Here is something you don't see everyday in Cinerama!
TCM Film Festival website:
HOW THE WEST WAS WON(1962)On it's 50th anniversary, the panorama of the American West is presented in its glory with a rare presentation the Cinerama print of this epic adventure.
I know Newman won 9 Oscars, but how he didn't win for this score is beyond me. A triumph!
Perhaps it was Newman's use of folk tunes (particularly in the predominant Overture and Entr'Acte) and his adaptation of "Greensleeves" into the "Home In the Meadow" theme that ultimately worked against him. I could make a case for any of the nominated scores that year: CLEOPATRA; 55 DAYS AT PEKING; IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD MAD WORLD; even the winner TOM JONES (OK, maybe not that one).
I know Newman won 9 Oscars, but how he didn't win for this score is beyond me. A triumph!
Perhaps it was Newman's use of folk tunes (particularly in the predominant Overture and Entr'Acte) and his adaptation of "Greensleeves" into the "Home In the Meadow" theme that ultimately worked against him. I could make a case for any of the nominated scores that year: CLEOPATRA; 55 DAYS AT PEKING; IT'S A MAD, MAD, MAD MAD WORLD; even the winner TOM JONES (OK, maybe not that one).
Actually 1963 was a great year for big symphonic scores. Besides those nominees there was THE GREAT ESCAPE, JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS, THE PRIZE, THE VIPS and THE CARDINAL. Frankly, in retrospect, TOM JONES stands out amongst them because it is the opposite; small, low budget, raucous and irreverent. It probably was John Addison's best work. It added immensely to the film. So despite Alfred Newman's classic is THE film score that introduced me to collecting and I personally would have voted for it, I really don't have much of a problem that TOM JONES won.
imo...easily the greatest score ever. in its cinerama presentation.....nothing ever compared. a turning point in my life when i first viewed it at the warner's cinerama in hollywood.
I have to admit I have tended to downplay this score most of my life. Alfred Newman's music to this film made me a score lover for life. But over the years I have seen practically every major score become beloved because IT introduced someone to film music. That emotional connection I figured didn't make me objective. And indeed during the years following it's release I found HOW THE WEST WAS WON on few best score lists. John Morgan once said "yuck" when I brought it up. And many another older collector dismissed it as a "compilation" score. In other words it incorporated many traditional tunes, like GONE WITH THE WIND to tell it's story. So my maintaining it had more original writing than many another regular score bore little weight. Of course one thing that should have been factored in immediately is the medium HOW THE WEST WAS WON was shot in, Cinerama, became antiquated very soon and all the other ways to see it (regular theaters, TV, video) always made it look just plain odd.
Despite all this I have found something odder after all these years. This score has remained, not just alive, but gained a slow but steady following. Especially among the music makers themselves. In the last week I saw a film 1M1: HOLLYWOOD HORNS OF THE GOLDEN AGE where it is referenced as a key influence on many a horn player AND at the California Philharmonic concert "Cowboys and Copland" conductor Victor Vener introduced it as THE influence on him as a kid. These are not isolated instances. I've heard many a similar story over the years. Los Angeles Philharmonic long time conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen chose it as the big finale on movie night of THE opening of Disney Hall! AFI placed it in their top 25 scores chosen by over 500 composers, musicians, film artists, critics and historians. And furthermore when I told my HOW THE WEST WAS WON story to Peter Hackman ("My generation doesn't like westerns") and played it in my car he promptly had me take him to Amoeba and bought a copy. Later he was extremely miffed when there were people talking over it at the Hollywood Bowl.
Somehow I think this score has, as George Stevens Jr. says, stood the test of time. I will no longer relegate it to my "personal favorite list", but place it among the very best scores ever written. At this point I would like to point out the film HOW THE WEST WAS WON was done in 5 segments showing various aspects of the western conquests, and in his main title Alfred Newman shifts gears at least 5 times giving you a musical preview of what is to come. Is that ingenious or what? Whew!
This is why I first bought a Blu-ray player, to see it in the Smilebox format, & it looks & sounds just great. Warner did a bang-up job with this, the picture is glorious, not blue or yellow, but just about perfect.
John Morgan once said "yuck" when I brought it up.
You're kidding! He must never have experienced the thrilling score in its initial stereophonic Cinerama roadshow engagement.
Newman and Darby poured their hearts and souls into it. Their collaboration is undoubtedly the most spirited and joyful Americana film score ever recorded, and its Prelude the most breath-taking and exhilarating Main Title music ever recorded. How MGM Records producer Jesse Kay had the criminal audacity to butcher it down to 90 seconds on the original LP is unfathomable.
John Morgan once said "yuck" when I brought it up.
You're kidding! He must never have experienced the thrilling score in its initial stereophonic Cinerama roadshow engagement.
Newman and Darby poured their hearts and souls into it. Their collaboration is undoubtedly the most spirited and joyful Americana film score ever recorded, and its Prelude the most breath-taking and exhilarating Main Title music ever recorded. How MGM Records producer Jesse Kay had the criminal audacity to butcher it down to 90 seconds on the original LP is unfathomable.
That had to be in my drinking days because I love HTWWW. I can't believe I would ever say that. Maybe I was thinking of DR. ZHIVAGO. The composition, performance, delivery is among the best sounding soundtracks I have ever heard. I also like Tiomkin a lot, but I am happy he had to bow out and Newman scored it.
John Morgan once said "yuck" when I brought it up.
You're kidding! He must never have experienced the thrilling score in its initial stereophonic Cinerama roadshow engagement.
Newman and Darby poured their hearts and souls into it. Their collaboration is undoubtedly the most spirited and joyful Americana film score ever recorded, and its Prelude the most breath-taking and exhilarating Main Title music ever recorded. How MGM Records producer Jesse Kay had the criminal audacity to butcher it down to 90 seconds on the original LP is unfathomable.
That had to be in my drinking days because I love HTWWW. I can't believe I would ever say that. Maybe I was thinking of DR. ZHIVAGO. The composition, performance, delivery is among the best sounding soundtracks I have ever heard. I also like Tiomkin a lot, but I am happy he had to bow out and Newman scored it.
Yes! Terrific! You did say it ( a long time ago in a galaxy far far away) and my heart sunk. I didn't bother to follow-up but maybe you got it confused with something else. But now that comment was all wrong makes me even happier! My beloved score gets more praise from an expert in the field. Thanks, John!
To those who live in the LA area you owe it to yourselves to seek out the yearly Cinerama showings at The Dome. This theatre was quickly built for the single strip Ultra-Panavision 70mm process for Mad Word in 1963. In the last decade or so it was refurbished and included the ability to finally show 3 strip Cinerama. I first went there for a showing of This Is Cinerama (had never seen it) - and at the end they had real Cinerama previews for HTWWW. At the end of that the Projectionist came down the aisle and said - "you've stayed this long - would you like to come up to the booth, visit us and sign a poster". Well, yeah! They were reloading for the next showing and were all so very nice. To those who are "techies" - it takes 3 projectionists plus one more for the 7 track 35MM sound machine to all run perfectly in sync. And there is one more as "coordinator". That's 5. Not what runs in your local digital cinema!
When the magnificent Alfred Newman/Ken Darby Overture concludes the huge Cinerama screen opens up to what I think is one of the most magnificent Main Titles ever done. The restored print(s) are in remarkable shape considering the age - one of only 2 non-travelogue Cinerama films ever done. It is thrilling to hear in this wonderful venue - the 1963 sound rivals anything you could hear in a current IMAX theatre. And - it is always funny to watch the projectionists adjust the screen alignment during the Main Titles - it always seems to be that pesky left screen that has a problem!
I first went there for a showing of This Is Cinerama (had never seen it) - and at the end they had real Cinerama previews for HTWWW.
This seems to be the original preview, alas, without Newman's magnificent score:
Even some deleted scenes were included, such as the "Celebration" at 2:23 with Lee J. Cobb and townsmen giving George Peppard and his family a sendoff.
Not to take away from Newman, but given the talent and output of his contemporaries over the years, NINE Oscars seems excessive. The 63 Oscar should have gone to perennial bridesmaid Alex North.
Not to take away from Newman, but given the talent and output of his contemporaries over the years, NINE Oscars seems excessive. The 63 Oscar should have gone to perennial bridesmaid Alex North.
I'm happy that John Addison won it, but really the Oscars mean less than nothing. One for Bernard Herrmann, one for Elmer Bernstein, one for Jerry Goldsmith & just an honorary one for Ennio Morricone tells you the story.
Not to take away from Newman, but given the talent and output of his contemporaries over the years, NINE Oscars seems excessive. The 63 Oscar should have gone to perennial bridesmaid Alex North.
Nine Oscars was not even REMOTELY indicative of his worth.
That only 2 of them were for original score is ludicrous given the exemplary work he did in films. And I mean EXEMPLARY.
Scores that weren't even nominated and were far and away the best of their year: "The Robe" (1953) and "The Egyptian" (1954.
In 1958, Andre Previn won the Oscar for "Gigi"....at that time, the composers of the original score were not eligible because original musicals could only be nominated for adaptation. For my money, Alfred Newman's "South Pacific" was head-and-shoulders above "Gigi" as an adaptation score.
In 1963, "How the West Was Won", for me, was far and away that year's best score. "Cleopatra" was second best. "Tom Jones" was excellent, of course, but not the year's best IMO.
In 1970, Jerry Goldsmith should have been handed his first Oscar for "Patton". Next should have been "Airport". That "Love Story" won is one of those what-were-they-thinking wins that devalue the Oscar as a reward for superior work.
