Settling the Score

This time Jon and Andy slooshied Wendy Carlos’ music as they viddied the 1971 Stanley Kubrick dystopian satire A Clockwork Orange ! How did Carlos pioneer an entirely new musical soundscape? What sorts of meaning does Kubrick get out of it for this film? And, who's been doing all this mysterious thieving?

Jon and Andy seem to have talked for a very long time about Hugo Friedhofer’s score for the Best Picture of 1946, The Best Years of Our Lives ! How many different ways does Friedhofer engage with the drama? In what sense is this music American? And, when is the 3D version coming out already?

Walk this way to hear Jon and Andy discuss John Morris’ score for the 1974 Mel Brooks monster movie spoof Young Frankenstein ! How does Morris help the movie’s zaniness and sincerity to coexist? What techniques make the music sound old-fashioned, and what light can a visit from the show’s go-to violin expert - Jon’s wife Becky - shed on them? And, what is the sweet mystery of life, anyway?

This time, the red carpet comes to Jon and Andy: join us as we delve into the score nominees for this year’s unusual Oscars. Are film score fashions shifting? Who’s on what wavelength, and who might not be? And, are Jon and Andy being even crankier than usual, or is it just a weird year?

We’re back, with Brad Fiedel’s score for 1991’s box office champion, Terminator 2: Judgment Day ! How did the improving technology change Fiedel’s approach between the first movie and its sequel? What’s the unexpected provenance of some of the score’s key sounds? And, why are we still talking about Henry Mancini?

This was some kind of a score; what does it matter what Jon and Andy say about it? In Henry Mancini’s score for Orson Welles’ 1958 film noir Touch of Evil , how does the music that’s playing in the next room cast a menacing pall? Why do we get to hear two different musical approaches to the film’s famous opening shot? And, what odd jobs did Welles scrounge up on the side while he was making this m...

While we're still ringing in the New Year, let's ring in this old one again too: join Jon and Andy as they pan across the landscape of 1995 film music. Was it a less complicated time?  How did America sound? How many Oscars for score were awarded? How many more movies than Jon did Andy watch? And, which of them should be rewritten as musicals?

It’s about time! Jon and Andy finally get around to Alan Silvestri’s score for the hit 1985 sci-fi comedy adventure Back to the Future . What does its main theme have in common with some other memorable movie melodies? How does a film’s score have to breathe with its editing? And, where we’re going, do we need roads?

George Kaplan? No, you must be mistaken, I’m an episode about Bernard Herrmann’s score for the 1959 madcap wrong-man adventure North by Northwest . What’s behind Herrmann’s extremely process-derived writing style? Does this movie really make any sense, and what can the music do about it? And, what did this movie inspire Jon to attach to himself?

This time, Jon and Andy go on and on about James Horner’s score for the 1997 epic disaster romance Titanic . What pop artist did director James Cameron originally want to score the movie? What powerful chord change is a keystone of both the score and the movie’s famous song? And, just how many famous paintings have actually been on the bottom of the ocean this whole time?

Let’s cut to the chase - this episode is about Lalo Schifrin’s score to the 1968 detective thriller Bullitt . What does it really mean to be “cool?” Were the late 1960s a “dark age” for film music? And, just how many TV dinners did Steve McQueen eat every week?

So you want us to talk about Mark Knopfler’s score for the 1987 fairy tale adventure The Princess Bride ? As you wish. How is this score sensitive to the twists and turns of the dire straits in which our heroes find themselves? Can a movie have a good score without having good music? And, when Rob Reiner said no one else could have scored the movie, did he mean it? (Anybody want a peanut?)

It’s lined up in our sights and we’re ready to pull the trigger on Ennio Morricone’s score for the 1966 iconic Spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly . How did he arrive at the combination of ingredients that created such a memorably distinctive sound? Is the main theme meant to evoke an animal call, a lone gunslinger, a dream, or all of the above? And, what does Jon’s cat think of this...

It’s time once again to find out who Jon and Andy are wearing on the Oscar red carpet! How does this crop of nominees for Best Original Score stack up to previous years’? What did each movie want from its music? And, what stupid schtick did they put at the beginning of this one?

Yo! In this corner is Bill Conti’s score for the 1976 boxing drama Rocky ! How did this whole movie wind up punching above its weight? How do some chords that start out weak later find themselves getting strong now? And, how many times as long as the score is this episode? (Answer: 5)

I am an episode about Spartacus ! I’m an episode about Spartacus ! There’s a lot for Jon and Andy to grapple with in Alex North’s score for this 1960 swords-and-sandals epic. Is this the “most composed” score ever? How much can it, should it, and does it add to the picture? And, would the podcast be improved by recording it in a bathtub?

Just in time for Halloween, this episode is all for you! Hear what Revelations are in store as Jon and Andy discuss Jerry Goldsmith’s score to the 1976 horror flick The Omen . Should a horror film’s music know that it’s in a horror film? Where are all these voices coming from? And, is Neil Diamond really a Satanist?

Holy film score discussion, this time it’s Batman ! Join Jon and Andy in Gotham City as they talk about Danny Elfman’s classic 1989 score. How does Elfman sell the sound of a dark comic book world? What peculiar path led him to film music in the first place? And, is this the best movie theme ever written on an airplane?

Jonesing for a fix of score analysis? This time Jon and Andy lock themselves in a room with Elmer Bernstein’s score for the 1955 noir drama of drug addiction, The Man with the Golden Arm . How did its use of jazz influence the sounds of the subsequent decades? How is that jazz able to suggest both seediness and sophistication? And, why would anyone want to play poker with Frank Sinatra?

Some inexorable interdimensional force seems to have drawn Jon and Andy to talk about Hans Zimmer's score for the 2014 outer space epic Interstellar . Why was a pipe organ such an unusual but apt choice for Zimmer? How does he sculpt tonal colors that range from quite delicate to maybe-too-loud? And, what would happen to this podcast if it fell into a black hole? 

The first score the fates have assigned to Jon and Andy, as their voyage continues past the AFI’s list, is Thomas Newman’s score for the 1999 Oscar-winning dramedy American Beauty . What interesting and powerful hybrid compositional process does Newman employ? What kooky instruments does it include? And, how much worse is Jon’s acting than Wes Bentley’s?

After finishing their task of discussing and reordering the American Film Institute’s Top 25 Scores, Jon and Andy kick back and take stock of what they’ve done. What did they learn? What did they get wrong? How in the world did Andy expect Jon to recognize the clips he chose for his quiz? And, what score will be up next?

A long time ago… Jon and Andy started working their way down the AFI's list of the Top 25 Scores, and they've finally reached #1 - Star Wars ! This Star Destroyer-sized episode tackles such questions as: What were our hosts' origin stories as film music nerds? Can you name that tune in fewer notes than Andy? How, indeed, does the sausage get made? And, what comes next?

Jon and Andy try for their own EGOT - Episode Glutted with Oscar Talk - as they hit the red carpet and present their takes on this year’s nominees for Best Score. The field includes one repeat customer, and four composers making their debuts on the podcast. Who will win? Who should win? Who shouldn’t win? Who’s already won? Who cares? 

As God is our witness, #2 on the AFI’s list is Max Steiner’s score for 1939’s Gone with the Wind . Will Jon and Andy butt heads over stair-climbing music, again? Will they see eye to eye about the correct way to use a highlighter? And, how well were they each able to get into a movie that, uh, sure seems to like the Confederacy more than they do?