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208.58.2.83
The estimable Duncan Shepherd:And here would be the appropriate spot to pull over to the side of
the road and say that, for me, the unavoidable snag in any Crowe
film -- whatever the balance of embarrassment and ingratiation --
is the limitless playlist of pop songs on the soundtrack -- however
eclectic, however catholic, however punditic, the selection. (You
will easily recall, because Crowe will never let you forget, his
Rolling Stone credentials.) I sometimes wonder whether there might
ever come an end to that sort of thing: whether in twenty, forty,
sixty years or so, the moviegoers of the future will look back at
this practice with the same disaffection as moviegoers of today
look back at those busily, bustlingly overscored films of the
Forties. (Can't we just have a little quiet around here?) And I
wonder, too, to what source the future film historians will trace
the contagion: American Graffiti, The Graduate, what? It wasn't
always, in case you need reminding, the norm. It wasn't always the
necessity. There are of course countless current offenders -- it's
quite unthinkable these days to do a romantic comedy, in
particular, without some accompanying pop songs -- but none worse
than Crowe.
Follow Ups:
Clark,Yes, pop songs are abused in a lot of the shite produced by Hollywood these days, but they can work in the right film, such as "Can't Hardly Wait" which used the right mix of what teens were listening to that year to make the film more credible.
Good little film too.
I still love the soundtrack to the "Blue Brothers" as it boogies from the opening prison scene to the...final closing prison number.
"You can't lie to a nun"
Tosh
"I think this place is restricted Wang, so don't tell em you're Jewish"
...Duncan's objections, and mine, are to when pop tunes are used as plot-driving devices, especially in the absence of any real drivers. At first the trick was amusing and cinematically novel (Mrs. Robinson), but rapidly became played out (as it were).Blues Brothers is altogether different, being itself based on music -- if you call that stuff music...
Just kidding!
Even earlier there was Blackboard Jungle. I give you something I wrote about it some time ago:
Bill Haley and His Comets, Sioux City Municipal Auditorium. I remember it well: The first concert I ever attended with friends and sans parentes . What a scene! The early heyday of rock’n roll! Haley’s "Shake, Rattle and Roll" (lifted from Joe Turner) was the new genre’s first-ever million-seller [1]; "Rock Around the Clock" was to become the biggest-selling rock song (100 million) of all time [2], the premier national teenage anthem and also the theme song of a movie celebrating juvenile delinquency, Blackboard Jungle [3], which my mother forbade me to see; their "See You Later, Alligator" became the third million-seller in a row.
[1] A pro hockey team in Massachusetts, the Springfield Indians, presciently adopted "Shake" as their fight song and played it over the P.A. before and after every home game and after every goal they scored. Later, much later, came: "We will, we will rock you!!"
[2] And the first million-seller ever in Great Britain.
[3] Blackboard Jungle injected heretofore-innocent rock’n’roll into an atmosphere of teenage rebellion contexualized with rapid social change and incipient violence, a combination that forever revolutionized cinema and music. One gritty scene: The Gang trashes a hopelessly "square" teacher’s collection of jazz 78s that he has been using to demonstrate the history of music and win the class over to wider musical culture. The kids’ reaction mythologizes them in imaginary revenge against societal repression, with "Rock Around the Clock" blaring in our ears. (Powerful stuff then, although rather a cliché today.) Another telling image: A chainlink fence in the schoolyard foreground, suggesting a jailyard; the kids must break out, as they later do quite literally in Pink Floyd’s movie The Wall.
Within one year the Comets sold six million records.
> the unavoidable snag in any Crowe film -- whatever the balance of embarrassment and ingratiation -- is the limitless playlist of pop songs on the soundtrack -- however eclectic, however catholic, however punditic, the selection. (You will easily recall, because Crowe will never let you forget, his Rolling Stone credentials.)>Besides his 'Rolling Stone credentials', he's married to Ann Wilson of Heart - the blond guitar player. Sometimes the assembly of pop songs on his soundtracks can enhance what is taking place in the film. As to the soundtrack of 'Almost Famous', Crowe's most biographical film, it's one of my favorite compilations.
Anyone can be a film critic, sit a keyboard and tear things apart bit by bit, injecting pithy comments that some will regard *cosmic truth*. Your Mr. Shepherd doesn't impress me, but then I'm not from Boston.
It was a movie about music in the 70's and they, uhh, played some classics from the period. The music added tremndously to my appreciation of a great flick. Favorite music moment wasn't one of the set piece songs, but a smidgeon heard when Crowe's character was trying to get into his first concert thru the back door. Yes was on the bill and when the door opened, Jon Anderson's vocals doing Roundabout just spilled out of the door with just the RIGHT amount of concert hall echo. Just a perfect, understated moment.
----------------------------------------------------------
"Do I have to spell it out?
C --- H ---- E ---E ---- S --- E
A --- N --- D
O ---- N ---- I ---- O ---- N ---- S"
"Your Mr. Shepherd doesn't impress me, but then I'm not from Boston."Mr. Shepherd is not *my* Mr. Shepherd, but his own man. And far from reading only Boston-based critics, as you have wrongfully accused me of doing before, I get around. For instance, to San Diego -- where Mr. Shepherd writes.
clark
PS For the insider view you are unable to offer, here's sjb's message, which he's reworking:
The music in Elizabethtown is used with less effect than in any of Crowe's
other films.
------------------------------
Instead of supporting or underscoring a moment or theme in the film (which,
while overused, his musical choices usually do) the music in Elizabethtown
seems to have it's own agenda and it mostly succeeded in pulling me out of
the film. Among the problems with the music was its frequent use as a
foreground element when it should have been a background element or it
starting too soon during a potentially heartfelt moment or it stepping on
the actors' lines and, more than ever, they were just poor choices of
songs.Crowe wasn't able to work with his regular editor which could have easily
been a factor in how poor the weaving of the music into the fabric of the
film was.[Exactly!]
...while I have no insider view to offer, I didn't communicate my thoughts very well.For those of us who are passionate about music, like you and I, and I suspect Mr. Crowe, any autobiographical work most likely will contain music that is important to us in that time of our life, but may not resonate the same way with everyone else, particularly film reviewers who don't know what it's like to be passionate about music.
As trite as it is, 'music is the soundtrack of our lives' and if it were my life being portrayed, I can think of some of the music which would be included that made a big impression on me at various times.
As 'Elizabethtown' is also somewhat biographical, it is difficult to say whether Crowe's musical choices were for effect or because they were important to him at that time in his life.
As for Mr. Shepherd, you have quoted him numerous times here and IIRC, labeled him as your favorite.
Or audio reviewers who seem able to read into the hearts and minds of other people?clark
...sort of the opposite of Roger Ebert who can find something to like in just about any film.When it comes to criticizing a film for its choice of music on the soundtrack, I guess where Elizabethtown is concerned, there are a lot more valid things to criticize.
Having a good reason and/or a deeply peronal reason for using the chosen music is entirely separate from implementing those musical choices well (Almost Famous) or poorly (Elizabethtown).
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
I spoke knowing he wasn't Crowes regular guy but hadn't looked him up. For what it's worth... a quick check with Allmovie.com reveals that the editor on Elizabethtown also edited on Jerry Macguire and on a film that I thought made excellent use of pop music to underscore and support it's moments and themes, Rushmore.
"Where are we going? And what am I doing in this hand basket?"
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