Time to Fight the Power

Our political leaders need a quick block of instruction in the concept of the chain of command. It goes like this, in descending order of rank:

#1: Us Citizens.

#2: You elected officials.

I really prefer writing long pieces on why Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin and Johnny Rotten rule. It’s more fun to talk about how everything in popular culture that everyone else likes actually sucks, and I’m even going to provide some inspirational music selections below. But duty calls. Right now, a bunch of people whose salaries you and I pay and who work for us are telling us to shut up and do as we’re told.

That’s just not gonna happen. (more…)

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Tags: Ballad of the Green Berets, Congress, constitution, Elmer Bernstein, first amendment
Posted Aug 17th 2009 at 5:15 am in Entertainment, Politics | 20289472 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/kschlichter/2009/08/17/time-to-fight-the-power/Time+to+Fight+the+Power2009-08-17+12%3A15%3A40Kurt+Schlichter

Top 5: Western Themes

Can you remember the last piece of film score that made you want to jump into the screen and join in on the action — that made you want to destroy an arch-villain’s volcano lair or swing into ship full of enemy pirates…? But of all the genres, there’s nothing quite like a  Big Western Score. The best are rousing, moody, flavorful… They drive a sense of danger and adventure into your innards and make you long to be a cowboy, which is no small achievement for someone like me who would rather spend a night in jail than outdoors.

Here are my 5 favorites in all their YouTube glory.

1. Dimitri Tomkin – Red River (1949): Sweeping, epic, majestic and impossible to believe never nominated for an Oscar. An important part of scoring is deciding where to put the music and ”Red River” has some of the best spotting choices I’ve ever seen. It kicks in precisely when it should, not just to enhance a moment, but also to change moods and start fresh. Watch the scene again where John Wayne (who’s absolutely brilliant in his most unsympathetic role) tells Montgomery Clift (every bit as good as Wayne) he’s gonna kill him. This is “the” moment in the film and you expect dark, melodramatic music, but when Clift walks away and gets on his horse the score soars with adventure completely changing the mood and stripping the melodrama from the moment. (more…)

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Tags: Dimitri Tomkin, Elmer Bernstein, Ennio Morricone, For a Few Dollars More, Howard Hawks
Posted Apr 29th 2009 at 6:12 pm in Top 5 | 119870121 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/04/29/top-5-western-themes/Top+5%3A+Western+Themes2009-04-30+01%3A12%3A05John+Nolte

Maurice Jarre Has Died

Tough choice between this and “Dr. Zhivago” (1965). Maurice Jarre won well-deserved Oscars for both (and “A Passage To India” in 1984). Other memorable, hummable, off-the-top-of-my-head favorites include “The Train” (1964), “The Professionals” (1966) and ”Witness” (1985).

When you mix sound for a film – score, effects, dialogue – not taking the audience out of the story is a very difficult part of the job and just one way to begin to appreciate the talent and craftsmanship required to do what Jarre did; to craft lush, large, and rousing scores that not only don’t distract, but enhance everything on such an emotional level you can’t imagine the film without it. You don’t hear great film scores, you feel them, and as the above clip proves, Jarre’s best work didn’t need anything to accomplish this — not even the film.    (more…)

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Tags: Dimitri Tiomkin, Dr. Zhivago, Elmer Bernstein, Henry Mancini, Maurice Jarre
Posted Mar 30th 2009 at 6:53 pm in Entertainment, Video | 9330227 Commentshttp://bighollywood.breitbart.com/jjmnolte/2009/03/30/maurice-jarre-has-died/Maurice+Jarre+Has+Died2009-03-31+01%3A53%3A30John+Nolte