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My understanding was that bernstein was approached to do "LA Confidential" but was already committed to "Hoodlum"
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I can't see conceive of this with Bernstein's music. Or what approach he may have taken. It certainly wouldn't have had the staccato edginess that Goldsmith contributed. Still, I imagine he's have come up with something interesting.
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But the film is astonishing, isn't it? Jerry Goldsmith's accompaniment is perfect.
Very few films are perfect.
L.A. Confidential just might be.
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Posted: |
Jan 25, 2006 - 6:27 PM
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By: |
Dan Hobgood
(Member)
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Until recently, I had seen this movie only once--right after it got nominated for "Best Picture" in 1998. I always remembered being thrilled by it but had never had the urge to revisit it. A few weeks ago, though, I happened upon it on one of the premium channels to which I subscribe. Without much else to do at the time, I decided to relax and enjoy.
I was blown away. As much as I appreciated it before, I loved it even more this go-round. That was especially the case with respect to Jerry's score, which is utterly pitch-perfect in the movie. Edgy yet melodic; nostalgic yet contemporary; eerie yet romantic; scary yet, ultimately, triumphant.
While I wouldn't want to be without the scores Jerry wrote for movies that didn't deserve his talents, it's a shame some more sophisticated projects didn't come his way--as L.A. Confidential attests.
Dan
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Yea! And you can get the score for five bucks!
And that's just what it's worth!
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I'm frankly surprised by some of the above assessments of CONFIDENTIAL vs. CHINATOWN, both film and score.
First, I quite agree about Bernstein's Fifties fitness for L.A.C. and a number of other movies he DID score. Too bad Bernstein AND Goldsmith didn't get more films of L.A.C.'s caliber to score in the latter decades of their respective careers.
CHINATOWN, of course, WAS a last-minute replacement score for Goldsmith, which makes its outstanding quality all the more remarkable. I've enjoyed listening to Goldsmith's L.A.C. score, but so far it's never haunted me the way his CHINATOWN music does, nor do I feel L.A.C. can work as pure music away from the film nearly as well as CHINATOWN has proved itself to do, especially last year in Disney Hall conducted by David Newman. You may prefer listening to L.A.C. for whatever reasons, but I strongly doubt that it should be considered a substantially better score than its predecessor.
As for the films, I'm REALLY dumbfounded at the stated preferences for L.A.C. over the Towne/Polanski masterpiece. I enjoyed the hell out of L.A.C. on the big screen, but I feel that it all fell apart in the home stretch with that unlikely happy Hollywood ending, so out of keeping with all that had gone before. Whereas, CHINATOWN on the big screen... well, as I said about the score, it haunts me still. (One reason being: it's a textbook example of the rare instance when the RIGHT ending was used against all odds and all big studio tendencies.)
IMHO, of course.
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Posted: |
Jan 25, 2006 - 8:14 PM
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By: |
Thor
(Member)
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As for the films, I'm REALLY dumbfounded at the stated preferences for L.A.C. over the Towne/Polanski masterpiece. I enjoyed the hell out of L.A.C. on the big screen, but I feel that it all fell apart in the home stretch with that unlikely happy Hollywood ending, so out of keeping with all that had gone before. Whereas, CHINATOWN on the big screen... well, as I said about the score, it haunts me still. (One reason being: it's a textbook example of the rare instance when the RIGHT ending was used against all odds and all big studio tendencies.)
You are, of course, right. CHINATOWN is a vastly better film. But LA CONFIDENTIAL remains refreshingly unsentimental for the most part, and is rare example of a contemporary film noir working well.
NP: THE KILLING FIELDS (Oldfield)
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