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The Best Music in Film
Norman Jewison
(The Thomas Crown Affair, Moonstruck)
- S&S: What is your favourite film soundtrack music and why do you like it so much?
- "My favourite film soundtrack has to be Bernard Herrmann's score for Hitchcock's Psycho (1960). It literally creates the suspense and heightens the terror. Herrmann influenced so many composers, including John Williams. When you see Spielberg's Jaws (1975), you realise the influence of Bernard Herrmann. His score for another Hitchcock film, The Birds (1963), was also memorable. Every film he scored represents the power and contribution that a musical score makes to every film."
- S&S: In what ways does music best enhance a film?
- "The marriage of the moving image and music is perhaps the most powerful visual communication we have. You can take almost any edited visual film sequence and change the emotion and feelings engendered by the use of music. When I made Jesus Christ Superstar (1973) from a double LP musical rock opera score by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, I did not realise that we were actually making the first rock video. It was 1972 and I was trying to visualise on film the operatic musical score. It remains one of my best films from a cinematic and original visual concept. Music is as important to most films as is the written text."
- S&S: Which film either has music that you wished you'd written or is one you would like to rescore and why?
- "The most effective sequence of music in my own films has to do with Michel Le Grand's score for The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), a film I made starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. The song, 'Windmills of Your Mind' with lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman was used for the glider sequence and titles. It won the Academy Award for best song. This was Michel's first American film score, and I think the chess scene he scored, catching every cut and every body move was sensuous and it built to a fantastic climax. Of all my films, this is by far my favourite score. Totally original, an exciting mixture of jazz and vocalisation. Michel sings on the score and it really soars."