasoned professionals who got the shaft, when we savor an hour of their rejected scores, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Remember, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for those of you listening in the East. Here are the respective air-times for all three of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

PICTURE PERFECT, the movie music show – Friday on KWAX at 5:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (8:00 PM EASTERN)

SWEETNESS AND LIGHT, the light music program – ALL NEW! – Saturday on KWAX at 8:00 AM PACIFIC TIME (11:00 AM EASTERN)

THE LOST CHORD, unusual and neglected rep – Saturday on KWAX at 4:00 PM PACIFIC TIME (7:00 PM EASTERN)

Stream all three, at the times indicated, by following the link!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: Hitch and Herrmann – who’d have predicted anything could have gone wrong?

April 5, 2024

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