MUSIC


Does anyone agree with me that the music for this film is superb? It perfectly complements the film's elegiac mood. I haven't heard any of George Bassman's other scores, though - he deserves to be better known.

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yes, the music in Ride the High Country is absolutely wonderful; it also puts the viewer in a elevated, happy mood. How about some of the other music scores of that era from films such as Magnificent Seven and I know there are a few others like from Apache score. In 1961 as a pre-teen I thought this slow drum-beat guitar song was a treasure on the radio. I just remembered Hidden Valley Ranch dressing used Ride the High Country score in their ads for yrs. and still do. Nelson Eddy did a few western scores and I believe Apache was one. Most people love these really beautiful music! thanks, Arlene

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I just wanted to let anyone who loves the music to this film know that it has actually at long last received a release -- on CD from Film Score Monthly. They do a top-notch job on all their (huge variety of) releases, which can be found here (they only just released Bernard Herrmann's original tracks to this third score for Hitchcock, The Wrong Man):

http://www.screenarchives.com/display_results.cfm?category=317

Here is their main page: http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/
(you'll notice that for the past year their CD purchasing page no longer is based at www.filmscoremonthly.com as they've partnered with Screen Archives for storage and distribution (they get 6000 new albums in each month, and that took up more space than they had!)

Here's the specific link for Ride the High Country (paired with another MGM Western score by George Bassman, Mail Order Bride, in which he reuses the love theme): http://www.screenarchives.com/title_detail.cfm?ID=4046

Notice that if you click on the highlighted track titles, you will receive a Real Audio sample of the *entire* track -- in fact you can hear over half of the score this way, un-cut-up without spending a cent! They've also recently added a 1 minute sample from each track (if you click on the track time) in MP3, to give you a fuller overview and something closer to CD quality sound.

Just thought I'd give the heads up if you guys were unfamiliar with the best film music specialty label in the biz!

Yavar

(edited to update the links)

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Ride the High Country's music is one of the things that make this movie great.




Once Upon a Time in the West...there was a man called Sergio Leone

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The main theme is beautiful.

"When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

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I concur with your remarks completely. I do have to say at first listen I wasn't too impressed with the score but darn if it didn't grow on me and by the final scene I was very moved by it- haunting. Maybe at first listen it wasn't your typical western theme a la The Magnificent Seven (or even the tongue-in-cheek one in Blazing Saddles lol) but as you said it captured and complimented the tone of the picture and its uniqueness is actually a strength.

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Well, I'm going to register a few knocks on it. While the music works in part, say during the final gun fight, there are moments of no music, just the sound of the wind and birds and I find this quite effective, and there is one moment early in the ride up that I thought the musical cue was wildly mismatched.

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I should have said that by the end of the film I liked the main theme music- which I believe was played at least in part a few different times during the film. No doubt that many times in films a lack of music can be effective. I watched the film again and listened to the commentary and while they said the score wasn't very good and the film was over-scored (which I would agree with) they thought the theme piece was very good. Don't know the specifics but apparently Peckinpah for whatever reason didn't have final say on the score, because according to the commentary people he probably would have found it too much and would have made changes. Would be interested for anyone in the know shedding light on this.

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Don't know the specifics but apparently Peckinpah for whatever reason didn't have final say on the score, because according to the commentary people he probably would have found it too much and would have made changes. Would be interested for anyone in the know shedding light on this.


This is a very old post by now, but I'll offer the story since no one else has.

The MGM studios' incoming head of production (whose predecessor Sol Siegel had been very pro-Peckinpah and RIDE THE HIGH COUNTRY) absolutely hated what he saw of the movie. (Witnesses report that the honcho even slept through some of it.) The new guy fired Peckinpah and had him barred from the MGM lot, so it fell to the producer to oversee the final details of the picture's post-production, such as sound editing and dubbing/volume levels. Fortunately, Richard Lyons was much more congenial and appreciative than most of the combative producers who would darken Peckinpah's career, so he consulted the absent director frequently to let Peckinpah retain a degree of approval over remaining creative decisions ... over the telephone, which obviously was less than ideal. But at least Lyons tried, and Peckinpah had some input.

Since composer George Bassman's music was only recorded during this period, of course Peckinpah there could not enjoy the control he would have wanted. Like contributor turtletommy above, I too find the score's main theme attractive and moving, especially at the end. But while Peckinpah has been quoted repeatedly as having felt the HIGH COUNTRY score was terrible, I suspect that what he really objected to was the crudeness and lack of subtlety in particular cues such as that for the arrival at the Hammond brothers' camp, or the lead-up to the climactic gunfight. Those happen to be my gripes about the music.

Most great films deserve a more appreciative audience than they get.

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I agree. George Bassman's majestic orchestral score was very splendid indeed.

"We're all part Shatner/And part James Dean/Part Warren Oates/And Steven McQueen"

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