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Post by Jim Boylston on Jun 16, 2008 10:33:24 GMT -5
I share your respect for Burwell. I think you and I were among the few that found his score for "Alamo '04" moving and elegant. I saw "No Country", and the score is conspicuous in its absence. Frankly, I don't recall any music in that film! Jim
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Post by Herb on Jun 16, 2008 10:41:37 GMT -5
I hadn't really thought about it before, but your comment about John Williams and the "return' of good music seems exactly so.
I, too, like Carter Burwell's Alamo score, and think it was very appropriate and added much to the movie. To me it is a great score for what it accomplishes. It very much isn't a Tiomken, Bernstein, or Goldsmith score, which often comes to mind unbeckoned, and stays the day, being mentally hummed. To me their pieces were great music in themselves. Burwell's music while less memorable outside of the movie, is just as emotionally pulling when watching the movie.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Jun 19, 2008 21:29:48 GMT -5
And, returning to the start of this thread for a moment, don't forget the soundtrack LP from Last Command, which boasts an 18-minute suite from Max Steiner's grand score, including the film soundtrack version of Gordon MacRae's recording of "Jim Bowie," aka "(What a Man Was Six-Foot-Six) Jim Bowie." MacRae also released a studio version on a single. The song was co-written by Steiner, Sidney Clare, and MacRae's wife, the actress Sheila MacRae.
[ALERT: SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION SPOT FOLLOWS!!!]
These and countless other compelling facts about Alamo-related music will be found in Music of the Alamo: From 19th Century Ballads to Big-Screen Soundtracks, by William R. Chemerka and Allen J. Wiener, now on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/Music-Alamo-William-R-Chemerka/dp/1933979313/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213928548&sr=1-1) and in your hands around next February.
AW
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Post by fespar on Mar 24, 2011 1:55:44 GMT -5
Yesterday I won a VHS copy of the Last Command.The box features a mix of Sterling Hayden as Jim Bowie and John Wayne's The Alamo!
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Post by loucapitano on Mar 27, 2011 12:35:29 GMT -5
I hope your comment is enough to start this thread going again. When I saw the Last Command, a year or two after the Disney series, I had no trouble appreciating that TV shows could not compete with Hollywood in action movies. The Last Command was big scale to me (a 10 year old) and it was soon followed by a Joel McCrea movie the Tall Texan showing Sam Houston getting the best of Santa Anna. Fortunately, the Last Command went to TV rather quickly and I frequently had to sneak downstairs to see it on the Late Late Show while my parents were asleep. My wife was surprised that I chose to watch my VHS of the Last Command last March 6th, the 175th Anniversary. Sorry I missed the guys who got to go to San Antonio. I was there is spirit. Mr. Fespar, congratulations on your good fortune. Lou (Alamo fan since 1954)
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 27, 2011 12:46:00 GMT -5
Somehow, despite my fanatical interest in the Disney Crockett series, I totally missed "LC" when it came out. I do recall one friend mentioning it very favorably, but by the time I heard about it, it was gone. I saw it years later on TV and then got the VHS. I like it, despite the dreary love story that keeps dragging it down, and the battle scene is great. I love Steiner's score.
I'd like to get to the bottom of the history of the script for "LC" and the one for Wayne's movie. As most of you know, Wayne wanted to make an Alamo movie for decades, but couldn't get Republic Pictures to do it. When he finally left the studio, Wayne took his idea with him, but a script had been done and Republic owned that. The script was reworked into "LC," probably on the heels of the Disney TV series success. Similarities are clearly there: Crockett blowing himself up with the powder; Bowie falling from a horse to put him out of action in time for the final assault, while leaving him fully mobile up to then (ala Richard Widmark); the sappy kid who is sent off in time to miss the battle, survive, and console the young girl who has lost Bowie. Of course, there are loads of differences too, including the focus on Bowie and the inclusion of Santa Anna as a real, fleshed out character (rare in Alamo movies).
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Post by Kevin Young on Mar 27, 2011 13:15:35 GMT -5
Outof the Alamo films that were produced during the 1950's-1960's, the only one I remember seeing on the big screen was the Wayne film. In the world before Frank Thompson, I was only aware of the Wayne and Disney Crockett films. When I moved to the Chicago area in junior high, I found a book on Western films that mentioned "other" Alamo movies, and thanks to Channels 9 & 32 I was able to see "Last Command", "Man From The Alamo ", "The First Texan," and "Man of Conquest."
There are bits and pieces of all the older Alamo films which I like, and taken in context to when--and who--made them. While I personally like the Wayne film better than "The Last Command" (as film-not history) I will take Ben Cooper over Frankie Avalon any day of the week.
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 27, 2011 13:24:27 GMT -5
Agree completely on Ben Cooper over Frankie Avalon; what was Wayne thinking? He could have at least opted for Fabian if he wanted a "teen idol" to bring in younger business. At least Fabian could act (couldn't sing a lick though). In fact, Wayne did "North to Alaska" with Fabian, but can't recall if that was before or after Alamo?? Avalon's casting is as weird as Rick Nelson in "Rio Bravo" (in addition to other weird casting in that film).
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Post by Kevin Young on Mar 27, 2011 14:45:54 GMT -5
End of the Wayne film...Where is a squadron of lancers when you really need them?
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Mar 27, 2011 14:47:08 GMT -5
Well, one thing that always strikes me is how many of the actors I came to know in Wayne's Alamo appear as other characters in so many other Wayne films. He obviously liked working with a stable of people he knew.
Avalon, fortunately, was not one of them. Thank goodness Wayne didn't contract for Annette Funicello to play his love interest in Alamo. lol
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Post by mjbrathwaite on Mar 27, 2011 17:39:02 GMT -5
I agree with you about Annette, Paul, but I must confess to being a Frankie Avalon fan; I even met him when he came to New Zealand in 1965. Before I saw "The Alamo", I bought an EP of him singing the songs from it, and there was a publicity still of him singing one of them, so I was a bit disappointed when I saw the film and he didn't sing in it. Many years later, however, I obtained a longer version known as the director's cut, and he sings one of them in that. I haven't had a chance to see "The Last Command": I was only six when it came out (although I saw "Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier" a year later), and it has never been shown on TV here. I understand there was another film dealing with the Alamo called "Man of Conquest" in 1939. It was a biography of Sam Houston. There was also a TV play in which Fred (Herman Munster) Gwynne played Crockett - rather well, I thought. As I recall, Crockett was depicted as soberly facing the prospect of inevitable death.
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Post by loucapitano on Mar 29, 2011 16:11:11 GMT -5
You guys are wonderful. I've got my radar set to locate "Man of Conquest." Any suggestions? Wayne always believed in having a young heartthrob to appeal to the girls. Frankie Avalon was one of many (including James Caan) FA sings in the director cut, but he also cut a 45RPM containing the "Ballad of the Alamo, The Green Leaves of Summer, Lisa and Here's to the Ladies." I must confess, I like his ballad better than the Marty Robbins version. Wayne stuck with his friends when casting his pictures. Most of those friends he met through John Ford pictures. Take a look at the "Horse Soldiers" or "The Searchers"for a real stable of of Wayne/Ford regulars. Personally, I think most of them were cast very well, except for the teenage heartthrobs like Nelson, Fabian and Avalon. (John Agar and Harry Carey Jr. were also cast for the youth market, but never really made a splash.) I only wish the "Last Command" had Wayne's $12m budget. What a movie it would have made!!!
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Post by Paul Sylvain on Mar 29, 2011 17:30:56 GMT -5
I know -- can you imagine what $12-million in 1955 money (when "Last Command") was released, could have done for that flick? Boggles the mind with the possibilities.
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Post by Kevin Young on Mar 29, 2011 21:02:26 GMT -5
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Post by Allen Wiener on Mar 29, 2011 22:11:21 GMT -5
Frank Thompson's book"Alamo Movies" is still the best source on the movies and TV shows. I think the 2004 movie may be the only one missing as it came after his book was published.
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