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Posted: |
Oct 6, 2000 - 11:52 PM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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A few weeks ago I was listening to Rosenman's "Hospital Chase" fron ST4 when I thought the opening sounded vaguely similar to a piece of symphonic Western music that I've been hearing all my life. Figured it was from a Copland-like work or something. Well, earlier this week I got a video of The Big Country from the library; had an H Rocco bout of insomnia night-last so I put it on.All it took were the first few notes in the first few seconds to make feel like a total jackass. So this is the "Western symphony" I've been hearing all my life! I had never seen this flick before but the Jerome Moross score has been praised to the hilt here and everywhere and I finally figured I ought to watch/listen. Do I feel like a total neophyte. This indeed is a great one. Oh, is it wonderful. Gonna have to re-read the passages about Moross in the Herrmann bio; recall them being a pair of mutually cynical wiseass buddies. Anyway, I'm glad to have both finally solved the mystery and to have partaken of the flick & score for the first time. I'm half-way through; Jean Simmons has just agreed to sell the place to Gregory Peck. In the words of Sam Wainwright, HEE-HAW!
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Seeing The Big Country on AMC made me into an instant Jerome Moross fan!The Big Country is an amazing film score. Apparently, Silva is recording a follow-up album to their wonderful collection "The Valley of the Gwangi."
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JEFFERSON!I can hardly BELIEVE that you & I have known each other for so long and The Big Country has NEVER been mentioned! WHAT A FLICK! One of William Wyler's (BEN-HUR) greatest, and truly one of the cinema's most memorable Westerns! BURL IVES won his Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (1958) for this one! Jerome Moross SHOULD HAVE WON the Oscar for this one...except that Dimitri Tiomkin won that year for The Old Man And The Sea. Man, it's time for you to spring for Cable TV! Turner Classic Movies shows The Big Country in WideScreen! But I guess that I'll have to tape it for you now. I am your enabler. You will never have to spend a dime on Cable TV as long as I tape The Three Stooges for you... Dickinson
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Posted: |
Oct 7, 2000 - 9:54 AM
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By: |
PeterD
(Member)
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Another Moross western score you might want to get is "The Proud Rebel" -- quieter than "The Big Country," but very nice. In fact, I remember reading somewhere that it was Moross's "Proud Rebel" score that got him the job scoring "The Big Country."I remember my disappointment, years and years ago, listening to the original "Big Country" LP and waiting for the secondary action theme that Joan mentioned to show up, only to realize that it wasn't included on the LP! Fortunately, this was rectified in the Silva re-recording by Tony Bremner. I believe there's also a monaural CD of the entire score from the original tracks.
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Posted: |
Oct 8, 2000 - 12:59 AM
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By: |
mgh
(Member)
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The complete score of The Big Country is available as is The Proud Rebel. I think you can get them both from Screen Archives.
And the cue when Burl Ives rides out alone and Charleton Heston, then the other men join him is a stunning piece of music.
There are other great scores by Moross:
The Jayhawkers--another western
Rachel, Rachel--a very soft quiet score
Hail, Hero--quiet Americana
The Adventures of Huck Finn--an Americana "outdoor" score.But I would disagree that it is the greatest western score. It is certainly one of the greatest, but I'm not sure one can pick "the greatest" because there are also: The Magnificent Seven
Rio Conchos
The Cowboys
Lonely Are the Brave
The Red Pony (Copland) I just wanted to add that Moross's Symphony No.1, The Music From the Ballet The Last Judgement, and Theme and Variations on a Waltz are also available on Koch Classics 37188-2 H1. They are wonderful works and much like his film music.
[This message has been edited by mgh (edited 09 October 2000).]
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Posted: |
Oct 9, 2000 - 10:10 AM
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By: |
Dana Wilcox
(Member)
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Moross (who had already written a load of music by that time) was asked to write a theme for the tv series, Wagon Train. The theme music he produced was terrific, but he soon learned that it was note for note the same as a theme he'd written for the Jeff Chandler film, The Jayhawkers. After some negotiation between studios, the theme was kept, and was one of the most memorable tv themes ever.Long story short -- if you want to hear some music from The Jayhawkers, pick up the TVT anthology that has the theme from Wagon Train on it.
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I have both scores, Tiomkin score to The Old Man and the Sea is very sweeping and quite personnal at times. While Moross score to The Big Country is big and loud and sets up the whole film. I like both, but if I had to chose one it would be Jerome Moross. But by a very small margin. I also beleive that Tiomkin had been sick at the first of the year, and had that going into the voting.
I beleive that most people thought that Moross would win, but like I really thought that John Williams was going to win for Superman in 1978, but no those academy members with cotton stuck in their ears chose Midnight Express, ok film score watchers hum a few bars of that Oscar winning soundtrack!!! I did not think so.
I was really shock and amazed also in 1980, when that dreadful and dreary score to Fame won over John Williams The Empire Strikes Back, ok film score watchers hum a few bars of Fame for me, I did not think so.
I was also shocked and amazed when Cosmos, Sorry, I mean Chariots of Fire won best score over John Williams Raiders of the Lost and Dave Grusin On Golden Pond or even Alex Norths Dragonslayer. I know that you film score watchers can hum a few bars of Cosmos, I mean Chariots of Fire. The Theme won best score over Raiders.
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Posted: |
Oct 11, 2000 - 3:32 AM
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By: |
Howard L
(Member)
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You guys are 100% spot on. Damn, that Wyler was one helluva director alright. And the I paid special attention to the music in the Heston-joins-Bickford scene. Started off with slow, "swaying" chords and eventually erupted into a triumphant gallop. I heard a vague similarity to what I believe is a Bach piece. Am going to try to track down the title. And oh, the opening credits music is indeed irresistible. It's the type of cue that instantly makes you want to go out and get the whole soundtrack with no need to go on further.
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Posted: |
Jun 20, 2001 - 3:50 AM
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By: |
LRobHubbard
(Member)
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That's the original Screen Archives release of the studio tracks - by all means, hold on to it!!THE JAYHAWKERS is available in suite form on Silva's new Moross re-recording, THE CARDINAL - which also features suites from THE PROUD REBEL, SEVEN WONDERS OF THE WORLD and two early Moross scores -- it's as good as Silva's first Moross release and should now be in stores. Screen Archives still has the original studio tracks from THE PROUD REBEL and THE BIG COUNTRY (minus oversized booklet in the original edition) available.
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The Valley Of Gwangi seemed to have been cursed from the beginning. It began its life as a Willis O'Brien project that never saw the light of day back in the 40's, and so Ray Harryhausen & Charles Schneer resurrected it in the late 60's. It began at Columbia Pictures, where H & S had produced most of their body of work. Due to administrative changes at Columbia, Gwangi wound up being shuffled over to Warner Bros., who didn't really want it, and refused to fork over the post-production cash to finish the film. Hence, the incredibly sloppy main title sequence (utilizing shots of Harryhausen's pencil sketches to save money). On top of all that, Harryhausen experienced a technical nightmare that had never before occurred: damaged film stock. He animated a large portion of the complex dinosaur footage using film stock that nobody knew was damaged. Because of this, Gwangi changes color throughout the film, from brown to bright blue to green. This was devastating to Harryhausen, who realized the problem when viewing his animated footage for the very first time. He refers to Gwangi as "that wretched film".
I still enjoy it immensely, and I agree that it features some of Ray's very finest animated sequences.
And of course, Jerome Moross's magnificent music elevates it significantly.
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I dunno. I've stumbled across this picture a couple of times lately, and it just doesn't hold up. Take the scene where they capture the dinosaur. Gwangi is fighting a triceratops, but he never seems to accomplish anything but take a few little nips out of the brute's back. Yet soon the obliging creature rolls over dead. Compare with the awsome combat of King Kong and the T. Rex.During the same scene the cowboys are simply milling around, circling their horses in the background. We see neither panicky flight nor a heroic charge--just aimless prancing. And while I enjoy Moross's tunes, he supplies neither the awe nor the horror that might elevate this scene. And, yes, I was wondering about that blue dinosaur. Thanks for the explanation.
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