MovieChat Forums > Only the Lonely (1991) Discussion > Plagiarizing Oneself

Plagiarizing Oneself

posted 13 years ago by EllisFowler
5 replies | jump to latest

While watching this on the Fox Channel, I was struck by how much some of the music sounded like that in Doctor Zhivago (I also figured that it was meant to blare dramatically out of the surround speakers in the hellplex theaters in which it was released). Lo and behold, IMDb confirmed that the original music was composed by none other than Maurice Jarre. You'd think he could have come up with something more original after 26 years but at least I didn't hear "Lara's Theme" so I guess one should be grateful for small favors. Even so, I kept thinking I was going to see Julie Christie's face metamorphose from a field of daffodils.

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] EllisFowler 12 years ago

*sigh*
First, I meant it humorously. Second, one legally CAN plagiarize oneself (although it's not to that I referred): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fogerty_v._Fantasy .

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] EllisFowler 12 years ago

It would be harder to cite this as flat-out plagiarism than, say, Yoko Ono's blatant ripoff of "Makin' Whoopee" or George Harrison's of "He's So Fine." Let's just say it very strongly suggests Doctor Zhivago, which is how I picked up on the composer's identity. On the other hand, Bernard Herrmann (whose work, like Max Steiner's, is almost immediately identifiable) lifted entire sections of what he wrote for The Ghost and Mrs. Muir for use in his opera Wuthering Heights. And it seems to me he borrowed heavily from, as I recall, Ravel for Vertigo.

[–] 12 years ago

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