How much Barry score is in this film? Specifically, whats the total running time of the complete score? How much does not appear on the Geffen album? Is the main title song a Barry original? Who has spotting notes for this film?
I recall reading that Geffen had originally planned separate score and song albums, so there must have been enough Barry to fill-out an LP.
Actually, the original plan was to release a double LP, but it was shelved. Barry's score is beautiful, and there's enough unreleased music to warrant a CD release.
Too bad it's locked up by Geffen. He be tight with these things. I personally thought the movie was a noble failure, excellent in so many ways, slipshod in so many others (too much cocaine, Mr. Evans)but Barry's score was very good.
I can't remember the exact length but there's quite a bit of score - quite dark and interesting too.
I believe I remember reading that Barry re-scored a lot of it because Coppola felt many of the cues were too 'symphonic'. You'll have to forgive me, however, my brain gets worse as I get older and sometimes plays tricks on me.
I was just wondering if there's a chance anything has changed regarding ownership of this score? The recent release of The Golden Child makes me feel there's some hope that one day Barry's score to this could get a release.
Is it a similar situation as to why Jerry Goldsmith's GREMLINS has never had a proper score release?
I was just wondering if there's a chance anything has changed regarding ownership of this score? The recent release of The Golden Child makes me feel there's some hope that one day Barry's score to this could get a release.
Is it a similar situation as to why Jerry Goldsmith's GREMLINS has never had a proper score release?
"There's barely 20 minutes of underscore on the film. And...no one seems to claim ownership of the full score or have elements. So all we could do was reissue the Geffen album, which is not too exciting."
I don't know any particulars but it was stated somewhere that THE COTTON CLUB was originally a much longer film that was cut down. True this could be said about most films but I believe that there was indeed a longer version shown...Thus, Barry might have scored that longer version.
I don't know any particulars but it was stated somewhere that THE COTTON CLUB was originally a much longer film that was cut down. True this could be said about most films but I believe that there was indeed a longer version shown...Thus, Barry might have scored that longer version.
Posted: Sep 13, 2019 - 8:34 AM By: John McMasters (Member)
From a Lionsgate Press Release:
LIONSGATE® TO THEATRICALLY RELEASE FRANCIS FORD COPPOLA’S NEWLY RECUTTHE COTTON CLUB ENCORE OCTOBER 11
The Film Will Screen at the 57th New York Film Festival October 5 Followed by a Q&A with Francis Ford Coppola and Special Guests
Arriving on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital December 10 from Lionsgate Featuring Never-Before-Seen Footage and Exclusive New Bonus Material
SANTA MONICA, CA (September 12, 2019) – A brand-new and timely cut of Francis Ford Coppola’s critically acclaimed 1930s period film The Cotton Club Encore will screen at this year’s New York Film Festival on October 5, release in select theaters on October 11, and will arrive on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital on December 10 featuring exclusive new bonus material from Lionsgate.
A new iteration of the 1984 release, the film features an all-star cast including Golden Globe® winner Richard Gere (2003, Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, Chicago), Tony Award® winner Gregory Hines (1992, Best Actor in a Musical, Jelly’s Last Jam), Academy Award® nominee Diane Lane (2003, Best Actress, Unfaithful), NAACP Image Award® nominee Lonette McKee (1999, Outstanding Actress in a Daytime Drama Series, “As the World Turns”), Golden Globe® nominee Bob Hoskins (2006, Best Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture, Mrs Henderson Presents), James Remar (TV’s “Dexter,” “Sex and the City”), Tony Award® nominee Maurice Hines (1986, Best Actor in a Musical, Uptown... It's Hot!), Academy Award® nominee Laurence Fishburne (1994, Best Actor, What's Love Got to Do with It), Academy Award® winner Nicolas Cage (1996, Best Actor, Leaving Las Vegas), Golden Globe® nominee Jennifer Grey (1988, Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Comedy or Musical, Dirty Dancing), Grammy Award® winner Tom Waits (2000, Best Contemporary Folk Album, “Mule Variations”), and more.
In this lavish, 1930s-era drama, Harlem’s legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide. Now, Francis Ford Coppola’s extraordinary film is brought to vivid new life in The Cotton Club Encore. Featuring never-before-seen scenes and musical sequences that deepen and enrich the storylines, this remastered and beautifully restored version represents Coppola’s fully realized vision of the film.
Though the public’s understanding of the film is an American crime drama centered around Richard Gere, Coppola meant for it to be a story of two main characters, one white and one black, navigating life in and around the Cotton Club with their families. However, back in 1984 during post-production, the film was condemned as too long, and according to some stakeholders as having "too many black people," and "too much tap dancing," Coppola was pressured to minimize Gregory Hines’ character and lose many musical numbers, thus eroding the historical portrayal of what the performances at the Cotton Club shows were really like.
Along with his team at American Zoetrope, Coppola set out to create an updated version that would more closely resemble the original intentions of the film. This new version of the film, shown only three times previously during the 2017 Telluride Film Festival, features additional scenes such as an extended Gregory Hines and Maurice Hines tap performance, Lonette McKee’s brilliant rendition of Ethel Waters’ “Stormy Weather,” Coppola’s originally envisioned ending, and more.
“I and my company American Zoetrope set about the daunting task to find the more than thirty minutes of lost negative, in some cases restoring it from old print material, and to restore, remix and allow this film to re-emerge in a new and worthy edition,” says Coppola. “This is THE COTTON CLUB ENCORE, the film the world should have seen despite the countless court cases, murder trial proceedings, and warring producers.”
When I read about this new expanded version, I had this horrible notion that Coppola would throw out the Barry score and substitute it with tracked-in music from his late father Carmine.
(Noticing how aurally similar David Shire's rejected Apocalypse Now score was to the Coppola/Coppola replacement, I can only imagine FFC heard Shire's version and said "I want this, but not as good")
When I read about this new expanded version, I had this horrible notion that Coppola would throw out the Barry score and substitute it with tracked-in music from his late father Carmine.
Either Francis or Talia said they felt Carmine winning the Oscar for Godfather II prolonged his life by years, and also that if he'd won again for the Godfather III song he might have kept on going (he died a month after that year's Oscars).
I'm imagining a new version of The Monkey's Paw...
So is this to be called "Cotton Club: Redux" or "Cotton Club: Final Cut?" I guess it depends on whether or not Coppola decides to tinker with it a little bit more in a few years. He's become as bad as Lucas with these re-edits of old films.
Since it's "The Cotton Club Encore", opening in LA at the Nuart on October 11, there's always room for additional cuts and releases, since there is always room for more encores.
So restored director's cut ... would that mean the tossed Ralph Burns score would be used instead? Coppola replaced another director and I don't know if Burns was working with the original director first.
I read the "Cotton Club" portion of Bob Wilbur's autobio, and he thought he was going to be the film's composer. But the powers wanted an established composer, so Barry came in. Wilbur said that he learned a lot working with Barry. Wilbur's recreations of Ellingtonia are pretty damn good.
