Classic Ross Amico

Tag: The Godfather

Movie Music for Father’s Day on KWAX

Even if you’re not appreciated by your former employer, Father knows best; and my old man says I’m better off at KWAX!

This week on “Picture Perfect,” with Father’s Day right around the corner, we’ll celebrate by listening to music for movie dads.

Vito Corleone may not exactly have been a model father, but he did adhere to a certain code of ethics. Besides, what father doesn’t love “The Godfather” (1972)? “The Godfather” was recognized with 11 Academy Award nominations – of which it won three, including Best Picture. However, the awards were not without controversy.

Of course, Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather to the ceremony to decline his Oscar, in protest over Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in television and film. Then there was the matter of the score, by Nino Rota. Rota was nominated, but the nomination was withdrawn when it was discovered that he had used one of the themes in a 1958 film, “Fortunella,” which starred Giulietta Masina and Alberto Sordi. In the end, the Academy turned around and gave Rota the award anyway, two years later, for “The Godfather Part II.”

“Field of Dreams” (1989) is one of those rare movies that has the ability to reduce manly men – even those without daddy issues – to a pool of tears. Phil Alden Robinson’s superior adaptation of W.P. Kinsella’s novel, “Shoeless Joe,” is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy, in which a man finds redemption, and a new understanding of his father, in the enchanted cornfields of America’s heartland. And it’s all brought about courtesy of America’s pastime, baseball. The evocative score is by James Horner, who rides on the shoulders of Aaron Copland. The composer seems particularly smitten with Copland’s “Our Town.”

William Powell plays Clarence Day, the irascible paterfamilias of an upper-class family of redheads, in the comedy “Life with Father” (1947), for which Max Steiner wrote the music.

And Gregory Peck plays one of his most memorable roles as defense attorney – and model father – Atticus Finch, in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962), based on Harper Lee’s beautiful “coming of age” novel. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. Peck won the Academy Award for Best Actor a year later. The score is one of the best-loved of Elmer Bernstein.

You can try to rank the music, but Father’s Day generally yields a tie. (Yes, it’s a pun. Dads love puns.) Spare a thought for dear old Dad, this Friday evening, on “Picture Perfect,” now in syndication on KWAX, the radio station of the University of Oregon!

See below for streaming information for both of my recorded shows.

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 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/

June 16, 2023
Nino Rota Godfather Fellini Birthday

An hour of music by Nino Rota is an offer you can’t refuse.

Rota was born in Milan on this date in 1911. An extraordinarily prolific composer, he wrote some 150 film scores, from the 1930s until his death in Rome in 1979. That’s an average of three scores per year over a 46-year span. At the height of his productivity, from the late-40s to the mid-50s, he was writing up to ten scores a year, with a mindboggling 13 film scores to his credit in 1954.

Yet somehow, in his spare time, he managed to write ten operas, five ballets, and dozens of other orchestral, choral, and chamber works, and incidental music for the stage. As if that weren’t enough, he also taught at the Liceo Musicale in Bari, Italy, of which he was the director for almost 30 years.

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we remember him on his birthday, with some of his best-known film scores.

For the 50th anniversary of its release, we’ll hear selections from Francis Ford Coppola’s “The Godfather” (1972) and what many regard as one of the greatest sequels ever made, “The Godfather Part II” (1974). Taken collectively, this is some of the best-known and best-loved movie music ever written.

“The Godfather Part II” earned Rota his only Academy Award. But there was some controversy surrounding Rota’s contribution to its predecessor. His nomination for the original “The Godfather” was withdrawn at the eleventh hour, when it came to the Academy’s attention that the love theme had been used in a 1958 Italian comedy he had scored called “La Fortunella.” Puzzlingly, the music for the sequel went on to win the Oscar, although it featured the same theme that made the earlier score ineligible.

It could be argued that Rota was so prolific that, as was the case with many of his Baroque forebears, a certain amount of recycling was inevitable. We’ll listen to a selection from Luchino Visconti’s “Rocco and His Brothers.” Hearing it directly on the heels of “The Godfather,” you may find it unexpectedly familiar.

But lest we become too judgmental, remember Gioachino Rossini did much the same thing. And the Italian opera comparison is not inappropriate. Rota’s long-limbed melodies frequently evoke the heyday of Puccini and the Verismo School. This is most evident in his music written for another Visconti film, “The Leopard” (1963), after the poignant novel of Giuseppe di Lampedusa.

At the same time, Rota was also clearly influenced by the commedia dell’arte, or perhaps simply the world of the circus, which made him the ideal composer for the films of Federico Fellini, in which the most poignant melodies might be swept away at any moment by off-the-rails funhouse music. There would be no Danny Elfman without Nino Rota!

Rota’s association with Fellini began in 1952 with “The White Sheik.” It was the start of a working relationship that would span decades, until Rota’s death in 1979, and encompassed such classics as “La Strada” (1954), “Nights of Cabiria” (1957), “La Dolce Vita” (1960), and “8 ½” (1963). We’ll hear an impromptu suite made up of selections from all four. Such music could only be described as Felliniesque – or perhaps, more accurately, Fellini’s films should be described as Rotaesque.

Leave the gun, take the cannoli. Nino Rota sucks down all the espresso on his birthday, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EST, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

December 3, 2022
Meteor Disaster Avoided! Father’s Day Music

Wait? John Williams was supposed to write the music for “Meteor?” Well, I suppose it makes sense, following on his association with “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Earthquake,” and “The Towering Inferno.” Thankfully, this was one disaster he was able to avoid.

Share that sense of relief, as we enter the weekend with another Classic Ross Amico double-feature.

First, it’s all about Father’s Day – with music from “The Godfather” (Nino Rota), “Field of Dreams” (James Horner), “Life with Father” (Max Steiner), and “To Kill a Mockingbird (Elmer Bernstein) – on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, at 6 p.m. EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

Then Roy Bjellquist and I will take on The Mother of All Asteroids, as we dissect “Meteor,” on the Facebook live-stream “Roy’s Tie-Dye Sci-Fi Corner” at 7.

https://www.facebook.com/roytiediescificorner/

Getting ready to rock your world (literally). Mom and Dad would be so proud.

June 19, 2020
Movie Dads Father’s Day Special on WWFM

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we anticipate Father’s Day with an hour of music celebrating movie dads.

Vito Corleone may not exactly have been a model father, though he did adhere to a particular code of ethics. Besides, what father doesn’t love “The Godfather” (1972)? “The Godfather” was recognized with 11 Academy Award nominations – of which it won three, including Best Picture. However, the awards were not without controversy.

Of course, Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather to the ceremony to decline his Oscar, in protest over Hollywood’s portrayal of Native Americans in television and film. Then there was the matter of the score, by Nino Rota. Rota was nominated, but the nomination was withdrawn when it was discovered that he had used one of the themes in a 1958 film called “Fortunella,” which starred Giulietta Masina and Alberto Sordi. In the end, the Academy turned around and gave Rota the award anyway, two years later, for “The Godfather Part II.”

“Field of Dreams” (1989) is one of those rare films that has the ability to reduce manly men – even those without father issues – to a pool of tears. Phil Alden Robinson’s superior adaptation of W.P. Kinsella’s novel, “Shoeless Joe,” is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy, in which a man finds redemption, and a new understanding of his father, in the enchanted cornfields of America’s heartland. And it’s all brought about courtesy of America’s pastime, baseball. The evocative score is by James Horner, who rides on the shoulders of Aaron Copland. The composer seems particularly smitten with Copland’s “Our Town.”

William Powell plays Clarence Day, the irascible paterfamilias of an upper class family of redheads, in the comedy “Life with Father” (1947), for which Max Steiner wrote the music.

And Gregory Peck plays one of his most memorable roles as defense attorney – and model father – Atticus Finch, in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962), based on Harper Lee’s beautiful “coming of age” novel. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1961. Peck won the Academy Award for Best Actor a year later. The score is one of the best-loved of Elmer Bernstein.

You can try to rank the music, but Father’s Day generally yields a tie. (Yes, it’s a pun. Dads love puns.) Spare a thought for dear old Dad, this Friday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

June 19, 2020
Movie Dads Father’s Day Music Special

This week on “Picture Perfect,” we anticipate Father’s Day with an hour of music celebrating movie dads.

Vito Corleone may not exactly have been a model father, though he did adhere to a particular code of ethics. Besides, what father doesn’t love “The Godfather” (1972)? “The Godfather” was recognized with 11 Academy Award nominations – of which it won three, including Best Picture. However, the awards were not without controversy.

Of course, Brando sent Sacheen Littlefeather to the ceremony to refuse his Oscar based on his objection to the portrayal of Native Americans in television and film. Then there was the matter of the score, by Nino Rota. Rota was nominated, but the nomination was withdrawn when it was discovered that he had used one of the themes in a 1958 film called “Fortunella,” which starred Giulietta Masina and Alberto Sordi. In the end, the Academy turned around and gave Rota the award anyway, two years later, for “The Godfather Part II.”

“Field of Dreams” (1989) is one of those rare films that has the ability to reduce manly men – even those without father issues – to a pool of tears. Phil Alden Robinson’s superior adaptation of W.P. Kinsella’s novel, “Shoeless Joe,” is a male wish-fulfillment fantasy, in which a man finds redemption, and a new understanding of his father, in the enchanted cornfields of America’s heartland. And it’s all brought about courtesy of America’s pastime, baseball. The evocative score is by James Horner, who rides on the shoulders of Aaron Copland. The composer seems particularly smitten with Copland’s “Our Town.”

William Powell plays Clarence Day, the irascible paterfamilias of an upper class family of redheads, in the comedy “Life with Father” (1947), for which Max Steiner wrote the music.

And Gregory Peck plays one of his most memorable roles as defense attorney – and model father – Atticus Finch, in “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962), based on Harper Lee’s beautiful “coming of age” novel. The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1961. Peck won the Academy Award for Best Actor a year later. The score is one of the best-loved of Elmer Bernstein.

Even if your father was a complete creep, there’s plenty to love about this music. I hope you’ll join me for selections for Father’s Day on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, 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.

June 19, 2015

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