John Williams in Ennio Morricone's documentary

[Aliandra 90]

I thought that I would post this here. John Williams appears in this new trailer for the upcoming Ennio Morricone documentary:

 

 

[Thor 7,518]

Yup, I know.

 

I'm patiently waiting for this film to be picked up by some Norwegian distributor, or get some kind of streaming option down the line. I have colleagues who saw it in Venice last year and were impressed, and they're not even hardcore film music fans. So that bodes well.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

That's the ONLY way to get JW fans to watch a doc. about EM!😅

 

Thanks , Thor.

I was hoping they wouldn't use OUTIA in the trailer but at least

they initially used OUTIW.

[Luke Skywalker 1,795]

it's just me or does Clint Eastwood voice sound a little like john Williams? I though he was speaking and then they showed Eastwood.

[badbu 123]

and zimmer 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

Nice that they played It Couldn't Happen Here 

Am I the only person in the whole wide world who thinks that THE MISSION is the most overrated score, ever?

I must have ice in my veins, because this score does absolutely nothing, for me.

[Thor 7,518]

I don't think it's overrated, no. But don't you think your reaction may have something to do with the fact that it's overplayed over the years (especially "Gabriel's Oboe"), and become one of those evergreens?

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

Indeed, @Thor. That and the #la...la...la la la la...la la la la...la la la la# chorus.

There's a lot of Morricone that moves the shit out of me: THE THING (), THE UNTOUCHABLES, ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA, ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST, THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, THE HATEFUL 8. Heck, I even like the sheer wackiness of EXORCIST II, but THE MISSION simply leaves me cold.

[GerateWohl 4,371]

 

I confess, sometimes my impression with Morricone music is, that I feel, he wants to move me too much, it is sometimes a little over the top for me. Not always, but sometimes. Once upon a Time in America for example or The Legend of 1900. Then it doesn't work for me as intended. But it never leaves me cold.

 

But probably it is not a matter of the music, but a matter of the movies. Because they gave me the same feeling.

 

 

[Thor 7,518]

I have a different feeling. It's true that he has many tunes are beautiful through and through, but one of his trademarks is actually breaking up the beauty with some oddball instrument, beat change or other things -- like a verfremdungseffect. I've always found that both fascinating and a bit irritating sometimes (in cases where I just want to hear the cue "purely").

 

In fact, that's true of THE MISSION too. Certainly beautiful, but also with bursts of dissonance and strange directions at times. I had a copied cassette of it that I listened to endlessly in the 90s. Thankfully, I now play it very, very rarely, so as to keep it vibrant in my appreciation. Overexposure is a dangerous thing, and can lead to the kind of soured relationship that NOF described above. I have it the same way with other indelible soundtracks in my collection, be it JURASSIC PARK or STAR WARS or whatever. I play them very rarely these days, as they're all so ingrained into my musical DNA.

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

43 minutes ago, Thor said:

I have a different feeling. It's true that he - like a  relationship that NOF described above.

"NOF"? "NOF"???!!!!!

Is that all I am??!!! The cheek of it!

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

2 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

 

I confess, sometimes my impression with Morricone music is, that I feel, he wants to move me too much, it is sometimes a little over the top for me. Not always, but sometimes. Once upon a Time in America for example or The Legend of 1900. Then it doesn't work for me as intended. But it never leaves me cold.

 

But probably it is not a matter of the music, but a matter of the movies. Because they gave me the same feeling.

 

 

 

To me it's the complete opposite of what you describe. I find that -most of- his music is so honest, so poignant and more often than not, simple on a Mozart level. What I mean by this is that, a lot of times, Morricone writes for just a group of instruments and it all sounds so simple and effortless... It's pure magic and it rocks me to my core.

[Thor 7,518]

1 hour ago, Naïve Old Fart said:

"NOF"? "NOF"???!!!!!

Is that all I am??!!! The cheek of it!

 

Was never comfortable with Naive Old Fart.  But I can go back to Richard. Alternatively Rich? Rick? Ricky?

[Jurassic Shark 12,083]

Rickey!

 

23 hours ago, Aliandra said:

I thought that I would post this here. John Williams appears in this new trailer for the upcoming Ennio Morricone documentary:

 

 

 

Such a hoarder.

[Edmilson 7,470]

23 minutes ago, Thor said:

Alternatively Rich? Rick? Ricky?

Dick.

[Positivatee 327]

I feel great pleasure searching the animated gif menu for the word "dick." it's mostly NSFW but it's fun. 

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

38 minutes ago, Thor said:

 

Was never comfortable with Naive Old Fart.  But I can go back to Richard. Alternatively Rich? Rick? Ricky?

I don't mind, but, for personal reasons, please do no call me Ricky.

[Positivatee 327]

Ricky's a fine name. So fine, it blows my mind. 

[bruce marshall 1,315]

THE MISSION is that rarity: a fantastic soundtrack album but not as powerful in the film.

Part of that is the themes play in full on the ost. Plus, it's a decent film but not as good as the score.

For me, it never wears out its welcome.

Just beautiful music

7 hours ago, GerateWohl said:

 

I confess, sometimes my impression with Morricone music is, that I feel, he wants to move me too much, it is sometimes a little over the top for me. Not always, but sometimes. Once upon a Time in America for example or The Legend of 1900. Then it doesn't work for me as intended. But it never leaves me cold.

 

But probably it is not a matter of the music, but a matter of the movies. Because they gave me the same feeling.

 

 

He wrote ALOT of scores in that style late in his career.

I call that  his " The Legend of Cinema in America " period.

Not a fan of these scores.

Sentimental and, as you said, trying to hard to move the listener

[artguy360 1,844]

I find Morricone's scores, though different in sound, to have the same musical "directness" JW often talks about as necessary to film music and something he strives for. I think both understand the need to speak plainly and directly with their music when composing for films.

[bruce marshall 1,315]

Weird you should use the word " plainly".

One of ttheworst aaspects of Morricone later career  is his irritable habit of dividing the strings, composing different lines, and smothering the main melody ( STATE OF GRACE etc)

You can compare this technique on EXORCIST II where two versions of Reagan's Theme" exist.

The first, unadorned  version is beautiful, the second not so much.

[LaloCoyoacan 46]

When will this doc get a US release now that it is on UK cinemas?

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

17 minutes ago, LaloCoyoacan said:

When will this doc get a US release now that it is on UK cinemas?

 

No US dates yet, but here are legal ways to stream it:

 

https://dogwoof.com/ennio

[LaloCoyoacan 46]

But you must be in the UK

[Naïve Old Fart 9,551]

On 04/01/2022 at 11:39 PM, bruce marshall said:

THE MISSION is that rarity: a fantastic soundtrack album but not as powerful in the film.

Part of that is the themes play in full on the ost. Plus, it's a decent film but not as good as the score.

For me, it never wears out its welcome.

Just beautiful music

He wrote ALOT of scores in that style late in his career.

I call that  his " The Legend of Cinema in America " period.

Not a fan of these scores.

Sentimental and, as you said, trying to hard to move the listener

I don't know. For some reason, his score for THE MISSION is the one piece of his work which rubs me the wrong way. I can't explain it. I have no affinity for that score, whatsoever. It leaves me completely cold.

[publicist 4,643]

'Mission' is a great amalgam of a score, european style, and a wake-up call to Hollywood: James Horner had a kind of epiphany when he first saw it and voted for Morricone over himself in 1986's Academy Awards. From that, scores like 'Glory' sprung and probably a baker's dozen of now-famous Zimmer's.

 

The recipe: to wed musical influences across epochs and continents in a broad and eclectic way less dogmatic than the usual Hollywood music narratives dictated up to that point. It's influence can't be overstated, though Morricone did this score in the early 70's already, but back then, it wasn't exportable.

[Aliandra 90]

.

[Jurassic Shark 12,083]

.

[Aliandra 90]

I am watching it at the moment, it is good, I have about an hour of it left before I have seen the entire thing.

 

John Williams: "Very few composers have what Ennio Morricone has, which is an instinct for what is going to be appropriate in a scene, and yet at the same time when you hear his music you know it is Ennio".

 

If I had to guess, this is the only time that Williams says something in the entire documentary, but we will see.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thor 7,518]

I'd like to see this for the first time in the cinema, so I'll wait a few months until it premieres over here.

[Aliandra 90]

Williams actually appears four times in the documentary, not just once.

 

The second time Williams says this: "The academy after many years felt that he should have an Oscar for all of his lifetime work. So they presented him an Oscar, which was wonderful".

 

And shortly after Williams says this: "And I think the assumption was that at that age, he had probably finished his career. But big surprise, he went on and continued to work".

 

Finally, Williams reflects on Morricone's legacy and says this: "200 years from now people can talk about Ennio. I would rather say that Ennio is a great composer and a great man because he belongs to the period that he lives in now". 

 

 

I think it is a pretty good quick overview of his career, even if I would have loved to hear something about Marco Polo and The Secret of the Sahara - two favorite scores of mine that weren't even mentioned.

[Jay 37,372]

5 hours ago, Aliandra said:

I just found a link where you can stream the entire documentary for free: [edit]

 

I'm going to watch it soon.

 

I'm assuming this is an illegal site streaming this movie and we don't allow links to such places here

[Aliandra 90]

I have removed the link.

[Tom 4,670]

That picture has future "Caption" contest written all over it.  

[Thor 7,518]

1 hour ago, Tom said:

That picture has future "Caption" contest written all over it.  

 

We kinda did the Morricone/Williams already. Twice.

[Marian Schedenig 8,207]

46 minutes ago, Thor said:

We kinda did the Morricone/Williams already. Twice.

 

No, there is another…

[Muad'Dib 1,802]

Where is the picture from, btw?

[Bespin 8,484]

6 hours ago, Aliandra said:

 

"Wait, I've set the timer, it'll work this time! " - John Williams

[Tom Guernsey 2,286]

On 27/04/2022 at 3:47 PM, Aliandra said:

I think it is a pretty good quick overview of his career, even if I would have loved to hear something about Marco Polo and The Secret of the Sahara - two favorite scores of mine that weren't even mentioned.

I am part way through watching it and loving it so far (I will write something a bit more in the official EM thread for anyone interested) but I noticed your comment about the documentary not featuring those two scores - agree, they are great, but Morricone wrote soooooo much, it was essentially inevitable they'd miss at least one or two favourites of every fan of his music! However, it reminded me that during the section about how John Huston wanted him to score The Bible where RCA wouldn't release EM from his contract to do so. they played the opening scenes with what was called a "demo" for The Bible before RCA prohibited his further involvement. However, I'm 99% sure is The Golden Door from Secret of the Sahara. I assume he just repurposed this track for SotS and the recording they played is that actual track from SotS (unless a full orchestral demo was produced, but this seems unlikely, if not impossible) to show how it might have worked over the opening sequence (bloody marvellous I would say, shame RCA didn't play ball). Can anyone verify this?!