Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Movie Music

Picaresque Novels on Film Summer’s Last Adventure

When I think back on the summers of my youth, I remember my elation at three months of illusory freedom – sucking the marrow out of life for the first half of the season or so; then getting drawn into family visits and vacations and losing track of friends; and finally, with the new school year looming, that last desperate frenzy to LIVE SUMMER!

This week on “Picture Perfect,” with the season winding down, it’s one last grasp for adventure. Revel in some freewheeling lack of judgment, with an hour of films based on picaresque novels.

Novels, you say? As in literature?

And picaresque? Ain’t that one of them 20-dollar words???

I suppose, in its way, it is also a foretaste of the classroom. But trust me, there will be enough impulsive behavior by rapscallions and scapegraces to keep things interesting.

In case you weren’t an English major, picaresque novels are frequently characterized by rogues and anti-heroes as protagonists, episodic, wayward structure, and not infrequently lowly humor.

We’ll hear music from “The Reivers,” after William Faulkner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, a coming-of-age story about a boy swept into automobile theft and illicit horseracing in the American south. Mark Rydell directed the 1969 film, which starred Steve McQueen as the rakish Boon Hogganbeck and featured narration by Burgess Meredith. John Williams wrote the breezy Americana score.

Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” is frequently characterized as an American picaresque. It’s certainly one of the funniest of “serious” books. A middling film adaptation was made in 1960, directed by Michael Curtiz, with Tony Randall given top billing, shifting the focus of the story to the con artistry of the King and the Duke. It features an evocative score by Jerome Moross.

If Hervey Allen’s “Anthony Adverse” had any humor to begin with, it was definitely lost in translation. (Too bad the novel was written in English.) However, the 1936 screen adaptation certainly does sprawl. One could say it’s picaresque in the worst way. It just doesn’t go anywhere. It does, however, feature a top-notch cast (Frederic March, Olivia De Havilland, Claude Rains, etc.) and an Academy Award-winning score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold.

While the modern picaresque novel had its roots in the Renaissance, the genre really seemed to hit its stride in the 18th century, with comic novelists like Henry Fielding. Fielding’s “Tom Jones,” perhaps the quintessential picaresque, was made into a film in 1963. It went on to win Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director (Tony Richardson), Best Adapted Screenplay (John Osborne) and Best Original Score (John Addison). Addison’s music suits Richardson’s quirky virtuosity like an off-kilter powdered wig.

Get ready to wear some holes into your new school clothes. We’re up to no good, with an hour of picaresque adventures, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Keep in mind, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

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

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

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

August 25, 2023
Aquatic Trauma in Movie Music

When heat index values crest 100, nothing is as refreshing, it seems, as a nice swim. But spare a thought for what lurks beneath. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll think twice about heading into the water with an hour of music from movies featuring aquatic traumas.

“Beneath the 12-Mile Reef” (1953) stars Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, and Peter Graves in a Romeo and Juliet story about two families of competing fishermen along the Gulf coast of Florida, one working class and of Greek origin, and the other a family of privileged WASPs. Gilbert Roland is the Greek patriarch who runs afoul of an improbably large octopus. Bernard Herrmann wrote the music, which employs no fewer than nine harps (one for each arm, and a spare).

A young Henry Mancini was one of three composers to work on “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954). Mancini, soon to be world famous for “Moon River,” “Baby Elephant Walk,” and “The Pink Panther,” was teamed with veteran film composer Hans J. Salter and Herman Stein. None of the three were credited on screen – typical of what was then considered just another low-budget B-movie.

What can I say about John Williams’ masterful music for “Jaws” (1975)? It’s right up there with “Psycho” and “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” in terms of most recognized and most frequently parodied. Everyone remembers the primal shark theme, but what is sometimes overlooked is that “Jaws” is also one of the great adventure scores, the music effortlessly navigating the choppy waters of suspense, horror, and seafaring swashbuckler. The composer was recognized with a richly-deserved Academy Award (his second of five).

The conflict in “The Swimmer” (1968) is not a giant octopus, nor a great white shark, nor a prehistoric gill man, but rather the progressive psychological breakdown of an upper middle class Connecticut man who believes he’s living the American Dream.

Adapted from a short story by John Cheever, “The Swimmer” stars Burt Lancaster as the man, who acts on a quixotic impulse to travel all the way home, across county, by way of a network of suburban swimming pools. The adventure starts out well enough, with Lancaster and everyone he encounters full of optimism and fun; but the further he moves along his allegorical journey, the more the enterprise, the climate, and the people begin to grow cold.

“The Swimmer” is a decidedly downbeat tale which could make the viewer as reluctant to dip a toe into a chlorinated in-ground swimming pool as the shark-infested waters of Peter Benchley’s Amity Beach. The score is by Marvin Hamlisch, of all people, and it suits the film brilliantly.

Better stick to the bath. Dreams of aquatic refreshment are all wet this week, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

Keep in mind, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

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

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

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: “Farewell and adieu to you, fair Spanish ladies…”

July 28, 2023
King Arthur Movie Music on KWAX

This week on “Picture Perfect,” the Once and Future King of film music shows continues on KWAX, with selections from movies inspired by the legends of King Arthur.

The legends provide so much grist for “Prince Valiant” (1954), based on Hal Foster’s enduring comic strip, set in the days of Arthur, though Val himself is a Viking prince of the kingdom of Scandia. Janet Leigh plays Princess Aleta, James Mason the villainous Sir Brack, Victor McLaglen Val’s Viking pal Boltar, and Sterling Hayden a preposterous Gawain. For the title role, Robert Wagner dons the signature page-boy haircut. The score, by Franz Waxman, is every bit as vivid as the film’s Technicolor, and a clear prototype for the exuberant, leitmotif-driven music of John Williams.

“The Mists of Avalon” (2001), adapted from Marion Zimmer Bradley’s novel, takes the ingenious approach of retelling the Arthurian stories from the perspective of the oft-marginalized female characters. The revisionist approach breathes fresh life into the familiar tales, so that the book was greeted with critical and popular acclaim upon its release in 1983. A television miniseries, starring Julianna Margulies, Angelica Huston and Joan Allen, was produced for TNT, with music by Lee Holdridge.

“First Knight” (1995) features an unlikely cast of Sean Connery as Arthur, Richard Gere as Lancelot, and Julia Ormond as Guinevere. The film is unique, to my knowledge, in being based on the writings of medieval French poet Chrétien de Troyes, as opposed to the more frequently-employed source, Sir Thomas Malory.

The score is by Jerry Goldsmith. It was actually a bit of a rush job for Goldsmith, who stepped up at the very last minute to replace Maurice Jarre. Jarre had been approached to write music for what was originally a three-hour cut of the film. However, he only had four weeks in which to do so. Goldsmith, very well-known for his ability to write at white heat, was able to complete the score, and record the music in the allotted time.

“Knights of the Round Table” (1953) may lack the gravitas and grit of “Excalibur” – in my opinion, the most powerful of the Arthurian films – but it does sport some undeniably satisfying 1950s spectacle. The glossy and pat MGM production stars Robert Taylor as Lancelot, Ava Gardner as Guinevere, and Mel Ferrer as Arthur. The fine score is by Miklós Rózsa, from the height of his “historical epic” phase.

It’s more than just a knight at the movies. Polish up on music for the films of King Arthur, on “Picture Perfect,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

For streaming information, see below.

Keep in mind, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

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

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

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

July 21, 2023
Michel Legrand’s Movie Music on KWAX

Vive la France! This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll celebrate Bastille Day with the bittersweet stylings of French composer Michel Legrand. The recipient of three Academy Awards (and 13 nominations), along with five Grammys, Legrand wrote music that tugs at the heart even as it lifts the soul.

Take a nostalgic journey down Memory Lane (or perhaps Rue de Mémoire?) with indelible selections from a handful of his over 200 film and television scores, including “Summer of ’42,” “The Picasso Summer,” “The Go-Between,” “Yentl,” “The Thomas Crown Affair,” and “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.” Le Grand, indeed!

The best of the classic European film composers always seemed to grasp the fundamental sadness of existence. There is poignancy in beauty and beauty in poignancy this week. Get out your handkerchiefs for music of Michel Legrand, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

For streaming information, see below.

Keep in mind, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

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

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

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

July 14, 2023
Exotic Scores: Movie Music from the East

As a long-time local radio host only recently set adrift, I am thankful for the life raft of syndication. Which means armchair travelers can still join me, via internet streaming, on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon.

Orientalism is a term used to describe evocations of the East by Western writers, artists, and designers. This week on “Picture Perfect,” while I acknowledge the complexities and pitfalls inherent to “exoticism,” I hope you’ll enjoy musical selections from four films set in faraway lands.

Two of these are loosely based on tales from “The Arabian Nights,” depicting the East as a kind of fairy world. The Alexander Korda production of “The Thief of Bagdad” (1940) features Sabu as the thief, Conrad Veidt as a slippery vizir, and a scene-stealing Rex Ingram as the djinn. The score is one of the earliest and most charming of Miklós Rózsa.

“The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” (1958) is really a showcase for the special effects of Ray Harryhausen. In particular, it contains a kind of rehearsal, in the skeleton duel, for the classic sequence in “Jason and the Argonauts” (in which Harryhausen ups the ante to seven skeletons!). The alternately sinuous and percussive music, by Bernard Herrmann, fits the images like a Persian slipper.

Director David Lean was inspired by the historical exploits and complex character of T.E. Lawrence, in the undertaking of “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962). The film won seven Academy Awards and made international superstars of Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. Maurice Jarre won the first of his three Oscars for his music. Jarre himself conducted on the film’s soundtrack, even though, for contractual reasons, Sir Adrian Boult received the screen credit.

Finally, Sean Connery is Mulay Ahmed Muhamed Raisuli the Magnificent, sharif of the Riffian Berbers, in John Milius’ “The Wind and the Lion” (1975). The score represents composer Jerry Goldsmith at his finest. In fact, so happy was he with the effort that he was convinced that he finally had a lock on the Oscar. Then he went to see “Jaws.” Goldsmith would receive his only Academy Award, finally, the next year for his music to “The Omen.”

I hope you’ll join me for these examples of Orientalism at the movies – a theme that’s really an excuse for me to play some of my favorite scores – this Friday evening on KWAX!

See below for streaming information.

Keep in mind, KWAX is on the West Coast, so there’s a three-hour difference for the Trenton-Princeton area. Here are the respective air-times of my recorded shows (with East Coast conversions in parentheses):

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

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

Stream them here!

https://kwax.uoregon.edu/

PHOTO: Rex Ingram as the Djinn in “The Thief of Bagdad”

June 23, 2023

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