John Barry(1933--) is one of the great living film composers, and I wanted to feature a selection of some of his earliest scores. The first one is the title trac to "Beat Girl" (1960) which is also known as "Wild for Kicks". The movie doesn't look like much--a rather unsubtle teenage exploitation film keyed to the type of juvenile delinequint films popular in the USA,such as the more famous James Dean vehicle, "Rebel Without A Cause", (1956) and the campy black and white opus,"High School Confidential" (1958).
Barry was a friend of the musician/actor Adam Faith and this jazzy opening was a hit in Britain and is still performed today by the Brian Setzer Orchestra. You might spot a young Oliver Reed dancing with Gillian Hills, the star of this sordid little peek into the lives of crazy thrill-seeking kids high on dancing, playing "chicken" by racing automobiles drag-strip style, digging that hip daddy-O "race music" from America and of course that demon drug, Coca-Cola.
This next piece is "The 007 Theme", not to be confused with the more famous "James Bond theme" usualy fatured at the very begining of most Bond films. . Barry first composed it for the film "From Russia With Love" and it was been used in several Bond films thereafter. For me, it's better than Monty Norman's more-famous theme. The success of the early Bonds owes much to Barry's great use of incidential music, particularly in films like "Goldfinger" (1964). Barry's last complete Bond film score was featured in 1987's "The Living Daylights" with Timothy Dalton.
Barry composed a lot of scores in the Sixties, including "Zulu" (1964), "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), "The Ipcress File"--a clever, and more realistic counter-James Bond secret agent film with Michael Caine (1965) and this sllightly surreal romantic comedy from "The Beatles" film director Richard Lester called "The Knack--and How To Get It" (1965) with Michael Crawford and Rita Tushingham.
This last score is pretty famous,too, and it's from a movie set in east Africa. The sense of grandeur and scope Barry wove into the overture to "Born Free" (1966) points the way ahead to other soaring scores he would go on to write in the next couple decades.
Greatest movie music composer/director is John Williams, hands down, my most favorite. His music has moved me to tears over and over again. I think the Bond 007 people are on crack...I'm having a hard time with the musical collaboration with Alicia Keys and JACK WHITE??? wth??? Why not just let Alicia do the music and song by herself?
ReplyDeleteI love these,Doug!!!
ReplyDeleteI've always been interested in film score composers.I feel they are unfairly ridiculed by,"Purist" in the classical music field.
John Williams,Jerry Goldsmith,Stu Phillips,James Horner,Henry Mancini,Alan Silvestri.......etc.
Thanks for these!!!
I would be very hard to argue with Williams as the premier composer, Roolee. He is a modern Max Steiner, capable of composing for any genre and as you said, moving many to unexpected emotions. His score for "ET", to cite one case, is brilliant.
ReplyDeleteI've always enjoyed the Bond music, and most of the films, although I can see that even the best of them are male fantasy films and not for all tastes.
I agree with you on that, Timelord. (Who'd be dumb enough to disagree with a timelord, now come to think of it? ;-) All the composers you listed are fantastic. Spare us the Purists!
ReplyDeleteSome great clips here Doug...I had a bit of a 'thing' for Rita Tushingham when I was a lad. They were a wild crowd in 'Beat Girl' must have terrified the local Milk Bar patrons with all that cavorting.
ReplyDeleteI remember the John Barry Seven from when I was knee high to a grasshopper. They performed Hit and Miss which was the theme tune to a pop music show on television called Juke Box Jury in the 60s (which is where incidentally I first heard the Mothers of Invention whose single It Can't Happen Here that was voted an overwhelming 'miss' by the panel).
Anyway, this is it.
What a fun instrumental--reminds me of a boat trip I took on the Thames a good while ago. Thanks for sharing that one.
ReplyDeleteI had a bit of thing for Rita myself, after seeing her on television in the movie "A Taste of Honey" (1961) and later "The Girl With Green Eyes" (1964) with Peter Finch. Of course, she is quite diverting in "The Knack" as well...hard to take one's gaze off the amazing Rita's large eyes! Ms. Tushingham would been a major success in silent pictures as well, where almost all female stars of that era in Hollywood (Lillian Gish, Colleen Moore, Mae Murray, Garbo, et al) utilized above-average orbs to sell emotion in a scene.
Funny how some songs don't hit it off with those arbiters of taste. I know the Grateful Dead had trouble getting their music on the radio at least...their real initial success came not from radio programmers but grassroots fans.
And those Milk Bar rowdies in "Beat Girl" would have put the fright into me were I of that generation, no question ;-)
ReplyDeleteHere's a clip from the trailer for "Beat Girl" under its original UK title, "Wild for Kicks". Notice how the teen miscreants try to bring things to a head in some weird protest against British Rail. Now that's activism!
I love those jazz themes I go to the clubs and I like the way people can join in and jam if they can play.
ReplyDeleteJohn Barry's music scores are brilliant. We are extremely fortunate to have so many wonderful composers of film scores. There are times of course, when silence speaks volumes, but for the most part, try turning the music off and the impact of drama, romance and excitment are gone!
Great theme Doug, thank you!
Cassandra
Further proof I'd add that quality jazz-or other music--doesn't go away. It hibernates, perhaps, but is just waiting to be rediscovered. And I agree, Cassandra, you can't leave music out unless special circumstances.
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