MovieChat Forums > The Sting (1973) Discussion > Great Movie ruined by Looney Tunes Music...

Great Movie ruined by Looney Tunes Music.

posted 11 years ago by Edwin_Phucker
22 replies | jump to latest

Was anyone else annoyed by the terrible circus music played throughout the film. It puts on circus music intended to be played at a fun festival thats not serious and very joyful and playful. The movie is the opposite of that. While its not exactly a "dark" film it is serious and requires u to pay attention to follow everything happening.

The looney tunes music is used for light-hearted comedy films or cartoons, not movies that require an adults understanding of the plot and narrative.

Any1 else turned off by this awful music? Is there something im missing?

1/10= Toxic
3= Disappointing
5= Ok
6= Recommended
8= Excellent!
10/10= Classic.

[–] DrakeStraw 11 years ago

Is there something im missing?

You are missing an appreciation for Scott Joplin. I love the music in The Sting and have actually skipped over dialog to get to it!

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[–] SidekickinWhiteFury 11 years ago

It won the Oscar for best music.
I believe the soundtrack album was successful.

[–] strntz 11 years ago

Yeah, let's not feed the trolls. If his name isn't enough to point him out, the content of his post should be...

It is bad to drink Jobu's rum. Very bad.

[–] romanticinsomniac 11 years ago

Looney Tunes Music !!!!!! LOL !!!

[–] Cuneo 11 years ago

The writer of screenplay wanted 1930's Chicago blues music for the score, but was overruled by the suits in charge. Joplin's music was from the turn of the century.

"Walked five miles to school and back, uphill both ways. No, really, I have pictures." MC Escher

[–] IcySpoon 11 years ago

Unfortunately, I think you're serious. I have no problem with the fact that you don't appreciate or even like the music however to equate "Ragtime" with "looney tunes" is to dismiss a seminal and extremely influential genre of music that influenced early jazz as well as classical music written after the 1890's ex: Debussy. Is that rating scale for your posts? If so, I'm afraid I have to rate it a 3= disappointing.

"Gentlemen you can't fight in here!" "This is the war room!" Dr. Strangelove

[–] binge_drinking 11 years ago

The music = 10
Your post = 1

http://tinyurl.com/nqdpspm

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] NewtonFigg 10 years ago

When I saw it in the movies, the credits said Music by Marvin Hamlisch. Scott Joplin was not even mentioned. Enough people complained about that, and Joplin is now credited.

[–] Synthia7 10 years ago

The music was incredible. I love Scott Joplin. It certainly shouldn't be dismissed by as "Looney Tunes" or "circus" music. I'm shocked by your poor taste. The soundtrack was perfect for the Depression Era and the music is actually beautiful.

I used to have all Scott Joplin's catalog but somehow lost it. Watching this music, made me want to buy it again. Sometimes when the tunes played, I couldn't even concentrate on the movie; I had to fixate on the music.

Edit: Shocked to hear that Scott Joplin was not originally credited in the film. Thanks to the poster who revealed that.

[–] FedoraDave 10 years ago

I watched this again this evening, and Joplin is credited for the piano rags in the end credits.

To the OP, you're pathetically ignorant when it comes to music. I began studying piano at the age of 4, and I was in my teens when The Sting premiered. It sparked an interest in me for ragtime music, and I'm confident in saying that Scott Joplin was a master of not only ragtime music, but for writing piano music. I've tried playing the piano rags of other composers of that era, and none of them were able to combine the melodic, harmonic, and rhythmic intricacies of Joplin's rags, but, amazingly, for all their inferior musicality, they're also more difficult to play!

Joplin's music somehow "fits in the hand" for a keyboard player. When attention is demanded of the right hand, the left hand is static, yet still contributing to the overall thematic structure of the piece. And vice versa when it comes to more demanding passages for the left hand.

Unless you're actually acknowledging the genius of Warner Bros. Studio's animation department (which I doubt), the denigration of ragtime music to "Looney Tunes" shows what a dimwit you are.

[–] saznack 9 years ago

You might be right, but all I could think was "I wonder if they would have made this movie with the same music if they would have known it would be playing out of ice cream trucks in 20 years?"

The music had the same effect on me, but in the opposite way: i was fixating on all the other types of music that would have been more fitting. It was a distraction. But I am glad you enjoyed it.

I like the original idea of blues music. A better fit in my opinion.

[–] J-Star 10 years ago

"Was anyone else annoyed by the terrible circus music played throughout the film[?]"

On the contrary... the Scott Joplin music is one of the parts that make this movie the masterpiece it is. It lends the right air for the 1930's setting.

Ok, granted the music is off by about 20 years... Joplin's time was in the 1910's... but it still works as far as placing us in the 1930's Chicago and believing the setting.

/J-Star

De gustibus non est disputandum

[–] 10 years ago

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