My Favourite Film Soundtracks

I always say that the process of making films does not only include directors and actors, but a wide range of people some of whom I'm trying to celebrate in my most recent posts. I've been thinking about listing my favourite film soundtracks for a long time and here they are! 

 "I can remember soundtracks that you just can't separate from the film -
It's just so intertwined,
so important.
Like the Hitchcock ones where they kind of inform each
other and become this larger thing as a result."
Jonny Greenwood

"The Sound of Silence" - Simon & Garfunkel from The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)

"And in the naked light I saw

ten thousand people maybe more

people talking without speaking

people hearing without listening

people writing songs that voices never share

noone dare, disturb the sound of silence."

"Mrs. Robinson" - Simon & Garfunkel from The Graduate (Mike Nichols, 1967)

"Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio,
Our nation turns it's lonely eyes to you.
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson.
Jolting Joe has left and gone away,

Hey hey hey."

"Moon River" - Henry Mancini from Breakfast at Tiffany's (Blake Edwards, 1961)

"Two drifters off to see the world.

There's such a lot of world to see.

We're after the same rainbow's end..."

"Oh Pretty Woman" - Roy Orbinson from Pretty Woman (Garry Marshall, 1990)

"Pretty woman, won't you pardon me

Pretty woman, I couldn't help see

Pretty woman

That you look lovely as can be

Are you lonely just like me..."

"Tara's Theme" - Max Steiner from Gone with the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939)

"Le Tourbillon de la Vie" - Georges Delerue from Jules and Jim (Francois Truffaut, 1962)

"Chacun pour soi est reparti.

Dans l'tourbillon de la vie.

Je l'ai revue un soir ah là là

Elle est retombée dans mes bras."

"Also Sprach Zarathustra" - Strauss from 2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968)

"Sweet Transvestite" - Richard O'Brien from The Rocky Horror Picture Show (Jim Sharman, 1975)

"Don't get strung out by the way that I look,
Don't judge a book by its cover
I'm not much of a man by the light of day, 

But by night I'm one hell of a lover."

"Deborah's Theme" - Ennio Morricone from Once Upon A Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)

 "Tubular Bells" - Mike Oldfield from The Exorcist (William Friedkin, 1973)

"Think" - Aretha Franklin from The Blues Brothers (John Landis, 1980)

"You better think (think) think about what you're trying to do to me
Yeah, think (think, think), let your mind go, let yourself be free..."

"The Murder" - Bernard Herrmann from Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960)

"Jack's Lament" - Danny Elfman from The Nightmare Before Christmas (Tim Burton, 1993) 

"Oh, there's an empty place in my bones
That calls out for something unknown
The fame and praise come year after year
Does nothing for these empty tears."

"Shark Attack" - John Williams from Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975)

 "Shout" - The Isley Brothers from Animal House (John Landis, 1978)

"Every time I think about you, You feel so good to me
You know you make me want to (SHOUT)
Throw my hands back and (SHOUT)
Throw my head back and (SHOUT)
Kick my heels up and (SHOUT)."

"Come What May" - David Baerwald and Kevin Gilbert from Moulin Rouge (Baz Luhrmann, 2001)

"Oh, come what may, come what may
I will love you."

An Evening with John Henshall

I apologize for the lack of new posts lately, but I had been trying to enjoy my last days in London, and face my first moving out experience. I came back to Italy on Tuesday, and since the nostalgia for the city is increasing day by day, the only way to defeat the sadness is to remember the last amazing events I have attended.
Right after the meeting with Lois Burwell's inspiring persona, I had the chance to meet and listen to the life, the brilliant genius and humour, of John Henshall, a key figure in British Television.

The evening was structured in this way: Mr Henshall had prepared a rich and awesome presentation covering his whole career and showing rare (and sometimes considered lost) footage, part of his incredible archive.
John Henshall is so well known that the audience was already smiling waiting for his jokes, and, in my opinion, the presence of most of the audience meant friendship, and that gratitude you can only develop while working together on something so special as the moving image. Ex-colleagues, directors, actors, photographers, television personalities, everyone was there to be amazed by the great man behind his camera.

John Henshall started working at the BBC Studios when he was 18, two years later he was already part of the staff. His talent, uncredited for many years, was finally acknowledged after he left the BBC.
He worked on all kinds of television productions: commercial, tv drama, Top of the Pops, comedies, early music videos, etc.

However, his career's distinctive feature is that he has been an inventor in both photography, and camera-work. Many of the effects, and television tools we are used to today have to be accredited to his experimentations: the fish-eye lens, the first home-telerecording, early experimental colour transmissions, early light-weight videocameras, and, the great work he did on early music videos.

In fact, I now want to focus on the last part of this memorable evening. He had the chance to work and film some of the most famous artists of the 60s and 70s, who are still immortal icons nowadays: David Bowie, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Blondie, Cher, Freddie Mercury, The Rolling Stones, Roy Orbinson, Cher, and many many others.
How to forget David Bowie's "The Jean Jenie", from the 1973 Christmas episode of Top of the Pops which was considered lost until two years ago? Mr Henshall had a copy of it.
On that particular performance, he used his experimental lens, along with other visual special effects, through his camera-work that epic performance is representative of the 70s as a decade, and of the glam rock.

Here is the performance, shown on the BBC, December 2011:

Thanks to these meetings I'm developing a 360° view on films' world. I now think that we don't have to think only in directors/actors terms. There is much more to discover, and many more people who stay behind the curtain (or behind the camera, in this case), but give a massive contribution to the film/tv show/music video/tv drama and its status of work of art.
My congratulations and greetings go to John Henshall, and the people who worked with him , like Moira Armstrong (director), Miriam Margolyes (actress), Ron Green (colleague cameraman), to the present or not in the audience, to all who share this passion, for making me understand that making films and television together is not only a job, it is a wonderful way to find real, and lasting friendship ties.

10 great American road trip films - BFI List

My most recent discoveries are the Lists on the BFI Website. I think they are a smart alternative to long articles, because they allow the reader to select his/her area of interest, and have easy access to suggested viewings.
Since I personally love road trips, and one across the US is my biggest dream, this list is one of my favourite. You can find the original list at this link:

http://www.bfi.org.uk/news-opinion/news-bfi/features/10-great-american-road-trip-films

Here are the 10 great American road trip films:

The Hitch-hiker (Ida Lupino, 1953)

Five Easy Pieces (Bob Rafelson, 1970)

Duel (Steven Spielberg, 1971)

Two-lane Blacktop (Monte Hellman, 1971)

Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973)

Starman (John Carpenter, 1984)

Something Wild (Jonathan Demme, 1986)

Thelma & Louise (Ridley Scott, 1991)

Sideways (Alexander Payne, 2004)

Old Joy (Kelly Reichardt, 2006)

Check On the Road, the book review, at: 

http://artbookscinema.blogspot.it/2013/03/what-shall-i-read-today-part-3.html