Welshrogue

Following on from the thoughts about Whiteout and its western soundtrack, I started thinking about modern day soundtracks and comparing them to older movies and television.

In the 1950′s, 60′s and 70′s movie always seemed to have a recognizable theme. Just in the genre of wartime movies, you have memorable themes for Where Eagles Dare, The Great Escape, Bridge Over the River Kwai, Battle Of Britain, 633 Squadron, Lawrence of Arabia, and perhaps the most famous of them all, The Dambusters.

Westerns were even more recognizable, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, Magnificent Seven, the list goes on. Movies were marketed using the theme as a selling point. You could buy albums of movie themes, I had, or rather my father had one of wartime movies, and another of science fiction movies, I knew the themes better than I knew some of the movies.

Today, it is hard to name many movies that have a instantly recognizable theme, at least one that uses original music rather than a popular song. Is the theme from Avatar that memorable? What about Hurt Locker? Everyone knows the theme to Star Wars though! Perhaps part of the reason why movie soundtracks have changed is that today, if the movie is not set in space (unless its BSG) or something similarly other worldly, chances are that songs are being used rather than an orchestral soundtrack.

A good example of this is The Face ‘Stay With Me’ which seemed to be in every movie I watched a few years ago. Sahara, check, Wedding Crashers, check. When its used sparingly and with good taste, a song can become part of the movie forever. While not too many people remember or love Risky Business, Bob Segar‘s ‘Old Time Rock And Roll‘ is forever associated with that movie. Likewise anyone who enjoyed the original Police Academy will associate The Shirelles singing ‘Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow’ with the Blue Oyster Club.

Television used to have the music that would be played during every episode at usually the point in each period. Today, totally different, Jimi Hendrix singing ‘All Along The Watchtower’ has me thinking of Cylons. ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’ by the stones and ‘Baba O’Riley‘ by the Who both make me smiling as I remember the episodes of House they featured in. It appears to have become part of the formula for a lot of television series that in the last five minutes a song is played that is to convey the emotion of the scene. Its something that used to be done by music alone but it is now a song with lyrics as well just to make sure that the viewer understands that the lead character is sad or happy.

For this trend in television, I am glad to say that I blame Friends. How many episodes had a song playing as two or more of the Friends went through problems? Hell, the only moment from Friends I remember (not that I watched it that much) other than the infamous COMMANDO moment, was when Joey and Chandler were living in separate apartments (maybe they weren’t gay?) and U2′s ‘With Or Without You’ plays as they both sit in the window looking out into the rain, missing each other.

There are times when a movie or song makes you like or love a song that before you didn’t or perhaps you hadn’t even heard before. A great example of that is ‘Keep Me In Your Heart’ by Warren Zevon which was featured in Funny People. While I don’t mind soundtracks that only feature songs, Sahara has a great soundtrack of tracks by artists such as Canned Heat and Dr John, it would be nice for once in a while to have a movie soundtrack that is memorable and not taken from a hit album by someone or other!

Inspired by watching Whiteout, here are some books and movies that are set either at the top of the world or the bottom.

Movies obviously start off with The Thing from Another World and its remake, The Thing. Both benefit from the isolated feel and lend themselves to science fiction movies the The Thing from Another World inspired, Alien anyone?

Crossing over from book to movie was Ice Station Zebra, written by Alistair MacLean who also wrote Night Without End!

Duncan Kyle contributed Whiteout (not connected to the movie or graphic novel) and A Cage Of Ice, both stirring adventures set in the Arctic.

While Clive Cussler has written books that feature the Arctic and Antarctic, two of the best books I have read both deal with the Antarctic.

Dark Winter by William Detrich deals with wintering over (staying through the winter with no support) at a base where there appears to be a psychopath and for balls to the wall action, it can only be Ice Station by Matthew Reilly which features an ice station (obviously) as well as Marines, SAS, and french soldiers all trying to kill each other while killer whales and worse circle below.

If you can think of any that I have missed, let me know!

A US Marshall at the Scott Amundsen base in the Antarctic has to investigate the first murder on the continent but with the weather and winter closing in, she is up against clock to solve this before she is stuck on the ice for the six months of winter, six months where she may be stuck with a murderer.

Based on the excellent graphic novel by Greg Rucka and Steve Lieber, Whiteout stars Kate Beckinsale as Carrie Stetko, a US Marshall who up to this point has not had to deal with anything other than petty theft on the ice. Ms Beckinsale is often in movies where she appears beautiful, stunning and downright sexy. Luckily, or perhaps unluckily, for Whiteout she portrays her character realistically, so no obvious makeup amd apart from the completely stupid and pointless opening shower scene, there is no hint of sex in the movie either.

The Antarctic is very much like outer space, very little drive throughs and not too much night life so in many ways, Whiteout could have been set in space (apart from the lack of snow) and it feels in a way like a quasi science fiction movie because of it.

I normally don’t acknowledge the soundtrack unless it really really works well with the use of popular music. Otherwise to me, the soundtrack should just blend in well. The soundtrack for Whiteout would blend in well if the movie had been a western as the feel for the music was often very different to what you would expect and want for this kind of movie.

Whiteout isn’t a bad movie, but it is not a great one either. As someone who has grown up loving both books and movies set in snow and ice, I can think of several of both that are better, some supremely and I think I’ll make that a post of its own!