Wednesday 10 March 2010

Soundtrack Retrospective: "Build coffins. That's all you'll need."

This month’s film is another that I have a fellow blogger to thank for reminding me about, this time it’s North Northwester whose blogmeme from last year prompted DumbJon to nominate Boris Sagal’s ‘The Omega Man’ (1971). Based on Richard Matheson’s novel ‘I Am Legend’, this typically 70s tale of out-of-control scientific discovery and individuality is probably one of Heston’s most iconic films after 'Spartacus' 'Ben Hur' and 'Planet of the Apes'.

The trailer is available online:



The iconic opening shots of Neville driving down deserted and decaying streets, accompanied by a funky version of ‘Theme from a Summer Place’ are all the more astonishing to modern audiences because they are filmed in a real, closed-off downtown LA, not the soulless CGI-fest of the recent remake (moved to New York) starring Will Smith:



It’s Ron Grainer’s score that is – for me – the most memorable thing about the movie. NNW likened it to ‘Greensleeves crossed with Shaft’ and he isn’t wrong!



Update: Thanks to MacHeath and Peter for pointing out that it was that other lantern-jawed actor, Kirk Douglas, who graced the silver screen as Spartacus. Memory, eh? It's what the IMDB was made for...
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6 comments:

  1. Peter Briffa10 March 2010 at 13:38

    Spartacus? That was another square-jawed dude.

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  2. Macheath10 March 2010 at 13:45

    after 'Spartacus' and 'Planet of the Apes'

    Ben Hur, surely?

    And not forgetting...
    'Soylent Green is people!

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  3. Private Widdle10 March 2010 at 14:49

    Macheath beat me to it.

    Still a cracking film, and as a movie-mad 12-year-old it made my hair stand on end. And "Soylent Green" is also magnificent.

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  4. Anonymous10 March 2010 at 16:49

    Watched the trailer.
    So thats what really happened to Michael Foot !
    LOL !

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  5. woman on a raft11 March 2010 at 09:50

    Two days left to catch it, don't miss this hour-long production from the BBC.

    Vincent Price and the Horror of the English Blood Beast.

    When Vincent Price came to England to make the Witchfinder General in 1967, he had the most miserable weeks of his life but the film he made has stood up well. Director Michael Reeves made a film which transcended the genre and caused outrage at the time.

    It wasn't until 2005 that Malcolm Gaskill wrote the definitive academic history of the English witch trials "Witchfinders", piecing the story together from primary sources in court and church records rather than relying on popular lurid accounts, but the picture of Hopkins which emerged is remarkably close to the portrait which Edgar Allan Poe and Michael Reeves reached intuitively.

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  6. JuliaM12 March 2010 at 05:42

    Oh, that was good. The old Hammer Horrors are still the best, despite the modern attempts to remake them.

    ReplyDelete