It takes me back to my high school days . One off my friends father who was a private investigator and once in a while we could ride along with him tracing a unfaithful husband what a life altering experience one off my friends became a famous private investigator and he would take me with him and we met a lot off Hollywood actors. This took me back in time after my experience 1957- 1965. Chinatown we knew it we’ll .⛩.
I guess everyone knows the story about how Uan Rasey recorded this after he had just come back from a two week vacation. The backgrounds had already been recorded and he sat in a booth and recorded his part separately. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-1dI4a5GC-no.html
This score/song Chinatown has literally ruined me from listening to any other soundtrack. I get goosebumps when listening to it. I saw this movie in 1976 when i was 14, I am now 57 and I still love this song. It set the bar. It is the soundtrack that all other soundtracks should attain to be. Which is a beautiful piece of work........."A Masterpiece". Peace and love. 🎶🎶🎶
@@rubenenrique8823 That is lovely as well. I guess it all depends on what moves you. You, as well as many others on this thread have wonderful taste when it comes to theme songs. Someone else (A) mentioned the theme from Mullholland Falls which is also a nice piece of music.
My entire body chills when I hear this theme, Jerry Goldsmith a genius among his peers , there are others but Goldsmith , where again he makes you FEEL the story , and this story line, script , written by Robert Townes back in the 70’s and Robert evans , this was their baby, Evans highly protective of getting this movie made , remember reading (I’m a movie buff I don’t forget movies that leave an emotional impact on me) Dunaway was somewhat hesitant to do the movie as I remember but Evans had a way how to handle Dunaway , Nicholson being good friends with evans had no problem doing the movie thus making ( the entire cast included) a masterpiece in my top 10 favorite all time movies for sure, the story is what got to me, plus this absolutely haunting music , so beautiful makes you FEEL the movie and the tragedy that unfolds, the music, the script, the cast , simply a masterpiece. Dunaway , beautiful in the movie , Nicholson the handsome tough P. I, in the movie worked so well together understatement I know but brilliant movie thank you Jerry for leaving us such gorgeous music.
Maybe, maybe not, as there are a lot of great film noir/neo-noir soundtracks around! e.g. "Body Heat" (1981): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Hn1sKPeT4to.html or "Taxi Driver" (1976): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KxGwvJPycwo.html or "Blade Runner" (1982): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--wBkKED42oo.html
This theme is so evocative of nostolgia, love and loss. Its an amazing composition. It starts with that magical trumpet solo that hugs you like your lovers smile from an old photo and transitions at around 1:35 with the violin progression that almost says "oh well it was sweet, but long gone". wow what power.
of corse! although saying that most of his work gives me such feelings even if the drums are heavy like Along came a spider, just an incredible soul that shines through in all his work.
It's not really beautiful it's more like melancholic, haunting, dirty and a little bit depressing, which really fits the film. Apparently Goldsmith told the MGM chief trumpet player Uan Rasey to "play it sexy - but like it's not good sex!"
Chinatown is one of my favorite movies. This soundtrack captures the essence of the film. Im always amazing of composers that can see visual art and make music to complement it. Bravo Jerry Goldsmith.
Did you know that Jerry Goldsmith was only hired by Bob Evans after the initial composer first shorter more Avant guard film score was hated by everyone who screened the movie? And he only had around two weeks to score and film.
Godfather, Taxi Driver, and these are among my most favourite theatrical scores. I hope one day I will be part of the movement to revive this style in a refreshing but honourous manner.
yotoronto12 i have had the idea running around in my mind of a place that celebrated what amazing works of art these films are. A library of such significance and care that one could spend hours there. A library that showcased all the amazing talent that makes these films and can teach others their amazing craft. Its still an idea and a dream but who knows.
10 days! I just listened to the making of Chinatown on the excellent "what went wrong" podcast. He stepped in after another composer produced something unacceptable.
Today would have been the 88th birthday of Jerry Goldsmith. There could not be a better moment to remember him with a requested score, which became famous as the score that has been written in 10 days. Enjoy the film version tracks to Roman Polanski's milestone movie!
Appreciate this SO MUCH. This is my favorite of Goldsmith's and one of my favs of ALL TIME. It stands for so many things to me. REAL movie scores. REAL films with REAL soundtracks. Nicholson, Polanski, Huston. A different time, a different day. When men were men. When we could call a ts a ts, and an F an F. When men could have a drink in the afternoon. When public education and teachers were something that was RESPECTED. When young adults got a 4-year degree face-to-face in person.When movies could have a melancholy ending and not be wrapped in a pretty bow and we saw the pragmatic realities of the human race. When you actually WANTED to open a door for a woman and WANTED to hold the door open because she was graceful, soft-spoken and didn't weigh 300 pounds. Oh well. Now we have the 1s and 0s of binary code. SO MUCH FOR THE THINKING MAN. Enjoy the video games millennials. God hope someone enjoys this shallow culture.
I had the privilege of watching Jerry Goldsmith conduct an orchestra on the Paramount scoring stage when I worked there. The score was for "Congo." My boss, a soundtrack fan and connoisseur, brought her original "Chinatown" vinyl, which Mr. Goldsmith gladly and graciously signed (this was before it was even available on CD). A giant of the industry - but also a gentleman. A wonderful memory, which hearing his great work always conjures. Thanks for this suite!
Bravo to Jerry Goldsmith. This haunting, evocative score to Chinatown ranks ninth on the American Film Institute's list of the top 25 American film scores.
One of the most beautiful "Black Movies" brought to the screen, becoming cult like "The Big Sleep", "The Maltese Falcon", "Mean Streets" or "Taxi Driver". All these films have an essential particularity, the musical composition which fits perfectly with the general atmosphere of the movie, the theme, the characters, the places, the detective story, the time and Jerry GOLDSMITH is one of the greatest composers in the history of cinema who is a past master in this genre. You never come out unscathed after seeing a Masterpiece like this, the film and its heavy atmosphere with its pathetic or tragic characters will continue to haunt you long after... Music has an essential part in the success of a Masterpiece like "CHINATOWN", I listen to it regularly to immerse myself in this dark, strong and nostalgic story of a definitively bygone era...
My vote for the best bad guy ever. "You see, Mr. Gitts, most men never have to face the fact that under the right circumstances, they're capable of... anything." Absolutely perfect. (though I doubt I got the actual quote perfect.)
@@randywest1185 A desperate criminals way of moralising his immorality through the attempt to bring everyone down to his own level and make moral men his equals.
Thanks. Even more astounding when you consider he was brought in at the last minute to replace the previous composer, Phillip Lambro. "Chinatown" also has the greatest original screenplay ever written, IMO. Cheers.
Pure unadulterated class. Goldsmith was a musical genius. His quality of work never wavered. An incredible artist. There will never be another like him.
Uan Rasey’s soaringly beautiful and flawless trumpet over these achingly beautiful strings is so perfect I just sit here and weep over the beauty of it. Why is his name not known to everyone?
One of my all time favorite scores from a great composer. Jerry was wonderfully influenced by great classical composers like Bartok. Listen for a section that sounds very close to Bartok's "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta." I love the fact that Jerry used a lot of "contemporary" effects but always for a MUSICAL reason.
What impressed me about Goldsmith was his restraint. He could've easily indulged his ego and filled a film with wall-to-wall music as Korngold and others would've. Instead, he'd be handed a three-hour film like "Patton," compose forty minutes of music and call it a day. No need to compose a ton of music just because the film was a long one.
Just love the score to this film. Such a beautiful jazzy piece of music there. That's 1 thing I liked about so many 70s films, was the urban/metropolitan/jazzy overtones in them ....
Jerry Goldsmith also did the music 🎵 for two animated feature films 🎥: The Secret of NIMH (1982) and Mulan (1998). Those sound very ideal choices to add to your list, don’t you?
Years ago, the snobby film music reviewer for the little magazine, Films in Review, discounted Goldsmith's superb score for Chinatown because it replaced that film's original score. That guy was Page Cook. But hey, Goldsmith's score for Legend was thrown out and replaced with Tangerine Dream dreck.
Thank you, Fred, this is a great compilation. I have the 1974 vinyl as well as a CD, this is my all-time favorite film score, but it's nice to have this condensed version!
Iconic score, much in the same way his work on ALIEN was. You can’t think of the movie or experience it fully without the precise work he wrote for each respective film. True genius.
I don't know the exact reason why the previews of 'Chinatown' weren't working. I assume that the original music didn't key the audience into where the film was ultimately headed in the way that Goldsmith's replacement score did from the opening credits onwards. I haven't heard that score (beyond what is in the original trailer). The first time I saw 'Chinatown' on TV when I was about 13, I could tell that nostalgia mixed with tragedy was the feel of the film from Goldmsith's main theme opening.
Canny, sexy, contemporary (70s) - especially the "Jake and Evelyn" track - but oh-so-referentially mid-war, and clever as hell (has anyone noticed that around the 1:25 mark, there is this brief, reverential nod in the melodic phrasing/string arrangement to David Raksin's "Laura"; it's fleeting and elusive but it's there). And whenever a composer uses a harp, that most misunderstood of instruments, well, it's just bloody marvellous...and Goldsmith's use of the harp here is bloody, bloody marvellous.
Sounds like more legend than reality. Factoring in the details of making scoring decisions and depending on how much he contributed to the orchestrations, two days seems unrealistic.
I read 10 days to score the movie, including recording. The composer that Goldsmith replaced at the 11th hour was Phillip Lambro who called the Oscar nominated score "television music". There has probably never been a movie score that so perfectly matched the picture.
The story is that Robert Evans (the producer) contract Phillip Lambro (as @Charon58 wrote) but Polanski wasn't very satisfied with the score, so he contacted with his friend and European composer, Bronislau Kaper. Finally Polanski reach an agreement with Goldsmith. Goldsmith composed this score in nine days, (its a small period of time as well) to compose this perfect score.
