Classic Ross Amico

Tag: Movie Soundtracks

Need for Speed Movie Soundtracks Mad Max & More

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ve got the need for speed.

With Mad Max back in theaters, we’ll have music from the second installment in the series, “The Road Warrior” (1981). Australian composer Brian May wrote the music, as he did for the original. The director, George Miller, specified that he was looking for a gothic, Bernard Herrmann-type mood to underscore his dystopian vision of a post-apocalyptic Australian Outback.

Maurice Jarre took over to write the music for the third installment, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome,” but it’s purely by coincidence that we’ll hear selections from another Jarre score built for speed, “Grand Prix” (1966). The film’s international cast featured James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, and Toshiro Mifune, but the plot’s assorted relationship and business conflicts take a back seat to driver’s-eye views of lapping the track.

When we remember Steve McQueen, chances are one of the first images that springs to mind is that of McQueen behind the wheel of his Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback, tearing up and down the streets of San Francisco in “Bullitt” (1968). The high-octane action sequence became the yardstick against which all big screen car chases were measured (at least until “The French Connection”). Lalo Schifrin provided the jazzy score.

Finally, Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s time-travelling DeLoreon needs to hit 88 miles per hour in order to get “Back to the Future” (1985). Director Bob Zemeckis had already worked with composer Alan Silvestri on “Romancing the Stone,” but the producer of “Back to the Future,” Steven Spielberg, didn’t care for the music in that film. Zemeckis’ advice to his colleague: go grand and epic, since Spielberg had a marked preference for the music of John Williams. It was a very good choice.

I hope you’ll join me for an hour of chases and races, this evening at 6 ET, with a repeat tomorrow morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

Just be sure you’re not driving when you do!

May 15, 2015
Tudor Movie Music From Wolf Hall & Beyond

With the current interest generated by “Wolf Hall,” through adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s award-winning novels for stage and television, it seems as good excuse as any to explore music from movies about the Tudors.

We’ll hear selections from “Young Bess” (1953), which stars Jean Simmons as the future Elizabeth I. The colorful and entertaining cast includes Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr and most notably Charles Laughton, who reprises his memorable turn as Henry VIII. Laughton was honored with an Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Henry in the 1933 film, “The Private Lives of Henry VIII.” Miklós Rózsa’s score conjures the era of the great MGM Technicolor spectacles.

By the time of the events portrayed in “Mary, Queen of Scots” (1971), Elizabeth already wears the crown, though uneasy with the existence of her first cousin once removed, who had previously claimed Elizabeth’s throne as her own. Vanessa Redgrave is Mary and Glenda Jackson is Elizabeth, with a supporting cast that includes Timothy Dalton, Nigel Davenport, Patrick McGoohan, Trevor Howard and Ian Holm. As seems to be the custom in dramatic interpretations of the historical events, the film features several fictional meetings between the queens, even though in reality the two never met. The poignant score is by John Barry.

“Anne of the Thousand Days” (1969) tells the story of Henry’s doomed second wife, Anne Boleyn. This time Richard Burton plays the king. Anne is played by Genevieve Bujold. Despite mixed reviews, the film was nominated for ten Academy Awards and recognized for its exceptional costumes. Among the other nominees was Georges Delerue for his period-flavored music.

Finally, in a lighthearted change of pace from all the intrigue and execution, we turn to a big screen adaptation of Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper” (1937). Set in the time of Prince Edward (later Edward VI), Twain’s novel plays on the conceit that the heir apparent at some point had become mixed up with a commoner who bore a remarkable resemblance to him.

Top-billed Errol Flynn is really a supporting player as the devil-may-care Miles Hendon, who throws himself in with the scraggly-looking prince, though he hardly believes his claims. Though it would still be a year until the release of “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” Flynn was already well on his way to becoming the screen’s quintessential swashbuckler, thanks to his turn in “Captain Blood” (1935). He easily dominates the film, and it’s a treat to see him duel with his old pal Alan Hale.

Montagu Love plays Henry VIII, though he’s upstaged by the scheming Claude Rains as Edward Seymour, the Earl of Hertford. Composer Erich Wolfgang Korngold follows Flynn all the way, his music full of swagger and fun.

I hope you’ll join me for music from movies about the Tudors, on “Picture Perfect,” this Friday evening at 6, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6; or that you’ll listen to it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

April 16, 2015
Maugham’s Hollywood Soundtracks Picture Perfect

W. Somerset Maugham is said to have been the highest paid writer of the 1930s.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we’ll have music from four Maugham adaptations, including the 1946 version of “Of Human Bondage” (with music by Erich Wolfgang Korngold), the 1946 version of “The Razor’s Edge” (with music by Alfred Newman), and two versions of “The Painted Veil – one from 2006 (with music by Alexandre Desplat) and one from 1957 (released as “The Seventh Sin,” with music by Miklós Rózsa).

As a former medical student who experienced World War I, first as an ambulance driver and then in the British Secret Intelligence Service, Maugham endured adventures all over Europe and Asia, which he then turned to the service of his fiction.

In 1938, he remarked, “Fact and fiction are so intermingled in my work that now, looking back on it, I can hardly distinguish one from the other.”

Maugham also worked in Hollywood for a time, writing scripts and making a pretty penny from film adaptations of his books.

I hope you’ll join me for music from movies inspired by Maugham this week, on “Picture Perfect.” The show airs tonight at 6 ET, with a repeat Saturday morning at 6. You can also listen to it later as a webcast, at http://www.wwfm.org.

PHOTO: Tyrone Power sees the light in “The Razor’s Edge”

March 27, 2015
Spring Movies Renewal and Second Chances

Despite the wintry forecast, it is indeed the first day of spring. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we mark the occasion with music from movies on themes of renewal and starting over.

You can’t get much more spring-like than “The Secret Garden,” after the novel of Frances Hodgson Burnett. A spoiled orphan raised in India returns to England and her aloof uncle’s gloomy mansion on the Yorkshire moors. Gradually, she is drawn outside of herself by a cantankerous gardener, a saucy robin, and a fey lad named Dickon, who has a particular affinity with wild creatures. Her transformation, signified by the titular garden, the maintenance of which teaches her to nurture, improves the lives of all around her.

The story has been adapted numerous times, including a classic version with Margaret O’Brien, in 1949. In 1993, Francis Ford Coppola’s American Zoetrope backed a lovely adaptation directed by Agnieszka Holland. The music was by Zbigniew Preisner.

“The Best Years of Our Lives,” from 1946, is one of the most beautiful films to treat the subject of American soldiers readjusting to civilian life, following World War II. A trio of veterans returns from overseas to find their lives irrevocably changed. It isn’t easy, but they rise to meet all challenges with the help of family and friends. The film is all the more moving and inspirational for its characters’ integrity and tenacity.

The cast includes Frederic March, Dana Andrews and real-life veteran Harold Russell. Russell was awarded a special Academy Award for “bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans through his appearance.” Russell had lost both his hands in an explosion. Honored also with an award for Best Supporting Actor, he is the only figure ever to win two Oscars for the same performance.

The film won nine Oscars in all, among them Best Picture, Best Director (William Wyler), Best Actor (March), Best Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood), and Best Music (Hugo Friedhofer).

Based on a novel of Anne Tyler, “The Accidental Tourist,” from 1988, stars William Hurt as a travel writer, the loss of whose son leads to emotional sterility and estrangement from his wife, played by Kathleen Turner. He is eventually brought around by a quirky dog-trainer (Geena Davis, in an Academy Award-winning performance). It’s a movie about letting go, and having the courage to move forward. The understated score is by John Williams.

Finally, sports movies have always been a popular genre through which to tell stories of resurrection and redemption. “The Natural,” Barry Levinson’s 1984 adaptation of the novel of Bernard Malamud, tells the tale of a baseball player (played by Robert Redford), who is struck down in his prime, only to be reborn in mythic triumph. The inspiring music is by Randy Newman.

I hope you’ll join me for music from films about new beginnings and second chances, for the coming of spring. Unfortunately, because of the station’s Bach celebration, the show will be preempted today, so don’t come looking for it this evening at 6 ET. Like Omar Khayyam’s “Moon of Heav’n,” you will search through this garden for me in vain.

However, you can catch the “rebroadcast” Saturday morning at 6, or enjoy it later as a webcast at http://www.wwfm.org.

March 20, 2015
Oscar Music Night Picture Perfect & PSO’s Silver Screen

If, like me, you are nutty in the nutbone for classic movie music, you might want to join me tomorrow night for a special two-hour “Picture Perfect,” as we look ahead to the 87th Academy Awards.

Beginning at 6 ET, we commence our annual Oscar party, with wall-to-wall music from Academy Award-winning films, with selections from “The Adventures of Robin Hood,” “Ben-Hur,” “The Godfather” and many others. We’ll also sample from this year’s nominees for Best Original Score.

Then at 8, I’ll introduce the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, in a broadcast of their February 7 concert, held at Princeton University’s Richardson Auditorium, as music director Rossen Milanov takes the podium for the orchestra’s first ever “Silver Screen Salute.”

The concert will include music from “Gone with the Wind,” “The Magnificent Seven,” “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Star Wars,” among others. The American Boychoir will appear in John Williams’ “Empire of the Sun,” “Amistad” and “Saving Private Ryan,” as well as in “Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz.”

Milanov and Chris Collier of the Princeton Garden Theatre will join me at intermission to talk about movies and the PSO concert.

Butter up the popcorn! We’re ready for our close-up. Four hours of movie music magic, on “Picture Perfect” and the PSO’s “A Silver Screen Salute,” starting Friday evening at 6, at http://www.wwfm.org.

PLEASE NOTE: There will be no webcast for the PSO concert, so be there, or be square!

February 19, 2015

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