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Post by steves on May 13, 2008 8:50:08 GMT -5
Not sure where's best for Film comments.....Never seen this before(!) & caught it on TV this afternoon.....All things considered,it actually didn't offend my historical head too much....whoever wrote it had at least some idea of the course of events........ Steve
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Post by bobdurham on May 13, 2008 10:08:50 GMT -5
This is one of my favorite Alamo movies. In my home town, there were two movie theaters across the street from each other -- one was showing Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier and the other was showing The Last Command at the same time. I didn't even know Command was about the Alamo -- fortunately, some of my friends in school had seen it and clued me in -- in time to see it before it left. Those were the days -- we went into the theater in the middle of the movie and stayed through the movie to see the beginning on the next showing. Only, with Davy Crockett and Last Command, I must have stayed there all day and watched them three or four times. Remember getting in trouble over Davy because I was late getting home for dinner.
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Post by Allen Wiener on May 13, 2008 11:16:55 GMT -5
I like "Last Command" too, although the dreary love story bogs it down in places. Notice the legendary "Iron Mistress" Bowie knife used in that and the "Davy Crockett" film. John Wayne once said that he thought they got better action in the battle scenes than he did. I believe the set for "Last Command" was built in Bracketville too. Also note similarities in the script with Wayne's "The Alamo." He originally wanted to do his film while still at Republic, but Herbert Yates kept jerking him around, so he ultimately made the film on his own, but Yates retained ownership of the oriignal script, which was used for "Last Command." Notable similarities are Bowie being injured in a fall from a horse outside the Alamo and Crockett blowing up the powder magazine.
There really was something special about going to the movies in those days that is lost forever with the advent of home video and on demand viewing. Seeing a new film at that time was really special and you never knew when, or if, you'd get to see it again. I recall badgering a friend to go with me on a miserable rainy night to see "Magnificent Seven" on its last night at our local theater. By the end of the night he was thanking me for badgering him.
AW
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Post by steves on May 14, 2008 7:53:54 GMT -5
John Wayne once said that he thought they got better action in the battle scenes than he did. I believe the set for "Last Command" was built in Bracketville too. Also note similarities in the script with Wayne's "The Alamo." He originally wanted to do his film while still at Republic, but Herbert Yates kept jerking him around, so he ultimately made the film on his own, but Yates retained ownership of the oriignal script, which was used for "Last Command." Notable similarities are Bowie being injured in a fall from a horse outside the Alamo and Crockett blowing up the powder magazine. AW Thought so.....With the raid on the guns & the character of the 'preacher' as well,I was sure there was some connection. Steve
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Post by Wade Dillon on May 15, 2008 22:51:05 GMT -5
Tell you all the truth, I prefer Hunnicutt's death scene compared to John Wayne. There's something, to me atleast, that just made it more dramatic.
~Wade
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Post by marklemon on May 16, 2008 12:21:39 GMT -5
There really was something special about going to the movies in those days that is lost forever with the advent of home video and on demand viewing. Seeing a new film at that time was really special and you never knew when, or if, you'd get to see it again. I recall badgering a friend to go with me on a miserable rainy night to see "Magnificent Seven" on its last night at our local theater. By the end of the night he was thanking me for badgering him. AW Allen, Yes, yes, yes, I couldn't agree more. I fondly remember going to movies with either my dad, or both my parents, seeing such films as The Sand Pebbles, The Great Escape, The Alamo, The Blue Max (when the sex scene with Peppard and Ursula Andress came on, I remember my dad squirming uncomfortably that his 11 year old son was seeing this, but my eyes were as big as saucers!) The Magnificent Seven, and War and Peace (the Soviet 1968 six-hour version. There was an hour long intermission, during which we went to get lunch, then returned for the second half.) One of the cool things I remember about epic films back then was the commemorative souvenir book they sold in the lobby. I still have mine for How the West Was Won, The Longest Day, and The Sand Pebbles. But as you say, those days are gone forever. Mark
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Post by Allen Wiener on May 16, 2008 12:56:09 GMT -5
Mark,
You just brought back a lot of memories. I still have those souvenir books from several of those films and even from "The Ten Commandments" from around 1959. Before the days of "instant gratification" through VHS and DVD, those books and soundtrack albums were the closest we could come to reliving the movie experience. I recall going back to see movies a second or third time because we never knew if or when we'd get to see them again. I must have seen "Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid" at least a dozen times.
AW
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Post by steves on May 16, 2008 14:56:55 GMT -5
Was always a treat being taken to the latest epic......Zulu..Battle of Britain...El Cid...How the West was Won.....Happy memories Steve
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Post by Rich Curilla on Jun 13, 2008 22:22:28 GMT -5
My souvenir books include The Alamo, How The West Was Won, Ben-Hur, King of Kings (both enclosed in "Deluxe" soundtrack albums), Mutiny on the Bounty (ditto), My Fair Lady... and later, Far and Away, Gladiator, The Alamo (by that Frank fella)...
Strangely, I never saw one on Spartacus. I would have loved that. Was there one for Spartacus?
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Post by Rich Curilla on Jun 13, 2008 22:25:12 GMT -5
I used to spend several weeks out of the summer with my big sister in Erie, PA., in the early sixties. She worked for the Erie Sunday Times during the day, so I'd walk downtown and go to the movies. A Cinerama theater had just been added, and How The West Was Won was running. I must have seen it ten times that summer. Still the greatest movie theater experience I have had -- Imax included.
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Post by marklemon on Jun 13, 2008 22:42:19 GMT -5
I used to spend several weeks out of the summer with my big sister in Erie, PA., in the early sixties. She worked for the Erie Sunday Times during the day, so I'd walk downtown and go to the movies. A Cinerama theater had just been added, and How The West Was Won was running. I must have seen it ten times that summer. Still the greatest movie theater experience I have had -- Imax included. Rich, Yeah, it was a great movie, and man, what a score! That's one of those unforgettable soundtracks like The Magnificent Seven, or The Great Escape, one that just instantly comes back to you. How many movies can you say that about today? Mark
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jun 14, 2008 11:12:43 GMT -5
I dug out my collection and here's what I've got: Hardcover: "Ben Hur," "Mutiny on the Bounty" (both came with boxed editions of the soundtrack LPs), "The Alamo," "Spartacus" (yes, there was one), "How the West Was Won"; softcover: "The Ten Commandments," "Exodus," "Judgment at Nuremberg," "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World," "Oliver!," and "The Longest Day."
Tucked inside "The Longest Day" book was a comic-book-sized magazine called "Great Movies Pictorial: The Longest Day," which recapped the film in stills with captions. I remember buying that on a newsstand and must have stuck it inside the book years ago. It has a rare color shot on the cover of Robert Mitchum and Ray Danton on Omaha Beach. The official souvenir book also has several color photos in it.
I noticed that Jeffrey Hunter played Sgt. John H. Fuller in "The Longest Day" and also played another real-life character named William A. Fuller in "The Great Locomotive Chase," which starred what's-his-name --- that big guy.
AW
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Post by steves on Jun 14, 2008 11:23:02 GMT -5
My souvenir books include The Alamo, How The West Was Won, Ben-Hur, King of Kings (both enclosed in "Deluxe" soundtrack albums), Mutiny on the Bounty (ditto), My Fair Lady... and later, Far and Away, Gladiator, The Alamo (by that Frank fella)... Strangely, I never saw one on Spartacus. I would have loved that. Was there one for Spartacus? Yes,there was....great diagrams of how a roman legion worked...If only I still had it.... Steve
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jun 14, 2008 11:23:45 GMT -5
How many movies can you say that about today? Mark Not many that I can think of. Along with the creative opening title sequences from 60s movies, soundtracks have become bland or forgetable or simply compilations of hit songs. The scores created by Elmer Bernstein, Dimitri Tiomkin, Miklos Rozsa, Jerry Goldsmith, Henry Mancini, Ernest Gold -- and the legendary early works by masters like Max Steiner -- were real works of art that often rank with the classics to me. I recall playing those soundtrack albums all the way through, over and over, and re-experiencing the movies themselves through the music. The best of those scores were integral parts of the movies, not just backdrops. As for those opening title sequences, I really miss them. They usually included a theme and creative film work ("The Pink Panther" openings come to mind, as well as "Walk on the Wild Side"). Now we get about 20 minutes of closing credits, which no one ever watches, that include every person who came within 100 yards of the set -- even the caterers and limo companies. AW
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Post by Rich Curilla on Jun 16, 2008 3:59:26 GMT -5
I feel that *good* film music returned with John Williams and Star Wars. He also has the depth to give us an E.T. or Schindler's List. No one beats him today, although I find close seconds with Hans Zimmer and James Horner.
The best escape I have had in recent years was Indiana Jones IV. Totally rewarding action-adventure-romance spring-boarding off the first three but not depending on them. If you've seen them, there are many reflections in the new one. If you haven't, you don't miss anything. And John Williams has done a fine job with combining old and new musical motifs. Sometimes the story point of a scene itself exists only in the score! Takes guts.
Alas, the problem today for anything other than high budget films is the expense of doing a lush orchestral score. Thus even John Williams scores can suffer in the crunch. I was disappointed in The Patriot score. It seems like (to bend an Amadeus line) there *aren't enough notes.* It was like having the rhythm beds and main chord backgrounds for a score without having the high energy melody line.
Computer created music is also responsible for some of this backing away from high energy scores. They are much harder to do. I didn't like James Horner at first because he relied a lot on this. Then he did Zorro and revived faster tempos and proved it was still possible to engage an audience with a lively score.
The first composer to pull me through the door with the "too few notes" approach was Carter Burwell, who grew up doing it and has donned it as his natural style -- his scores for The Alamo and Rob Roy being my favorites. I was afraid The Alamo score would be just a collection of period songs, but I was very pleased with its richness and variety. With that, he chose to underscore the character dilemmas rather than make it an action-adventure -- a big turn-around from Tiomkin -- but I think it worked (and it was John Lee's directorial concept). Minimalism at its best. With Rob Roy, he was more traditional. I haven't seen No Country for Old Men yet, so I can't evaluate his score for that.
But John Williams is still the barometer. The wealth of his music knowledge would sink the Titanic.
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