Early Williams 3: Daddy-O (1959)

[Thor 9,362]

Here's the opening theme from Williams' first feature film score:

http://www.celluloidtunes.net/non-website/daddyo.mp3

Pretty cool, eh?

[Incanus 5,890]

Very cool indeed Thor! Thanks again for sharing these golden oldies from JWs career. It definitely has that Man with the Golden Arm/Sweet Smell of Success type of groove going on. This is a side of JW he has rarely gotten to display in his later scores, jazzy and noirish.

Btw do you know what the movie Daddy-O is about?

[crocodile 9,724]

Karol

[Thor 9,362]

Very cool indeed Thor! Thanks again for sharing these golden oldies from JWs career. It definitely has that Man with the Golden Arm/Sweet Smell of Success type of groove going on. This is a side of JW he has rarely gotten to display in his later scores, jazzy and noirish.

Btw do you know what the movie Daddy-O is about?

Yes, it's a horrible B-film about a truck driver (played by Elvis wannabe Dick Cortino) who gets in trouble with the law, drug deals, hot chicks and fast cars. The plot is ridiculous and the editing (both sound and image) is laughable. In fact, it's so bad in all departments, it becomes campy and fun. Like an old Ed Wood film.

The theme above is the highlight of the score, IMO. The suspense/action tracks just seem like random noodling. But still -- I wish it got a proper release some day!

[Miguel Andrade 1,725]

... and this film is likable to be the best place to understand what continuity mistakes are!!!

It has so many of them

Still, if one approaches the film from a not so serious perspective, it's actually funny to see how a film can be that bad. In fact the only thing worth it, is the score.

I have the DVD and I recall a lengthy audio featurete with the producer... I don't recall anymore what he talked about, but I can hardly imagine it was anything good about the film itself

[crocodile 9,724]

It seems like you hear everything Williams ever composed and watched every film as well, Miguel.

Karol

[davros72 1]

I think it's time for this...

[Muad'Dib 2,059]

Awesome! Reminds me of Bernstein's The Man with the Golden Arm. Such a cool type of jazz

[Neimoidian 15]

Who would have thought back then that 52 years later people would be dying to hear at least a snippet from John Williams' new score.

[Incanus 5,890]

Who would have thought back then that 52 years later people would be dying to hear at least a snippet from John Williams' new score.

Yeah. He has come a long way from Daddy-O that's for sure.

[Maurizio 6,913]

Awesome! Reminds me of Bernstein's The Man with the Golden Arm. Such a cool type of jazz

Yes, it's kind of a take-off on Bernstein's seminal score.

[Thor 9,362]

Does anyone know how he got this gig? I know he was busy working in the studio orchestras and stuff, but what were the exact details leading up to his first feature film assignment? Why did the producer choose him? I've always been curious about that.

[chuck 155]

You could easily mistake this as an Elmer Bernstein score. Nice!

[LongTallJodie 76]

Daddy-O is legendary in some circles for being feature of Mystery Science Theater 3000. I was watching that episode once and almost did a spit-take when I saw Johnny's name! It's quite possibly the only redeeming feature of that film.

[Kendal_Ozzel 36]

The Daddy-O episode of MST3K is coming to DVD on July 28, 2015.

[Miguel Andrade 1,725]

This has been on DVD before. Can't really imagine who would care for it, besides for Williams involvement. It's really a bad film.

[Thor 9,362]

Terrible film indeed (just an excuse for Dick Contino to sell more records, which -- of course -- he didn't), but I prefer the actual film over the MST3K episode. For as bad as a film might be by, I don't want anyone to talk over it, whether in the theatre or at home watching. So I never really got the whole concept of MST3K, I'm afraid.

More interestingly, however, is that this was Williams' first composer assignment in LA, even before he signed a TV contract with Revue! Not many film composers make their debut with a feature, and THEN do TV. Usually, it's the other way around.