Why are there those weird science fiction sounds at certain points in the movie? It's part of the soundtrack, not a sound effect supposedly created by something in the movie, so it's not something the characters onscreen can hear (unlike "laser gun" sound effects, for example). It makes you wonder for a second if Martians are about to land out among the herd, and sort of changes the Western mood of the movie.
shareI actually liked some of the odd, otherworldly music that plays during the film. While a bit incongruous, I feel it enhances scenes set at night (such as the GREAT scene about 35 minutes into the film in which the men prepare to leave under the cover of darkness). Since these scenes were shot during the day, music such as the kind you've mentioned was needed to create atmosphere...and it works surprisingly well...there was no doubt in my mind which scenes took place at "night".
Then again, I'm a big fan of strange, ambient music in general...so it was a pleasant surprise to find some in this unexpected movie.
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The man who wrote the music for the film, Dimitri Tiomkin, like so many film composers, was fond of borrowing from his own work to create new ones. Those "otherworldly sounds" can be heard far more often in a film made a few years later, produced by River River's director, Howard Hawks, directed by RR's editor, Christian Nyby, called The Thing From Another World, in which, given that it's a science fiction picture about an alien invader, those sounds are most appropriate. Still, I like them in Red River, a film that strikes many moods, from comedic to film noirish.
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