I just saw this at the Williamsburg Film Festival, and whatever its merits as a movie, it was really, really hurt by that ridiculous jazz soundtrack!
This type of film requires eeriness...or brooding portent...not a cheerful, mind-numbing score.
The Thunder Child ezine
http://thethunderchild.com
I agree. The movie scared me as a kid when I first saw it. When I saw it last a few years ago, the soundtrack was just freakin' awful. If they ever come out with a remastered edition, maybe a new music soundtrack (or no music at all) would be a good idea.
Agreed, that music made me cringe.
shareThe score isn't lousy, it's fine. What you all really mean is it doesn't match your expectations of what should accompany this movie. But considering the scifi premise, love triangle and method acting, it works for me. It intentionally gave the movie a camp spin to make it more light entertainment, not deadly serious sci-fi. Like when they used noirish dutch angles in the camp TV series "Batman" - it's not a bad or camp effect in itself, but did accent the goofiness of the criminals.
Also consider the cultural context - "The Blob" was made a year earlier, and was very successful. It had a jazzy score in parts, young hip actors, and the question-mark after "The End." So it was all fashionable.
Picky... when one says the soundtrack to a movie is terrible, they are generally insinuating that the style and mood of the music did not work will with the film, did not enhance the mood or accentuate dramatic or comedic highlights, not that the music was in itself lousy. Very rarely is the music bad on its own. In this case, I agree, so to word it more carefully, the music in this movie is lousy for this movie (or just about any movie that doesn't have a Rat Pack member and takes place in Las Vegas). I don't believe that it was used to lighten the film, I believe it was stylish music at the time, easy to produce (possibly even needle droppings), and a poor decision at the time (it happens). The Blob was successful in its genre, but the music stunk there too. There have been many bad decisions made for sci-fi fantasy films over the years, to use 'current' styles that have been disastrous. For example, Legend with the Tangerine Dream score, and Ladyhawke with the Alan Parson-like score (actually Andrew Powell, a Parson protege), both horribly inappropriate and distracting. Btw, the special edition of Legend has a version with an Orchestrated score (by Jerry Goldsmith) that was recorded for the European release (at least I believe that's the story) that really boosts the quality of the film, a great example of how the right music can help a film.
shareWasn't being "picky" - if you'd never seen the movie but were checking it out here, the previous posts would mean the music was terrible, period.
The score style, what might be called crime jazz in retrospect, was used in many budget 1950s crime and youth movies. So it's mainly that aspect of "4D Man" that's being played up, not the scifi part (it's not "Forbidden Planet"). A good example is when Lansing realizes he can steal anything (takes an apple and tosses it away - ah, forbidden knowledge) and continues his further criminal behavior. The movie is mostly melodrama which the jazz accents (or over-dramatizes): strong subplots of romance, workplace competition and betrayal, and "brother vs. brother," especially the latter. The brothers were such opposites that even their research goals were opposing: one wanted something impervious while the other wanted something to defeat solid matter.
I accept the movie and music as a time capsule of pop culture, as well as enjoy it precisely because the scoring is so odd by today's sensibilities; it has a weird arthouse appeal.
Inre to THE BLOB music, many fans of that soundtrack (which is now available) would disagree with your "the music stunk there too."
>>>The score style, what might be called crime jazz in retrospect, was used in many budget 1950s crime and youth movies. So it's mainly that aspect of "4D Man" that's being played up, not the scifi part (it's not "Forbidden Planet").
I hadn't thought of it that way. Interesting. Still a mistake, I think, but an interesting rationsale for its use.
The Thunder Child ezine
http://thethunderchild.com
After the initial shock, during the opening credits, I kept thinking the camera would locate a radio being played, with the soundtrack coming over the radio, or some such device. Once accepted that the jazzed up score was part of the makeup of the film, it actually in parts worked quite well.
I remember as a kid, and having seen "The Blob" walking past the theater where 4-D Man was playing, I looked at the poster and thought, I want to see this. I never did get to see it, not until fifty years later. Funny thing is, it's not a "kid's" sci-fi at all. The adult aspects would have bored me to death, as a kid.
The movie, "Shrinking Man" had a jazzy score, of sorts, a mix of orchestral, with Jazz horn interludes. It was not uncommon for the "B films" of the time to have a jazzy score, It lent a grittyness to the tone of the film, this however was not the domain of the Science Fiction movie.The great scores of Bernard Herremman fit the tone of what one would expect from Science Fiction. Jazz was more hardnosed, and street savy, it fit so many "noir" films of the time. In this way, I consider 4-D Man a "noir" Sci-Fi.
Screw all you hippies, the music in this was all jive.
shareSomeone asked one of the great jazz artists (Louie Armstrong) What is Jazz? And He said, "If you gotta ask, you'll never know."
That being said, I loved the jazz soundtrack of this movie. It was one of the things I remembered most about the movie. It hit you and stuck with you making the movie a bit melodramatic but such fun.
Alex Michaels
http://www.prelude2cinema.com
I liked it too. It was very popular at the time for background music. I think it is suppose to be distracting because it is a thriller and the music gives cues about the scene. I remember that movie Anatomy of a Murder had a jazz soundtrack.
shareYes Anatomy of a Murder had music from Duke Ellington in it.
Alex Michaels
Prelude2Cinema
http://www.prelude2cinema.com
There's a general anti-jazz feeling on these forums. It doesn't matter the genre of the film either. I can watch a film with a jazz score, and almost guarantee I can come here and find a 3 page thread about how bad the music is.
I think it has to do with the general public's dislike of jazz, more than it does the appropriate use of the music in a given film.
I have to agree somewhat with the OP here.
The music is very off-putting and does not match the
theme or atmosphere of the picture.
It may have been popular at the time,
but unfortunately now it dates the film to a specific
era. It makes me think of movies where there are too many
scenes of "the kids" dancing in soda shops.
Now, please don't get me wrong, I love jazz. I think that
some films work well with this kind of soundtrack, and
as far as the quality of the music goes, it's not all that
bad in and of itself. I just feel an eerie, orchestral
soundtrack would have been more fitting and thematic,
allowing this movie to be taken more seriously.
Dude, I loved the soundtrack. Total 1950s cheese. Couldn't have been more appropriate!
shareits a million times better than the usual soundtrack of the 60s where there is one 2 minutes long track for every mood in the movie and it plays over and over again (like seen in amazing collosal man for example)
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"Common sense is not so common."
- Voltaire
Stow it, babs. I was married to one of those tracks.
You are an insensitive jerk, no offense.
[deleted]
It's totally inappropriate and it prevents the film from being as effective as it could have been. This mistake prevents the film from being a classic.
share