Spike ,'Sleeper'
A place to talk about movies--Old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Catch Me If You Can was a lot of fun.
Cool. I also heard that John Williams redeemed himself for a lot of his past transgressions on that one. Plus it sounded like they gave both Tom Hanks and Christopher Walken something to do besides their usual schticks.
I also heard that John Williams redeemed himself for a lot of his past transgressions on that one.
I'll note that John Williams started his career doing very crime-jazz Mancini-type scores. So I think it was a return for him to mid-sixties style jaunty pop-jazz instrumentals.
I'll note that John Williams started his career doing very crime-jazz Mancini-type scores.
Heh, yeah. MST3K did a film called DADDY-O that had Johnny Williams doing the soundtrack. With the "immortal" Dick Contino in the lead.
I wasn't crazy about the soundtrack, to be honest. I know it got a lot of praise, but I thought it called way too much attention to itself, rather than grounding/supporting the film.
I wasn't crazy about the soundtrack, to be honest. I know it got a lot of praise, but I thought it called way too much attention to itself, rather than grounding/supporting the film.
Huh. Well that certainly sounds like John Williams' m.o.
Just as a side-discussion, do you object to soundtracks calling attention to themselves in general, or is it a case specific thing?
With me it's definitely case specific, because certain movies I adore (the mid-period works of Dario Argento for instance) that have what could almost be called "foreground" scores.
MST3K did a film called DADDY-O that had Johnny Williams doing the soundtrack. With the "immortal" Dick Contino in the lead.
Man, this movie just keeps popping up. It was just mentioned on the Lost in the Grooves blog, and James Ellroy wrote a novella based around the making of this movie, "Dick Contino's Blues." Ellroy even tracked Contino down and became friends with him.
Flash Gordon would have been nothing without Queen.
Man, this movie just keeps popping up. It was just mentioned on the Lost in the Grooves blog, and James Ellroy wrote a novella based around the making of this movie. (Ellroy even tracked Contino down and became friends with him.)
Interesting. What's the name of the book it's in (the Ellroy story)?
Man, if Ellroy did a story on it, some pretty heavy shit must have gone down during the making of it - he usually doesn't play nice with his characters. Although I was surprised when I read LA Confidential to find out that the resolution of one of the story lines, that had critics complaining it was a cop-out, was pretty much straight from the book.
Flash Gordon would have been nothing without Queen.
So true....
What's the name of the book it's in (the Ellroy story)?
I think I read it in Hollywood Nocturnes, but he's also got a collection titled Dick Contino's Blues and Other Stories.
Brief synopsis: Dick Contino, a 50s accordion player, a star in the making, is destroyed by a draft-dodging scandal. His life is on the skids until he comes up with the idea of resurrecting his career with a fake kidnapping scam. Meanwhile a serial killer is on the loose.