new music score
I watched Major Dundee with the new music score today. Didn't like it.
Anybody liked it?
He who lives by the sword will be shot by those who can't
I preferred it to the old one. I liked the way it began so up tempo.
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MovieChat Forums > Major Dundee (1965) Discussion > new music score
It's mediocre. I find the movie boring with the new score, to be honest, although I love the intro music and the Main Title. The old score's bad but in a fun kitschy way.
REPENT, you son of a bitch!
To me, the new music score is bad just on general principle. To do this kind of change decades after the fact based on the subjective preferences of some Peckinpah fanboys is IMO as ethically wrong as someone deciding to colorize a B/W film decades later. The Main Title song is of course, the wrong tone for the beginning but Daniele Amfitheatrof IMO has gotten a bum rap for too long from people who try to look past the flaws of this film that were caused by their hero, Sam Peckinpah and who wrongly see him as a 100% victim in the battles he had with the producer and studio. The fact is that Peckinpah has to bear just as much responsibility for not insuring that the movie had a coherent final section (the absence of a final scene back at the fort IMO is just criminal; the shooting script never had one so it wasn't a case of something lost by the studio in their editing) and no changing in the score is going to fix that problem.
Peckinpah I would note hated the score to "Ride The High Country" but his fanboys aren't trying to get that score changed I would note.
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The new score is better in tune with the atmosphere Peckinpah was going for than the original. The old score might have been fine for a John Ford picture but it didn't mesh well with Peckinpah's atmosphere.
shareI don't believe Peckinpah's vision on this point is entitled to that kind of deference because truthfully, it was Peckinpah who screwed up the picture most by not making sure a final act was written that provided some narrative cohesion and conclusion (like having Dundee and the others return to the fort and letting us find out if he was hailed as hero or disciplined for excess action).
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I like it better than the original score.
shareI have now come to despise everything about the replacement score, especially now that the Peckinpah fanboys who came up with it in the first place have now seen to it that the Blu-Ray will *not* give you the option of seeing the extended cut with the original score. In short, if you prefer seeing this movie with a score that reflects the era this film was made in, and was part of its production history, you are forced to watch a compromised cut of the film minus the key scene that (1) explains just what the heck are they doing to finally take on on the Apache AND (2) clears up the mystery of what happened to the scout and whether he was a traitor or not.
Giant thumbs down to Twilight Time for this condescending approach (and a bigger thumbs down to those who came up with the replacement score in the first place; I suggest that in the interests of consistency they get the score for "Ride The High Country" replaced since Peckinpah was also known to hate that).
I too preferred the original music score. The new one was almost comedic in certain parts. I was like What?
shareMy recommendation for sticking it to the fanboys is don't buy the Blu-Ray, stick to the DVD which lets you see the extended cut (which has a better narrative) with the original score. In short, you get to see the original preview cut from 1965 as it properly should be seen.
shareI hate the new music. it clashes with the film-not enhance it. I have the DVD but I don't see anything on it about the extended cut with the original score. that would be ideal.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain (Isaac Asimov)
The Blu-Ray does not have the option of extended cut with the original score but the DVD release does. Switch audio tracks and you will find it there.
shareJust reading your comments today for the first time and I couldn't agree with you more. I've loved the movie since first seeing it in 1966 and the new score just does not fit. There is no sense of excitement whatsoever. I got the impression I was listening to a score for an old silent film. Glad to see I'm not the only one so viscerally opposed to it.
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