MovieChat Forums > Ice Station Zebra (1968) Discussion > The music...

The music...

posted 16 years ago by kevinsmithf1master02
10 replies | jump to latest

Providing the music was Michel Legrand, an extremely unusual choice, since he was really only very well-known in America as a composer of easy-listening romantic music at the time. His music can be appreciated in one of two ways: (a) by listening to the extremely enjoyable album, full of big, majestic strokes and rousing themes; or (b) by watching the film and rolling around the floor laughing at how truly inappropriate the music frequently is. (Even the CD album's liner notes concede that "the music seems to exist in a world of its own, percolating with storytelling values that do not necessarily coincide with the gritty espionage on screen.")

[–] silence_you_fools 15 years ago

Or to put it in even more simple terms, the music is £u*k%nG terrible.

The main motif is atrocious; I was already irritated during the ridiculous overture. The music really hampers the film.

[–] kramden66 15 years ago

I never had a problem with the music , very majestic with the sub and all , so while many complain i think its where it should be and in several parts theres no music and that is good for those parts, having seen various movies in the last 15 years to 20 years or more the scores in some if not most are so bland and unispiring they do nothing to help the film or the scenes and might be better with no score at all.

Mike

[–] Nilgiris 15 years ago

I was about to wright about this scores, but here it is:
Yeah this score is some of the worst I ever heard. I just got the film on dvd, and saw it for the first time since the 60-70's, and this terrible music S¤$@s!
It can be simple and even realy good as in "The Vikings", which are "very majestic with the sub and all" as one here said this films music is. But it's not even close to be a little "great".
Thees tones are realy ignoring and make my toes fold.
But I like and enjoy the film then, as a kid, and now, and I like the book. You can like bouth as two different things. No problem. Like "Papillon". Bouth are great but not eksatley the same.

[–] StuOz 12 years ago

I welcome all views but am surprised by some.

I love the music, I would even say the grand score is 80% of the film's appeal. I admit it a loud score, perhaps too loud for some, but that is how I like my film's to be: loud.

I am guessing the younger viewers might think the music is very unusual compared to what we get in 21st century cinema. But that is how it was done in the 1960s.

[–] TVholic 11 years ago

I liked the main theme, even if it's a bit overused in the movie. Then again, I do miss the orchestral scores of old. Nowadays, movie music is just so forgettable. I can't remember a note from any movies in the last ten years or more.

[–] a_l_i_e_n 11 years ago

I think the score is quite good; at times even great. The music during the first appearance of the satellite, for example, is especially cool.

[–] suepinkerton-95740 9 years ago

Anything written by John Barry would have been better than this schmaltz. It was supposed to be the cold war, and Barry knew how to show menace and suspense in music, watch Goldfinger, for instance. That was the 60s.

[–] richard-III 10 years ago

Hm. I quite liked the music, while watching the movie on a big screen - it enhanced the atmosphere of awe, coldness and claustrophobia. I also enjoyed the main theme.

Evan when I first saw Ice Station Zebra on a small tv, I loved this film.

"I don't discriminate between entertainment
and arthouse. A film is a goddam film."

[–] gittes98 10 years ago

Yes, the LaGrande is completely inappropriate for this movie. As another poster stated, the composer, like Henry Mancini was known for his big gushing romantic themes that could easily play on the radio(The Thomas Crown Affair, Summer of 42, Yentl) A movie like this needed someone like John Barry, Jerry Goldsmith,or maybe even Lalo Shiffren, (but NOT Maurice Jarre) to pump some kind of excitement into it. The theme sounds fine when heard on the radio or Galaxy, just not combined with this movie.

[–] suepinkerton-95740 9 years ago

Within the first few bars I knew whoever had allowed this music to be used was either having a laugh, as we say in the UK, or had no frikkin' idea. This is supposed to be a cold war film, and they gave us Sound of Music type themes.
Ridiculous.