MovieChat Forums > Dust Devil (1993) Discussion > Something that drove me crazy...

Something that drove me crazy...

posted 17 years ago by chriscoates
5 replies | jump to latest

I saw this years ago. I'd liked Richard Stanley ever since Hardware came out and it got reviewed in Empire magazine.
I really like Dust Devil. It's got a really nice, different, vibe.

I'll tell you what set my teeth on edge though.

The signiture tune of the score - the one that sounds like a bunch of synthesized men all humming some kind of cowboy tune.
It's *awful*. I don't know what Boswell was thinking (I own the soundtrack to Hardware - he's capable of good work), and I can't believe no one objected...

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"...needless to say, I had the last laugh."

[–] neon_suntan 17 years ago

Boswell scored Hardware and one or two interesting other films, and because of budgetary restrictions on the movie it's not as orchestral sounding as it might have been. The OST's of hardware and Dust Devil are currently deleted, but fans of the films are particularly keen on them.

Stanley's 'Hardware' has some alarming shifts in tone from PIL to Ministry to disturbing snatches of dialogue especially the one that is from the strange TV show... but enough about Hardware this is the Dust Devil board...

I love the Dust Devill score, even the cheesy Country and Western tracks and the African A Capella track that sounds like it was done by Ladysmith Black Mambazo, but wasn't.

Interestingly the full OST also features a radio commercial for holidays, and though I can't be certain it sounds a lot like Richard Stanley extolling the virtues of "Sun Sea and Surfari" as he pronounces the "i" in Surfari with the long South African "ee" sound. Of course that isn't conclusive proof of anything.

As for the synthesized humming sounding like a cowboy theme this was eactly what the director wanted, he even pitched a Bushman version of Easy Rider once...

[–] chriscoates 17 years ago

Like I said, I like his work and I bought the soundtrack.

But that one refrain...it's not the fact that it sounds like the theme from a western that annoys me, it's just that it sounds so rubbish. And it's not because Boswell was on a budget - the original stuff he did on Hardware (and elsewhere) had quality.
I find that it detracts from the film; actually, I think it damages it.

If it was exactly what Stanley wanted then he was, in my opinion, wrong. It's synthesised cheesiness jars with the really well-crafted, ethereal, moodiness of the whole thing.

____________________________________
"...needless to say, I had the last laugh."

[–] neon_suntan 17 years ago

Wow... you really don't like it!

It's funny that all the bits you seem to hate about the score are the bits I really like. Mind I used to have loads of Tibetan Buddhist albums of guys chanting exactly like that :-)

I'm sure Simon Boswell was linked to the Dario Argento collaborators Goblin, but I'm darned if i can remember where I read it.

[–] chriscoates 17 years ago

Don't get me wrong, I like the world music. I went to WOMAD last year and had a great time.
The film didn't need cowboy music, is all.

I'll say something nice - the orchestral choral theme that's playing near the beginning and everything that happens when he picks up the first victim and then torches the house (and you can hear the bloke ranting on the radio)...all of that is genius.

Ah now, Suspiria. *There's* a soundtrack...

____________________________________
"...needless to say, I had the last laugh."

[–] Pineapples101 16 years ago

I will admit, it's the one piece of the score I really don't dig either.
It works ok at the end of the film with the sunset, especially when the drums and the piano kicks in.
But the sequence where hitch gets off the train and walks through bethany... the score just seems out of place. Im not a big fan of that scene, the close up of the boots walking... I dunno :(

On it's own a great piece of music (especially if you enjoy Leone westerns) but it just seems out of place in parts of Dust Devil.