Through the Nineties, we’ve come to accept and enjoy that film and TV humour often relies on referencing itself. Like THE SIMPSONS, when you’re in the parody world of AUSTIN POWERS or the unobtrusively self-referential Pixar world, musical or sight gags are pure fun. They excuse themselves from any incongruities by virtue of the established ‘anything goes’ framework.

Over the years however, there have been a number of musical movie in-jokes that only made me smile the first time. When I thought the ideas through, each made me sigh with exasperation at their sheer illogic. This takes us into the deepest depths of anal film music geekdom, but sometimes I love to blow off steam just as much as the next nerd…

DOUBLE O FOR GOODNESS SAKE!
CASINO ROYALE (1967) was a spoof through and through. So there’s no problem with us noticing the use of the song “Bond Street”. Or indeed the quote from the previous year’s BORN FREE by John Barry. But by this point, Barry had scored 3 and a bit Bond scores (if you include his DR. NO contribution), and yet had felt no need to work in musical gags. In fact, there were none at all in the entire Sean Connery era.

Enter Roger Moore and a new take on the franchise

For his second Moore score, Barry’s THE SPY WHO LOVED ME (1977) has Barbara Bach’s music box play “Lara’s Theme” from DOCTOR ZHIVAGO. No big deal I suppose. The idea is to convey the lady’s homeland and have a bit of fun. After this, it got a bit out of hand though.

MOONRAKER (1979), that Christmas TV perennial found it necessary to squeeze in 3 extremely obvious musical references. After the fox hunt there’s Strauss’ “Also Sprach Zarathustra” from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. Outside a laboratory in Venice, the security keypad tune is John Williams’ theme from CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND. Both these are effectively integrated into the movie as sound effects. Later in South America, there’s a sudden blast of Elmer Bernstein’s MAGNIFICENT SEVEN theme from the soundtrack itself. Where the Hell did that idea come from? This for me, was the moment when we were told unequivocally that James Bond was no longer to be taken seriously in any way. It had transcended its spy thriller origins and become a self-contained ‘anything goes’ universe with laws of its own.

The real illogic that partly inspired this Column comes in OCTOPUSSY (1983). Again, in the name of fun I guess you can excuse the use of the TARZAN yell when Moore swings on a rope, or hearing John Williams’ SUPERMAN theme when he bends some steel window bars. But when Bond arrives in Delhi, how the Hell can it be that his contact Vijay disguised as a snakecharmer can play the “James Bond Theme” on his Pungi? Yes – it’s kind of fun. But think about it. How can Bond recognise this tune?

And it happens again in A VIEW TO A KILL (1985), the last Moore venture. When Bond meets Chuck Lee (David Yip), the “Theme” can be heard on a horn on the background. Oh, and this movie also gave you The Beach Boys’ “California Girls” jarringly inserted between Barry cues during Bond’s impromptu snowboarding escape in the pre-credits sequence. I know there’s an argument for excusing this sort of reference in the name of fun, but there isn’t one for quoting a character’s Theme.

These instances always surprised me as having come from John Barry. Later in LICENCE TO KILL (1988), the bullets hitting the tanks and playing out the “Bond Theme” strikes me as something designed in the final mix, and not from Michael Kamen. I’m in 2 minds whether it was the same scenario for Bill Conti and the earlier FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981) when Bond taps the tune of “Nobody Does It Better” into the identigraph booth keypad. Why?…

I’m pretty sure it’s ROCKY IV I’m going to refer to here. Sorry folks – after the first, I just can’t watch the sequels any more! Anywho – Balboa returns to the States after his fight in Russia and is given a hero’s welcome at the top of the steps by that statue. What’s that the Brass Band are playing? Conti’s “Gonna Fly Now”. How? There wasn’t a live band playing BLAZING SADDLES-style just off screen when we heard it in the original movie’s training montage. So this is my beef folks, this internally illogical notion of a film character being aware of their musical motif.

TREKKIN’ STUPID
One of Jerry Goldsmith’s best-scored scenes comes from one of his best overall scores. I remain a fan of STAR TREK THE MOTION PICTURE, and always marvel at the textbook precision masterful handling of the post-credit V’ger cloud attack sequence. Beat for beat, his cue weaves the perfect blend of suspense, surprise and intrigue to open the movie. Embedded solidly within it is his Klingon Theme; an echoing warrior’s hunting call that’s become as recognisable as his glorious series Theme. The “Klingon Battle” cue may only last 5&½ minutes, but it had a marked effect on the movie series.

James Horner didn’t pick up on the material for the brief re-use of the Klingon Battlecruiser footage at the start of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. (He did in BATTLE BEYOND THE STARS, but that’s another story…) When the knobble-headed ones became chief protagonists in STAR TREK III: THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, Horner came up with something similar yet distanced enough to be original. (He wasn’t worried about that in WOLFEN or ALIENS though. But that too is another story…)

Leonard Rosenman just didn’t bother touching upon either Goldsmith or Horner’s style or material for STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME. There was only a hammy Ambassador to characterise, but the Klingon Bird of Prey often feels like a character itself that could have had some musical reference or characterisation. Perhaps it’s as well it was ignored. On Goldsmith’s return for STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER, he had the easy decision of dismissing Horner’s expansion of things and just went with a new souped up version of his original Klingon Theme. The inexplicably upper class British Captain Klaa and his incomprehensible lass Vixis at least benefited from some quality musical accompaniment.

(Trek fans already know where I’m going with this!)

So appreciating the need for a new direction in STAR TREK VI: THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY (from Cliff Eidelman), and pretending GENERATIONS isn’t in between (if only), we come to STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT.

I’ve just gone into all the history of the Klingon material so as to establish the context for what I’m about to say. Basically, the Klingons are the bad guys, right? They get a bad guy theme.

So why is it a hero theme for Worf in FIRST CONTACT?

No, there is no argument about it being representative of anyone belonging to the race. No one in THE NEXT GENERATION or DEEP SPACE NINE ever thought they had to characterise Worf with this theme. Or indeed the many other Klingon appearances. So why does it turn up here in an action hero vein? At one of the many concerts I’ve seen Goldsmith conduct, he turned to the audience and asked: “Are there any Trekkies in the audience? (cue over the top screams in the affirmative) Well, I love scoring these movies, but I never understand them. Maybe someone can come back afterwards and explain them to me.” Sounds like it’s a generalisation gag, but I think it’s more a case of never a truer word spoken in jest. He gets the drama. He gets the heroism. But Goldsmith does not ‘get’ Trek.

Next!

NOW THAT’S A BIG PILE OF WHIP
Who’d have thought it? A complaint along these lines aimed at John Williams! OK – I’m sure everyone and their wife knows the scene and the story from RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK where Indy shoots the Cairo swordsman instead of fighting him. And I’m sure everyone gets the gag in the sequel. But here’s my problems:

When Indy goes for his gun in THE TEMPLE OF DOOM to dispatch the two Thugee swordsman, it’s wrong wrong WRONG for several reasons. First, just in case you’re one of few never to spot it, TEMPLE is a prequel to RAIDERS (by 1 year). So you’re being asked to ignore the chronology of events and everything asking you to laugh at something out of sequence. But Williams scores the few seconds with the comical motif from the RAIDERS Basket chase. And that doesn’t play anywhere near the RAIDERS shooting gag. I laughed the first time. Stopped to think about it. Never laughed since. All it does for me is highlight the continuity problems in framing TEMPLE earlier (of which there are several more).

Thankfully, while continuity, believable characterisation, humour and everything else goes out the window, at least Williams redeems himself in musically intellectual thinking in THE LAST CRUSADE. Subtly quoting the “Ark Theme” in the Venetian catacombs actually elevates the visual in-joke nicely. And beyond that, there’s the even subtler foreshadowing of playing the “Indiana Jones Theme” as River Phoenix runs past the family dog from whom he took his name. Classy.

I’ve decided to save several other instances of referencing movie themes to a future Column. Meanwhile, if any moments of illogical movie music have occurred to anyone, write and let me know. The best will be re-printed here.

REVIEWS:

ALIAS - Michael Giacchino, Varèse Sarabande VSD 6521
I told you this was coming here. It took a wee while, but now fans of the show, and creator J. J. Abrams finally have what they’ve wanted – a score album without songs. Not many shows in the last 10 years can boast a budget for a weekly orchestral score. Fewer still can boast a concept that’s as liberating for a composer. Globe-trekking, romantic, action-packed and mysterious. Is it a spy thriller? A fantasy? Science fiction? Anything is possible, and that’s eminently conveyed in Giacchino’s hip and intelligent music. The pop techno beats constantly fuel the breathless pace of the show. But there’s always time to pause for a romantic interlude, unrequited or otherwise! The other thing that comes across from this album is the composer’s sense of humour. Foreign language quotes, orgasmic sighs and even a tiger’s screech are woven in. Best of all, this is only music representative of the show’s first year. Roll on Volume Two.

POINT OF ORIGIN - John Ottman, La-La Land Records, LLLCD 1011
Usually the idea of an all-electronic score performed by the composer would have my teeth curling in dreaded anticipation. But with Ottman I’ll allow the benefit of the doubt for anything. So should you. No, you don’t get your brassy fanfares or painfully romantic strings. What you do get is an atmosphere of intrigue entirely suited to the movie (the true story of an arson investigator). Nice to know that a label can and will pick up lesser known scores like these.

LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION - Jerry Goldsmith, Varèse Sarabande VSD 6523
Views of the movie are mixed. I wonder if opinion of this score will be too? Goldsmith’s fans have been excitedly looking forward to the reunion with Joe Dante having done some fantastic stuff together before. Well, anyone hoping to hear the same kinds of thing will be pleased. In deliberately emulating Carl Stalling it now becomes evident that’s what the twosome had in mind all along. The cartoon style that often defines THE ‘BURBS, GREMLINS etc is cranked to the max. It all makes sense now looking back. So when the cue “Out of the Bag” slips into a quote of the GREMLINS “Rag”, it’s seamless. What the album lacks however, is the family-friendly heart of those earlier collaborations or the framework of a nice simple story to hang it all on. Which is pretty much what’s behind the movie’s mixed reviews. This is fun stuff to be sure, just not the career capper many may have expected.

POLTERGEIST II: THE DELUXE EDITION - Jerry Goldsmith, Varèse Sarabande VSD 6518
Varèse sure do spoil us with these Deluxe versions. THE OMEN trilogy, TOTAL RECALL and now this. The collector is certainly getting well looked after. Everything about the packaging and production is top notch. For me though, this was a Goldsmith trilogy of scores that got decidedly less interesting per instalment. Per my Column last time on Genres, I feel the original POLTERGEIST has an enormous amount of spot-on scoring. It also had a great movie to work with. I was 14 seeing this sequel, and was far more excited about getting a ticket to a 15-certificated movie than I was about the movie I saw with that ticket. I was miffed at the time with a very thin amount of material on the original album, but what’s been added in between only enhances my opinion of the original score.

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