anyone else hate 1960's Westerns & WWII movies with modern music soundtracks?

[green papaya]

something I cant stand about a lot of the 1960's - early 1970's movies is they often have terrible music soundtracks that dont go well with the era the movie is about.

here are a few examples of movies with really cheesy music sound tracks that dont match the era of the old west or WWII movie

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, that movie had a lot of weird music and songs that were more like sounds like "LALA LA, LA LALA" typical hip 1960's music style, almost sounds like old grocery store music.

WWII movie called "ANZIO" starring Robert Mitchum, the movie had a lot of Las Vegas show type music that didnt go with the WWII story , sounded too festive and happy for a WWII movie.

KELLY's HEROES, the song at the beginning and the end of the movie had such a 1960's hippy or modern sound that didnt go with WWII / DDAY era movies.

plus all the actors had long hairstyles that were not military regulation, especially Clint Eastwood, his hair was too long, more like 1970's hairstyles than 1940's.

only guys that had a regulation hair cut were Don Rickles and Telly Savalas

 

[green papaya]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlzNZ5oj3so

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid sountrack

 

[tonyb]

James Caan, as Santino Corleone in that gangster movie whose name escapes me right now, had a hairstyle quite unlike what might be expected on a man in the period the film portrayed. It bugged me back in 1974, and it bugs me still.

I try to keep in mind that period pieces typically more reflect the sensibilities of the period in which they are produced than those of the period they are portraying. Consider "Mad Men," for instance. The show is "about" the 1960s, but it is undoubtedly a "contemporary" TV show.

 

[AmateisGal]

In a word, yes - I hate it when the music doesn't match the time period of the movie. Given that, though, I think the '60s was an exercise in "bucking the system" on nearly every front.

 

[Warden]

with you on this one

 

[tonyb]

I figure it's all make-believe anyway. Fantasy. Which is not to say that fiction isn't powerful. It often has more influence than "reality." But it's best never to lose sight of it never being objectively true. Modern music used in a movie "portraying" the Wild West? Okay by me. Most of what we "know" of the Wild West is fiction anyway. But is sells boots and hats and pickup trucks. And ideology.

I might hold documentary films to a different standard, but even the most fair-minded, evenhanded documentarian has a personal history and a point of view.

I admit, though, to being annoyed by "reality" TV (American Pickers, Pawn Stars, etc.) with setups that are so obviously set up that a reasonably savvy 12-year-old can see through them. I used to watch those shows, mostly on account of my liking old stuff, but it's been quite some time since I've tuned in.

 

[tonyb]

By the way, I like the music from "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid." Burt Bacharach. Great stuff.

I've read reviews of that film that call it things like "the quintessential 1960s movie." Yup. Superficially, it might have "been about" a couple of Wild West outlaws, but really it was about a pair of free-spirited rogues, a type much in favor in 1969.

 

[Fading Fast]

While I love "The Big Valley" as a '60s Western TV soap opera, it is so infused with '60s style (hair, clothes, colors) and '60s politics that it is a Western in a half-hearted way - at best - only. But as a big ball of '60s TV cheese - quite enjoyable.

 

[DNO]

I've always enjoyed Kelly's Heroes...and its music. That's probably because I view it as a comedy, not a 'war movie'. Anzio, on the other hand, was just a lousy movie. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid has not aged well...you had to be there for that one. Like everyone else at the time, I thoroughly enjoyed it. Now...I find it tedious.

Movies are a product of the time in which they are produced and have to be seen in that light. Rigid adherence to authenticity is sometime just not a matter of concern and I suspect the use of contemporary music is a reflection on the desire of the producers and director to make the film, particularly westerns, more appealing to modern audiences. And yes, often it doesn't work...but sometimes it does.

 

[AmateisGal]

While I love "The Big Valley" as a '60s Western TV soap opera, it is so infused with '60s style (hair, clothes, colors) and '60s politics that it is a Western in a half-hearted way - at best - only. But as a big ball of '60s TV cheese - quite enjoyable.

This is the same thing that annoys me about Hogan's Heroes (which I utterly adore, BTW). I just can't figure out why they couldn't get the costumes right. Limited budget? Sure. But hairstyles for the women didn't have to be beehives!

 

[MisterCairo]

Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head is often cited as being a) a great song and b) oddly out of place in BC&TSK. I have to agree with that one.

Having said that, I've seen movies and tv shows with music that doesn't match the period that nevertheless works IMHO. The opening theme to Boardwalk Empire, for example.

I guess my answer to the OP is - it depends!

 

[green papaya]

Duck you Sucker! Western movie 1971 theme song

here's a odd sounding theme song from the Western "Duck you Sucker" 1971 starring Jame Coburn

it almost sounds like a European / French song?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3zeDRBf85s

 

[plain old dave]

I have heard it said that you can tell how old somebody is by what era of John Wayne movies they like. For my movie ticket, the Duke was at the top of his game in the 60s and 70s.

The Alamo
The Comancheros
The Longest Day
McClintock! (my wife's favorite)
In Harm's Way
The Sons of Katie Elder
The War Wagon
The Green Berets
True Grit
Chisum (1970, still the 60s)
Rio Lobo (1970, still the 60s)
Big Jake (admittedly 1971, but was made in 1970 and no mathematical series can begin with a 0)

 

[Lean'n'mean]

I like the 60's westerns with quirky soundtracks. Leone's collaboration with Ennio Morricone led the way.Westerns had been picked up, dusted off & dragged into modernity caterwauling & many became art forms in their own right with experimental filming techniques & of course off beat soundtracks which became an integral part of the veiwing experience.. The fim scores were often better known than the movies themselves.
If we consider such movies as entertainment reflecting the time period they were made rather than as historical documents of the time period they were set in, we might be able to appreciate them more.

We all remember " Raindrops keep Falling On My Head' or the intro to' Django' but how many of us could hum the music to 'Shane' or 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence' ?

 

[Lean'n'mean]

here's a odd sounding theme song from the Western "Duck you Sucker" 1971 starring Jame Coburn

it almost sounds like a European / French song?

Have you never heard any of Ennio Morricone's work or seen a Leone western ? Yes it's italian with the great Edda Dell'Orso doing the vocals.

 

[Moviehats]

I just saw "A Time For Killing" with Glenn Ford and George Hamilton. The music was horrible and made me want to kill whoever wrote it and whoever kept adding it to the movie.

 

[MikeKardec]

Westerns have always been full of anachronisms, gosh it's only recently that efforts have been made to try to really nail down the actual details. Historically, the clothes were often just western wear from the era and they used all those crazy low slung holsters and such. Western town (with a couple of exceptions) were all designed to hide what was on the next back lot street over and look like just a few real towns did for only a very few years. But Westerns had always been the cheapo adventure film and, once they became more important, that style may have become endemic based on a tradition of cutting corners. Too many Westerns have existed in a "Rustler's Rhapsody" alternate universe.

Personally, I'd rather hear a completely contemporary sound track than some of the really silly banjos and horns "look how western-y we are" sound tracks of the late '60 and early '70s. I'm guessing that the silliness evolved from the "let's use Ricky Nelson and have him sing a song" mindset that appeared in the '50s. On the other hand, while a classical score works well for nearly everything, it is fun to try to interpret the genre a bit. The Spaghetti Western scores mentioned would be an extreme example ... but they were counterpoint to extremely stylized content.

I don't know exactly when film scores in general took on the modern ethos of trying to be subtle, some of the compositions in older films are nice but even when the music itself is beautiful and subtle they tended to mix it way too hot. Without doing any research I'd say that the time (late 1970s?) when more and more film makers started trying to get the details of Westerns historically accurate was also the time when scores dropped nicely into the background to perform the subconscious work they were really good at ... unless the goal was to have fun with it and get all up in your face.

The tradition of playing scores too hot (whether they were goofy or not) may have grown out of the limitations of mono tracks, optical sound (restricted frequency spectrum and dynamic range) and bad theater design ... basically the need to cram too much sound down too small a pipe. Scoring did get a lot less shrill right around the time when stereo, magnetic sound and uniformly good theaters started appearing.

As a kid I loved Kelly's Heroes but I did recognize it was more about what was going on down on the Sunset Strip than the WWII my Dad had fought in.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

John Wayne: The Shootist (1976)
I consider this movie absolutely his best.
Must watch it every time it shows up on TV.
HD

 

[Lean'n'mean]

John Wayne: The Shootist (1976)
I consider this movie absolutely his best.
Must watch it every time it shows up on TV.
HD

Yeah it was a good movie (it's currently on youtube if anyone is interested) & starred a very young Ron Howard who later went on to make an excellent western himself 'The Missing' ...can't remember the soundtrack though.

 

[Lean'n'mean]

As a kid I loved Kelly's Heroes but I did recognize it was more about what was going on down on the Sunset Strip than the WWII my Dad had fought in.

Kelly's heroes was just a promotional picture for the up & coming star Eastwood, it was basically "The Good, The Bad & The Ugly" in army gear.....a fun movie which didn't pretend to take it's self seriously........Shot in yugoslavia too, a country which no longer exists.