I think we can all agree that, for the most part, movies are primarily a visual medium, right? Wrong!
Well no, right, but nearly as important as the images on the screen are the sounds accompanying them. From the early days of silent films being shown to the sounds of a piano being played by the hunchback who lived in the rafters and was secretly in love with the projectionist (as I understand the industry standard was) to the bumpingest soundtrack from “Fast and the Furious 14,” soundtracks have always had the capacity to make or break a film, regardless of how well filmed and acted it may be.
Of course, eventually the hunchbacks went on strike and somebody invented a way to pre-record music and play it along with the movie, allowing for films to have complex, tailored soundtracks that perfectly fit their mood and tone.
This was the dawn of the Hollywood composer, of the proud tradition that includes John Williams, also known as the guy who wrote the music for your childhood (He did the scores for “Star Wars,” “Indiana Jones,” “E.T.,” “Jaws,” “Schindler’s List” and “Jurassic Park,” among many others).Also, Elmer Bernstein, who provided the biblical scale score for “The Ten Commandments,” beautifully understated music for war films like “The Great Escape” and “The Bridge at Remagen,” and the theme music for basically every classic western film, the most famous of which is probably “The Magnificent Seven.” If you don’t think you know it, you do. Everybody knows it.
The spiritual successor to Bernstein, and my personal favorite composer, is Ennio Morricone, who frequently collaborated with director Sergio Leone to essentially create the Spaghetti Western film genre. His scores to films like “The Good The Bad and The Ugly,” “The Mission” and “Once Upon a Time In The West” were darker, grittier and more soulful than the bravado and fanfare of Bernstein’s westerns. They perfectly captured and reflected the feeling of each genre; traditional westerns having a very strong sense of heroes and villains, of classic morality and larger-than-life characters, while Leone’s works were much more realistic, with no clear cut good or bad characters, as a reaction to and rebellion against the very films that inspired them.
The tradition of movie composers is still very strong, with the torch currently being carried by artists like Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman. Even popular musicians are getting in on the gig, as Jonny Greenwood from Radiohead composed the scores for PT Anderson’s last two movies (each of which were great) and Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails won an Oscar for his work on “The Social Network.”
This art remains strong for a reason. The ability to get music custom made to fit a scene or character allows directors to get the exact effect they want when creating a film. (Director John Carpenter took this logic one step further by actually composing all of his own scores for films like “Halloween” and “The Thing,” with brilliantly chilling results.)
However, Hollywood had to graduate on to a new form of soundtrack eventually, and it did so in 1967 with “The Graduate.” (Hah, get it…graduate…Graduate…)
Widely considered the first film to use popular music as its soundtrack, “The Graduate” featured music by Simon and Garfunkel, including “Mrs. Robinson,” which was written specifically for the movie. So it was the first and one of the best, because Simon and Garfunkel, man. The use of contemporary music also perfectly complimented the movie’s theme of generational conflict, showing a departure from the older, ‘50s “plastics” generation, and helping to introduce the countercultural revolution of the late ‘60s to cinema.
Since then the pop movie soundtrack has been adapted to create moments spanning the entire range of emotions, from the tearjerking to the triumphant. And nobody does it better than Wes Anderson.
Honestly I could write this entire section about just “The Royal Tenebaums.” And I might. But really, the “Needle in the Hay” scene, in which (SPOILER ALERT) Richie attempts suicide is one of the most arresting, heart rending pieces of filmmaking I’ve ever seen, made even more poignant when you consider that the artist who recorded the song, Elliott Smith, committed suicide in real life. And then there’s the glorious intro, set to an orchestral version of The Beatles’ “Hey Jude.” And the scene with Margot getting off the bus…seriously, this movie does music and film working together better than anything else.
And Anderson doesn’t limit himself to pure pop soundtracks. The music for “The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou” consisted entirely of Portuguese language, acoustic covers of David Bowie songs by a Brazilian artist named Seu Jorge. It’s experimental, beautiful and exactly as awesome as it sounds. Really, Wes Anderson is the best. Go watch all his movies.
In continuing experiments with combining movies and music, some films have defied being classified as being either totally original or totally popular in their choice of music. The Irish film “Once” features music written by two contemporary artists who play fictionalized versions of themselves as the movie’s two leads, and “Across the Universe” is a filmed musical featuring a soundtrack of Beatles songs adapted and performed by the cast as part of the narrative. They each tie the movie directly to the music, integrating the story, filmmaking and soundtrack all into one in an exploration of the possibilities that will continue to present themselves as these two mediums continue to collide.
Do you have any glorious all-time favorite movie soundtracks? Have you encountered a music score that detracts from what is taking place on screen? Email Austin at wellens@wisc.edu and let him know what you’re thinking.
