Classic Ross Amico

Tag: The Wind and the Lion

Metaphorical Big Cats Movie Music on KWAX

RrrrrrrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This week on “Picture Perfect,” the focus is on metaphorical big cats.

Simone Simon’s barely repressed desires are made manifest in Val Lewton’s “Cat People” (1942). Lewton was a master of suggestion, with a majority of the horrors in his films imagined, rather than seen. Part of the reasoning behind the approach was practical, the result of shoestring budgets imposed by RKO. Whatever the case, the insinuating weirdness undeniably induces psychological chills. In fact, it was only as a concession to the studio that a literal big cat is included at all. The music is by RKO workhorse Roy Webb.

Sean Connery plays a Berber chieftain who faces off against Teddy Roosevelt in “The Wind and the Lion” (1975). In a letter to Roosevelt (played in the film by Brian Keith), Connery’s character writes, “I, like the lion, must stay in my place, while you, like the wind, will never know yours.” Jerry Goldsmith provides one of his best scores for the Moroccan adventure. In fact, he was fairly confident that he finally had a lock on the Oscar. He experienced a harsh reality check when he went to see “Jaws.” (Goldsmith would receive his only Academy Award the following year for his music to “The Omen.”)

Luchino Visconti’s epic telling of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel, “The Leopard” (1963), is a melancholy exploration of the fading Sicilian aristocracy. A bewhiskered Burt Lancaster plays Prince Fabrizio, who feels himself slipping into obsolescence. Nino Rota gives the film a full-blooded, operatic soundtrack, full of lyricism and pathos.

Finally, Lyn Murray provides the breezy accompaniment for Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” (1955), with Cary Grant a reformed burglar, known as The Cat, who attempts to clear himself of some “copycat” crimes, while romancing Grace Kelly on the French Riviera.

Any excuse to get “The Wind and the Lion” and “The Leopard” in the same show!

I hope you’ll join me for an hour of metaphorical big cats, 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 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/

October 6, 2023
Metaphorical Big Cats on Film

RrrrrrrrrrrrAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This Saturday, on “Picture Perfect,” the focus will be on metaphorical big cats.

Simone Simon’s barely repressed desires are made manifest in Val Lewton’s “Cat People” (1942). Lewton was a master of suggestion, with a majority of the horrors in his films imagined, rather than seen. Part of the reasoning behind the approach was practical, the result of shoestring budgets imposed by RKO. Whatever the case, the insinuating weirdness undeniably induces psychological chills. In fact, it was only as a concession to the studio that a literal big cat is included at all. The music is by RKO workhorse Roy Webb.

Sean Connery plays a Berber chieftain who faces off against Teddy Roosevelt in “The Wind and the Lion” (1975). In a letter to Roosevelt (played in the film by Brian Keith), Connery’s character writes, “I, like the lion, must stay in my place, while you, like the wind, will never know yours.” Jerry Goldsmith provides one of his best scores for the Moroccan adventure. In fact, he was fairly confident that he finally had a lock on the Oscar. He experienced a harsh reality check when he went to see “Jaws.” (Goldsmith would receive his only Academy Award the following year for his music to “The Omen.”)

Luchino Visconti’s epic telling of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s novel, “The Leopard” (1963), is a melancholy exploration of the fading Sicilian aristocracy. A bewhiskered Burt Lancaster plays Prince Fabrizio, who feels himself slipping into obsolescence. Nino Rota gives the film a full-blooded, operatic soundtrack, full of lyricism and pathos.

Finally, Lyn Murray provides the breezy accompaniment for Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” (1955), with Cary Grant a reformed burglar, known as The Cat, who attempts to clear himself of some “copycat” crimes, while romancing Grace Kelly on the French Riviera.

Any excuse to get “The Wind and the Lion” and “The Leopard” in the same show…

I hope you’ll join me for an hour of metaphorical big cats, on “Picture Perfect” – NOW AT A NEW TIME – THIS SATURDAY EVENING AT 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

(If you miss it, enjoy it later as a webcat – er, webcast – at wwfm.org!)

September 19, 2020
Cat Movie Music Picture Perfect Saturday

PICTURE PERFECT, NOW ON SATURDAY:

METAPHORICAL BIG CATS!

Paws for a litter of music from films with catty titles and characters, including selections from “Cat People” (Roy Webb), “The Wind and the Lion” (Jerry Goldsmith), “To Catch a Thief” (Lyn Murray), and “The Leopard” (Nino Rota).

It’s a stretch for feline tails, as purr the theme. Don’t forget, “Picture Perfect” has moved to a new time. The cats are out of the bag, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org.

September 18, 2020
Remembering Jerry Goldsmith: A Film Music Legend

Oh, Jerry, I can’t tell you how much I miss you. What a joy it was to go to the movies when you were still alive. Of course, the movies got precipitously worse in your last decade, but you lent a degree of enjoyment even to the transparently crappy ones – even if it was combined with a lingering wistfulness for the glory days of the 1970s.

I will always cherish your music for “The Flim Flam Man,” “Patton,” “Chinatown,” “Papillon,” “The Great Train Robbery,” “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” and especially “The Wind and the Lion.”

You often wound up playing second banana to John Williams (Williams got “Superman;” you got “Supergirl”), and a great many of the films you scored were unworthy of your talents, but you were always a professional (if at times a bit grouchy). I can recall many a moviegoing experience when your music wound up being the only redeeming quality.

But that’s the price of being fast and good. You were often brought on, on very short notice, especially late in your career, to write replacement scores for bad movies. Still, every once in a while you were tossed a bone, as with “L.A. Confidential.”

Criminally, you were honored with but a single Academy Award, for your work on “The Omen.” It was bad luck that “The Wind and the Lion” was released the same year as “Jaws.”

How many people know you also worked in television, providing music for shows like “Gunsmoke” and “The Twilight Zone,” or that you wrote the theme music for “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “The Waltons?”

I confess I don’t share your enthusiasm for electronics, but I understand you felt it was something you needed to work through. At least you didn’t require an intervention like Maurice Jarre.

What I would give to go see a quasi-intelligent, mainstream American movie again and see the credit, “Music by Jerry Goldsmith.” Those days will never come again, on any level.

Happy birthday, Jerry. I hope they’re still making good movies where you are.

“The Wind and the Lion”

“Patton”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdEy4GneZfw

“Star Trek: The Motion Picture”

PHOTO: Jerry Goldsmith (1929-2004)

February 10, 2015
Big Cats on Film Wind Lion Leopard Cat People

Any excuse to get “The Wind and the Lion” and “The Leopard” in the same show…

This week on “Picture Perfect,” the focus will be on metaphorical big cats.

Simone Simon’s barely repressed desires are made manifest in Val Lewton’s “Cat People” (1942). Lewton was a master of suggestion, with a majority of the horrors in his films imagined, rather than seen. Part of the approach was practical, the result of shoestring budgets imposed by RKO. Whatever the case, the insinuating weirdness undeniably produced psychological chills. In fact, it was only as a concession to the studio that a literal big cat was included at all. The music was by RKO workhorse Roy Webb.

Sean Connery plays a Berber chieftain who faces off against Teddy Roosevelt in “The Wind and the Lion” (1975). In a letter to Roosevelt (played in the film by Brian Keith), Connery’s character writes, “I, like the lion, must stay in my place, while you, like the wind, will never know yours.” Jerry Goldsmith provided one of his best scores for the Moroccan adventure. In fact, he was fairly confident he finally had a lock on the Oscar. He experienced a harsh reality check when he went to see “Jaws.” (Goldsmith would win his only Academy Award the following year for his music to “The Omen.”)

Luchino Visconti’s epic telling of Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s “The Leopard” (1963) is a melancholy exploration of the fading Sicilian aristocracy. A bewhiskered Burt Lancaster plays Prince Fabrizio, who feels himself slipping into obsolescence. Nino Rota gives the film a full-blooded, operatic soundtrack, full of lyricism and pathos.

Finally, Lyn Murray provides the breezy accompaniment for Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief” (1955), with Cary Grant a reformed burglar, known as The Cat, who attempts to clear himself of some “copycat” crimes while romancing Grace Kelly on the French Riviera.

Join me for an hour of metaphorical big cats this week, on “Picture Perfect” – music for the movies – this Friday evening at 6 ET, or listen later to the webcats – er, webcast – at http://www.wwfm.org.

October 2, 2014

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