So....is the Tsunami CD worth anything?
It runs 47 mins, reportedly misses cues like The Veldt, and repeats others, and is missing the soprano vocal.

I love the idea of a planet where it constantly rains and the little safety igloos are destroyed and you have to find shelter before the rains kill you, but actually watching this idea in progress on film is something else altogether.

Again, the idea of tattoos that represent stories in the life of a guy who has had many existences is a great one, but it's just so much bookend in this film.

I've never read the novel but I have a feeling it comes off better than the film does, though I certainly don't hate this film the way the guy who started this topic does.

Bradbury had written a bunch of short stories and wanted them collected into a book. His publisher said that compilations weren't selling so well at the moment, and that he needed a novel. Bradbury invented the concept of the tattooed man to connect the short stories and call it a novel. He wrote a prologue and an epilogue, and little paragraphs at the end of each story. It flew.

From that collection

The Veldt
Kaleidoscope
The Man
and The Fox and the Forest

were dramatized for a radio program called Bradbury 13, done around 1981. They're marvlous. He thought so as well. They're available in various packagings from Durkin-Hayes audio. Look for little "Paperback Audio" kiosks. They also did A Sound of Thunder, Dark they were and Golden Eyed, Here there be Tigers, The Wind, There Was an Old Woman, The Happiness Machine, Night Call Collect and The Screaming Woman, which isn't available.

quote:

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Originally posted by Graham Watt:
When would Goldsmith get the chance (or have the desire) today to include a sitar in a non-ethnic score?

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Does EXECUTIVE DECISION count

You seem almost surprised that THE ILLUSTRATED MAN was a particularly dire movie. But, considering it was made during the late ‘60s, within a period of cinema history (1955-1985) remarkable for the high proportion of bland, unentertaining, lame, uninventive, unenlightened and unintelligent movies made, coupled with the fact that Jerry Goldsmith’s name is attached to the production (not that Goldsmith was a bad composer, only that his ‘choice’ of projects is now legendarily poor), and you already have two overwhelmingly compelling reasons why THE ILLUSTRATED MAN should be a failure.

Goldsmith’s scoring of THE ILLUSTRATED MAN is threadbare and simplistic, rather like the movie itself – it’s not Goldsmith’s ‘fault’, he merely provided what the movie musically required, anything more may have worked against the agenda of the movie – but, considering the dismal quality of the movie anyway, none of this matters. Though Goldsmith’s music is insubstantial and tedious enough within the movie, to listen to the music on the album is aural torture. The best use for Goldsmith’s THE ILLUSTRATED MAN album is as a crow-scarer.

There’s only one thing in THE ILLUSTRATED MAN’s favour – it’s not quite as yawn-inducingly dull and pathetically puerile as DAMNATION ALLEY. As Lou said, at least the Steiger movie had some potentially interesting concepts, the most interesting thing about DAMNATION ALLEY was the awfulness of the special effects, closely followed by the incompetence of the direction, the blandness of the acting, the witlessness of the script, and the derivativeness of the story – and that’s just the start of that movie’s faults.

By the way OHMSS76, as you say, Goldsmith’s use of sampled ‘sitar’ in EXECUTIVE DECISION is entirely as an ethnographical device – it merely serves as an obvious and functional illustration of the Arab terrorists, and did not form an integral part of the movie’s underlying musical character. Goldsmith merely threw it in as a functional musical device, though even the low-key use of the sitar here is to be welcomed having become so used to Goldsmith’s reluctance use anything other than strings, harp, flute and oboe during the ‘90s. The sitar does appear on the Varese album, albeit briefly. Having said all that, I rate Goldsmith’s score to EXECUTIVE DECISION as perhaps his best from the period 1993 through 1998 inclusive….enjoyed the movie too. Here are my thoughts on the score that were originally posted at the “Goldsmith’s LAST ORDERS” thread Dec 30 2000 -

EXECUTIVE DECISION (US 1996) movie ***1/2 score *** album ˝

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Originally posted by DANIEL2:

[b]OHMSS76
There’s only one thing in THE ILLUSTRATED MAN’s favour – it’s not quite as yawn-inducingly dull and pathetically puerile as DAMNATION ALLEY. As Lou said, at least the Steiger movie had some potentially interesting concepts, the most interesting thing about DAMNATION ALLEY was the awfulness of the special effects, closely followed by the incompetence of the direction, the blandness of the acting, the witlessness of the script, and the derivativeness of the story – and that’s just the start of that movie’s faults.
[/B]

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I must totally disagree with you on this one D, since Illustrated commits the most heinous sin of filmmaking...it's a deathly dull film with little point or "goal" with an ending that basically just stops.
Damnation on the other hand has an incredible,varied score which makes the movie seem much better than it is.
Of course it is cheesy, but at least one doesn't expect what sort of "cheese" will be foisted on the audience next. Then again, someone who is too highbrow would not appreciate these sort of things from this film.
Either way, Illustrated is more of a failure than most films Goldsmith has scored on many levels.
I'm not sure I understand your love/hate relationship with this composer, but I will say this...I don't worship everything the man has written, I only find enjoyment in most of his works.
Yes his 90's output was sometimes of a lesser quality, yet it is a mistake to ignore it altogether.

Best,
Sean

I have always loved Goldsmith's score to "The Illustrated Man" since I first saw the film in its original theatrical release when I was in high school (that should help date me, fellows). The film is a yawner, no doubt about it. Bradbury has never been successfully handled on film ("Farenheit 451 seems to come closest to working, but that has its problems too) and Jack Smight is nobody's idea of an auteur. What I loved about the score is how it works with the film. We've all got to remember that Goldsmith and Williams and Horner et al are not hired to write music that will sell CD's. They are there as part of a filmmaking team and the job of the music is to support the drama (well, or lack of it, but you know what I mean). If you see the film and hear how Goldsmith scores Rod Steiger's scene-chewing line readings in almost operatic fashion, rising and falling with Steiger's inflections, still maintaining his own musical integrity, you have to admire Goldsmith's amazing skills. The score was also experimental, incorporating some primative electronics (this was 1969, remember) and lots of Stravinsky-like harmonics. Okay, it's not "Planet of the Apes," but it tried very hard to catch the emotion and tension of the story, did amazing things with dialogue (anybody can score a car chase), and Goldsmith himself has always been very proud of this one.

I feel I should reiterate that I too am a great fan of most of Goldsmith's film scores, even some of those he has composed during the '90s, such as BASIC INSTINCT, THE RUSSIA HOUSE, TOTAL RECALL, THE HAUNTING and THE 13TH WARRIOR, indeed these scores represent some of Goldsmith's best writing from any period in his career. Not only that, I even like some of Goldsmith's work from the period 1993-1998 inclusive, especially EXECUTIVE DECISION and FIERCE CREATURES.

Fear not, you are by no means in the minority in your appreciation of Goldsmith's score for The Illustrated Man, in fact this is one which many people don't seem to have to go on the defensive about: it's qualities speak for themselves.

Re. the movie itself, well, it seems I DO now have to go on the defensive! But I really did think it was great too (the difference now is that I'm in the minority)!<HR size=1></BLOCKQUOTE>

I'll second that welcome! Glad to hear your opinions on this one soundtrackman
I thought the score was very well done, and your comment about pitching around dialogue is correct.
However, Maestro Graham....you are in the minority(at least with me! ) about this awful film! I beg you reconsider sir! lol

NP,Di Amore si'Muore(Morricone)

Ciao for now!
Sean