Best Score – Shout

Purpose of Best Score.

National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)

Starring: Peter Riegert, Tom Hulce, Verna Bloom, John Belushi, Bruce McGill, James Widdoes,  Kevin Bacon, Stephen Furst, John Vernon, Donald Sutherland

Screenplay by: Harold Ramis

Directed by: John Landis

Music: “Shout” by Otis Day and the Knights

In the most iconic frat film ever made as well as the one that began National Lampoon’s legend, the “Shout” scene from the toga party is probably the most memorable in the film. Performed by Otis Day and the Knights, the song and the film have become heavily associated with one another.  It’s a seamless incorporation of a popular song into a movie that feels neither hackneyed nor, like so many instances in which bands are crowbarred into films, bolted on.

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Any opinion expressed here is my own and not that of the firm which employs me.  Under no circumstances should writings or links on this website be taken as a solicitation for an investment or as investment advice.  These topics and commentaries are, whole and entire, for entertainment and discussion purposes only.

Best Score – Battle of the Crater

Purpose of Best Score.

Cold Mountain (2003)

Starring: Jude Law, Nicole Kidman, Renée Zellweger, Donald Sutherland, Brendan Gleeson, Ray Winstone, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kathy Baker, Natalie Portman, Jack White, Ethan Suplee, Charlie Hunnam, Giovanni Ribisi, Eileen Atkins, Melora Walters, James Gammon, Lucas Black, Cillian Murphy, James Rebhorn, Jena Malone

Screenplay by: Anthony Minghella and Charles Frazier (SW)

Directed by: Anthony Minghella

Music: “Idumea” written by Charles Wesley (1707) and Amzi Chapin (1812) based on a traditional melody, arranged by Tim Eriksen and performed by Sacred Harp Singers (as Sacred Harp Singers at Liberty Church);  “I Wish My Baby was Born” Traditional with additional lyrics by Anthony Minghella, arranged by Anthony Minghella and T-Bone Burnett (as Henry Burnett) and performed by Tim Eriksen, Riley Baugus, Ray Winstone

There are varying thoughts on this film, ranging from it being overlong and melodramatic to being a powerful love story mixed with a condemnation of war. It does display the horror and callousness of war as well as the untold excess of the every government against the liberty and persons of civilians (with the Conferderacy supposedly fighting against the tyranny of the yankees while being tyrants themselves).  Minghella was able to use not only folk music to set an unforgiving yet hopeful tone, but also used hymns to great effect even for the battle scene that commences the film.

Any opinion expressed here is my own and not that of the firm which employs me.  Under no circumstances should writings or links on this website be taken as a solicitation for an investment or as investment advice.  These topics and commentaries are, whole and entire, for entertainment and discussion purposes only.

Best Score – The Shower Scene

Purpose of Best Score.

Psycho (1960)

Starring: Anthony Perkins, John Anderson, Vera Miles, John McIntire, Janet Leigh, Martin Balsam, Lurene Tuttle, Vaughn Taylor

Screenplay by: Joseph Stefano and Robert Bloch (Source Writer)

Directed by: Alfred Hitchcock

Music: Original score by Bernard Hermann

In what is possibly the best horror film ever made and the gold standard for all slasher films, the shower scene set the standard for hack up murder. Alfred Hitchcock was always a genius about judicious use of music in his films, often preferring silence rather than a melodramatic score (a huge problem, especially in the 1950s and 60s, although it still persists today). However this scene’s shrill violin score (composed by the legendary Bernard Hermann) complements not only the pounding knife blows but Janet Leigh’s terrified screams and even the sickly squish of the blade sinking into Norman Bates’ victim. The scene is one of the most recognizable in film history and reputedly caused Leigh to be unable to shower for years afterward (i.e., she took baths instead). When asked if it was true that she doesn’t take showers: “It’s actually, honestly true. And not because of the shooting of it. It was the seeing of it. It never dawned on me how truly vulnerable we are. But that’s what [Alfred Hitchcock] did. A shower. A bird. All these things that are absolutely ordinary, he made extraordinary.”

Any opinion expressed here is my own and not that of the firm which employs me.  Under no circumstances should writings or links on this website be taken as a solicitation for an investment or as investment advice.  These topics and commentaries are, whole and entire, for entertainment and discussion purposes only.