New Podcast - Originals & Remakes

[cdouglas]

Hey folks,

Another edition of "The Sounds and Sights of Cinema" is up for your listening pleasure. This week, the show spotlights music from a variety of films AND music from the remakes of those films. So, on this week's program you'll hear...

Assault on Precinct 13 - John Carpenter
Assault on Precinct 13 - Graeme Revell
The Poseidon Adventure - John Williams
Poseidon - Klaus Badelt
Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Danny Zeitlin
The Invasion - John Ottman
The Thing From Another World - Dimitri Tiomkin
The Thing - Ennio Morricone
King Kong - Max Steiner
King Kong - John Barry
King Kong - James Newton Howard
The Thomas Crown Affair - Michael Legrand
The Thomas Crown Affair - Bill Conti
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three - David Shire
The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 - Harry Gregson-Williams

Plus, a review of The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 and a bonus track from the original Thomas Crown Affair (yes, it's "The Windmills of Your Mind"). So tune in, won't you? Side effects of listening to "The Sounds and Sights of Cinema" include happiness, enlightenment, and Sudden Popularity Syndrome.

[KDROBERTS]

Great show Clark! I was listening to it today and when you said remakes the first two that popped in my head were The Thing, and King Kong. I was very pleased to hear samples of those! Keep up the good work.

[BrettCullum]

It highlights an interesting trend that remakes often don't even bother to make a nod to their source material in their scores. I find that fascinating, because I would think there would be a temptation to go there.

One of my favorite compare and contrasts would be the original John Carpenter score for HALLOWEEN versus the Rob Zombie reimagining. Wouldn't it have been way more fun to use the Carpenter score intact for any new take on the film?

[cdouglas]

It highlights an interesting trend that remakes often don't even bother to make a nod to their source material in their scores. I find that fascinating, because I would think there would be a temptation to go there.

One of my favorite compare and contrasts would be the original John Carpenter score for HALLOWEEN versus the Rob Zombie reimagining. Wouldn't it have been way more fun to use the Carpenter score intact for any new take on the film?

Agreed. The generic Tyler Bates music for the new Halloween was pretty weak, to say the least. However, there have been some remakes that reference the music from the original.

- Brian Tyler used Jerry Goldsmith's original themes in his score for Rambo
- Martin Scorsese had Elmer Bernstein re-record Bernard Herrmann's score for the remake of Cape Fear
- All of the Jaws movies have leaned heavily on John Williams' original material, despite the fact that Williams only scored the first two.
- The James Bond theme has played a significant role in all the Bond films regardless of composer.
- Christopher Young reused a good bit of Danny Elfman's material in his score for Spider-Man 3

So there are definitely some exceptions out there, but yeah, remakes traditionally just take whatever path they please. Horror remakes in particular are suffering, as the creepy and iconic themes of the '70s and '80s are being replaced by very bland sound design.

[BrettCullum]

The only real remake in your list there was CAPE FEAR. LOL!
The rest are sequels, and it seems they like to reference the previous scores. My only disappointment lately was Danny Elfman not using more of the original stuff for TERMINATOR SALVATION. The original films had such distinctive percussive themes, and it does not feel like TERMINATOR without them.

Has anybody heard the new FRIDAY THE 13th score? Talk about iconic original work! Seems all the great horror flicks are getting retreads. I hear next up is NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, and again... a legendary score waiting to be made bland. YAY!

[cdouglas]

The only real remake in your list there was CAPE FEAR. LOL!

Gah! You're right. Enormous brain lapse there. For some reason my "sequel" and "remake" wires got crossed.

[Carl Wonders]

Great show as always, Clark! It's always fun to contrast the different music styles across the years even though the core story is similar (or the same). Could there be any more difference between David Shire's music and that of Harry Gregson-Williams'?

Two scores really stood out to me: John Williams really sounded to me like he was channeling John Barry in his The Poseidon Adventure score (there were bits that reminded me of The Black Hole of all things) and James Newton Howard really threw me with his score for King Kong (I didn't realize he had that sort of score in him -- amazingly, I still haven't seen the film!)

[cdouglas]

Great show as always, Clark! It's always fun to contrast the different music styles across the years even though the core story is similar (or the same). Could there be any more difference between David Shire's music and that of Harry Gregson-Williams'?

Two scores really stood out to me: John Williams really sounded to me like he was channeling John Barry in his The Poseidon Adventure score (there were bits that reminded me of The Black Hole of all things) and James Newton Howard really threw me with his score for King Kong (I didn't realize he had that sort of score in him -- amazingly, I still haven't seen the film!)

Thanks, Carl! I never really made that Williams/Barry connection before, but I can definitely see what you mean. I know some people who really love those Williams Diaster Movie scores, but to me they are a little less compelling than most of his work.

[Carl Wonders]

The Poseidon Adventure and Earthquake never really did much for me, but I think Williams' score for The Towering Inferno is quite good.

Just saw Pellham 123 last night. Not a bad movie, but I'm with you on the overly cliche final act. For a moment I thought I was watching a generic car chase/French Connection mash-up. And I didn't care for how the whole dilemma for Garber was left completely unresolved. All in all though, I thought it was one of Tony Scott's better movies (I've always found him to be a bit overrated, frankly).

[Kevin]

The Omen - Marco Beltrami

[cdouglas]

The Omen - Marco Beltrami

Does that one really count, though? Because it was only the end credits...

[Kevin]

Godzilla - David Arnold