This being Academy Awards night, my co-worker took off to attend an Oscar-viewing party that his daughter throws every year. Being a curmudgeon, I am totally uninterested in the proceedings- indeed, the only movie I've seen in a theater this past year has been True Grit. I have no idea which movie theme songs are in the running for an Oscar, but one of my all-time favorite pieces in any film is Ennio Morricone's "From Man to Man" from Death Rides a Horse. The monotonous rhythm is punctuated by jagged-edged flute trills and a choral group, building up a suspense-enhancing intensity:
It's not a good song to drive to, as it tends to leaden up the foot. A snippet of the piece was also featured on the Kill Bill soundtrack as a musical prelude to the "House of Blue Leaves" fight sequence. For completeness' sake, here it is in its original setting.
Lee Van Cleef ranks high in the pantheon of cinema badasses, whether playing a sadistic villain such as The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly's Angel Eyes, or the justice-seeking Colonel Mortimer in For a Few Dollars More (the linked video features the beautiful-yet-creepy Musical Pocketwatch theme, a piece which sounds gloriously incongruous with the sun-washed, bright setting of the scene in which it features).
A couple of years ago, I saw TGTB&TU (the good, the bad, and the truculent & unreliable?) on the big screen, and I noticed that Monsieur Van Cleef was missing the tip of one of his middle fingers. Damn, that's badass... did it happen in a brawl, or a horse riding mishap? Alas, nay!
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6 comments:
Oh, man, that movie would have been SO MUCH BETTER if I was in it.
..and zombies.
But then, that goes without saying doesn't it? I can't think of a movie that wouldn't be improved by zombies.
Being a curmudgeon, I am totally uninterested in the proceedings- indeed, the only movie I've seen in a theater this past year has been True Grit.
That puts you one ahead of me, BBBB. But as Roy says...
~
Two movie soundtracks that stay with me are the ones for "Reservoir Dogs" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula." I always thought the scene with the dudes walking down the street with "Little Green Bag" playing was iconic. And the whole "Dracula" soundtrack is haunting...but I'm obsessed with this song.
Badass indeed:
"He was involved in a car accident in 1959 in which he lost his left kneecap. Doctors told him he would never be able to ride a horse again because of the injury. Within six months he was back in the saddle."
Oh, man, that movie would have been SO MUCH BETTER if I was in it.
Your p.i.t.a. co-worker could star as your rival- "HEY BLONDIE!!!"
That puts you one ahead of me, BBBB. But as Roy says...
I dunno, the naval gazing awards' ceremonies really don't appeal to me.
Two movie soundtracks that stay with me are the ones for "Reservoir Dogs" and "Bram Stoker's Dracula."
When "Reservoir Dogs" first came out, a smartass friend of mine told all of his buddies that it was a great date movie.
Badass indeed:
Ah yeah, the not-so-good old days when men were men and drunks were drivers!
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