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If you don't instantly recognize this main-title music, you don't yet know your stuff. No offense.

Blazing Signatures<< previous | next >>Cold Calculation

Posted by Jeffrey Wells on July 31, 2008 at 5:53 PM

comment #1

oranthal james says ...

The Rock?

Posted by oranthal james at July 31, 2008 6:11 PM

comment #2

soap-and-water says ...

spartacus.

maybe...

Posted by soap-and-water at July 31, 2008 6:13 PM

comment #3

jackfly11 says ...

I like this game...though I'm afraid I couldn't figure this one out.

Guess I "don't know my stuff". (None taken)

Posted by jackfly11 at July 31, 2008 6:23 PM

comment #4

Mgmax says ...

I think the train whistle at the end lets out Spartacus.

I was humming along with it, but I can't quite place it. A western somewhere around the time of Ride the High Country, but I'm not placing it exactly.

Posted by Mgmax at July 31, 2008 6:32 PM

comment #5

Mgmax says ...

Or is it The Train? I watched that again not long ago after Jeff wrote about some months back. Doesn't sound quite French enough, but maybe.

Posted by Mgmax at July 31, 2008 6:39 PM

comment #6

lazarus says ...

I'm getting something a bit more New York City, maybe a crime film? I can't quite place it but it's very familiar.

Posted by lazarus at July 31, 2008 6:44 PM

comment #7

soap-and-water says ...

flicked it off long before the whistle...

the professionals?

Posted by soap-and-water at July 31, 2008 6:46 PM

comment #8

SmilingPolitely says ...

Tombstone?

Posted by SmilingPolitely at July 31, 2008 6:51 PM

comment #9

Jeremy Smith says ...

Your first instinct was spot-on, Mgmax.

Posted by Jeremy Smith at July 31, 2008 6:57 PM

comment #10

Jeremy Smith says ...

Actually, almost dead on. Same year.

Posted by Jeremy Smith at July 31, 2008 6:59 PM

comment #11

Aladdin Sane says ...

Sounds familiar, but I can't place it.

Posted by Aladdin Sane at July 31, 2008 7:02 PM

comment #12

gruver1 says ...

I frankly thought this would be guessed right away. This could be a fun game -- name that main-title score!

Posted by gruver1 at July 31, 2008 7:17 PM

comment #13

C-PhreekII says ...

Gotta love the fact that no one can cheat and Google the answer (and that this time Wells thought ahead about the file name).

Recalls the golden age of HE, when such trivia challenges were to be found where the TMZ and political posts are now.

Posted by C-PhreekII at July 31, 2008 7:18 PM

comment #14

Jeremy Smith says ...

I love LV, Jeff, but it took me a few minutes to place it. And, yes, you should absolutely do this more often.

Posted by Jeremy Smith at July 31, 2008 7:22 PM

comment #15

Mgmax says ...

"Actually, almost dead on. Same year."

Okay, it's Liberty Valance then. I should have thought of that, I just watched it on one of the HD channels a month ago.

Posted by Mgmax at July 31, 2008 7:27 PM

comment #16

Pinko Punko says ...

I guessed it, but only because its the last movie I saw, I believe.

Posted by Pinko Punko at July 31, 2008 7:33 PM

comment #17

raskimono says ...

I believe it's the Ten Commandments.

Posted by raskimono at July 31, 2008 7:52 PM

comment #18

Walter Sobchak says ...

Give is a hint - What comic book / graphic novel is the film in question based on?

Posted by Walter Sobchak at July 31, 2008 8:02 PM

comment #19

Balthazar says ...

On an unrelated note, I never, ever tire of listening to Jon Brion's complex, amazing score to "Magnolia"

Posted by Balthazar at July 31, 2008 9:02 PM

comment #20

monetnj says ...

Well, I didn't get it. However, in my defense, I have seen Liberty Valence, just never noticed the theme before. One thing that did strike me was the similarity between the opening phrases of the score and the main thrust of the John Williams Superman (1978) theme. Is it just me?

Posted by monetnj at July 31, 2008 9:39 PM

comment #21

Mgmax says ...

It's just you. The Superman theme was stolen from Korngold's score for Kings Row.

Posted by Mgmax at July 31, 2008 9:45 PM

comment #22

Rosebudsthesled says ...

No--STAR WARS was stolen from KINGS ROW. And E.T. from THE SEA HAWK. And RAIDERS from ROBIN HOOD. Love both men though.

I have no idea what these are the opening titles to. Could it be one of those noir-ish films from the 50s and 60s that Jeff loves so much?

Posted by Rosebudsthesled at July 31, 2008 10:43 PM

comment #23

gruver1 says ...

Okay...answer time. It's the main title music for John Ford's The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Composed by Cyril J. Mockridge.

Posted by gruver1 at July 31, 2008 11:37 PM

comment #24

Mgmax says ...

"No--STAR WARS was stolen from KINGS ROW. "

In the sense that Williams was no doubt told by the Salkinds to give them a theme just like the one for Star Wars, and so he wrote even closer to the Kings Row theme than Star Wars had been, probably so. (Superman is also a little closer yet to Adventures of Robin Hood.)

Posted by Mgmax at August 1, 2008 4:59 AM

comment #25

nemo says ...

A late 50s to early 60s western. F-Troop?

Posted by nemo at August 1, 2008 7:20 AM

comment #26

Cadavra says ...

Wayne's finest performance ever, and the "pick up the steak" scene is possibly the best Ford ever directed. (It's also arguably the greatest cast he ever had.) If you've never seen this masterpiece, go buy/rent it pronto.

Posted by Cadavra at August 1, 2008 10:40 AM

comment #27

hcat says ...

already in my netflix queue with the rest of the westerns I am shamed to have missed. just went through Once Upon a time in the west, next is red River than this one and One-Eyed Jacks.

Anyone ever get a good reason why the western fell out of fashion, was it the car chase movies of the early 70's or the switch to large tentpoles like star wars or superman? The late 60s and early 70s saw some of the best westerns ever with stars like Newman, Eastwood, Redford, and Duvall that could have kept making a western every few years but after 76 the well just dried up.

Posted by hcat at August 1, 2008 12:38 PM

comment #28

Joshua Mooney says ...

Ah, "Ghostbusters." I will never stop laughing at that classic. They say Ernie Hudson was the one who was originally supposed to conjure up the Sta-Puffed marshmallow man, but it fell to Dan in the end because, you know: bigger star, and all.

Posted by Joshua Mooney at August 1, 2008 1:34 PM

comment #29

Mgmax says ...

Explanations for why Westerns went out of favor:

1) Space replaced it as the focus of 12-year-old fantasies about a realm where issues of law and manliness are simple and elemental.

2) Done to death on TV in the 60s.

3) Westerns were never solidly popular but in fact went through previous cycles of unpopularity, based largely on whether the public mood was optimistic and proud of the frontier/pioneer spirit in building a nation (20s, 50s, both high points for westerns) or cynical about same (30s, post-Watergate era, western considered commercially dead and relegated to B movie theaters/cable).

Posted by Mgmax at August 1, 2008 1:46 PM

comment #30

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comment #31

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