Great Soundtrack, Terrible Movie

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Question: what flicks are out there that are, objectively, average to terrible...

...but got much better music than they deserved?

 

I'll kick you off with a cheese classic. Naturally, when Star Wars hit the big screen, every damn studio wanted the next one.

And equally naturally, veteran budget schlock fan Roger Corman wanted a crack at it.

 

The result is Battle Beyond The Stars - aka Magnificent Seven... In Space, led out by Jon-Boy from The Waltons, Sybil Danning and her fabulous... er... outfits, Cool Hand Luke's Morgan Woodward unrecognisable under a lizard suit nicked from Land Of The Lost, a grumpy Robert Vaughn, and down-on-his-luck 50s heartthrob George Peppard - though his career was about to get revived in a major way. I love it when a plan comes together, y'know. 

 

It's definitely watchable. With a few cold Pan Galactic Gargle Blasters in hand.

 

But as well as being one of Rog's better non-Hammer outings, it's the first meeting between a young, eager cameraman / FX designer / production designer named Jim Cameron, and an equally scrappy young composer... and a lifelong friendship. You won't need to guess who after five seconds.

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Frostbiter]

Does Flash Gordon (1980) count?

[TheOtherTed]

I wanted to say Zardoz, but then I searched the soundtrack on Youtube only to discover that the starting theme is a vocal version of my favorite Beethoven piece that gets slowly eaten by mid-70s synth.  Never caught that before, but then I hadn't discovered classical music when I saw the flick.  Honestly not sure how I feel about it either.  It seems to fit the movie well enough, but I'm not sure I'd call that an endorsement.

 

In any case, some of you may enjoy it, so here it is:

 

The worst part is this actually makes me want to watch the movie again.  Does that make it good?  So conflicted.

 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by TheOtherTed

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

16 hours ago, Frostbiter said:

Does Flash Gordon (1980) count?

DiLaurentiis and co 100% lucked out getting Queen to soundtrack it, and it wouldn't be the same flick without it...not that Dino liked it.

AT ALL.

 

But the production was so far off into the wilds of insanity by that point the guy was halfway pazzo anyway.

https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/aug/17/how-we-made-flash-gordon-brian-blessed-mike-hodges-vultan

 

 

Highlander also benefits from some great tracks - including the one that's become Adam's big number - though it's mostly the mighty Michael Kamen's work on that.

(Weird note: Queen weren't the first or even fourth choice. Would have been a very different flick with a Marillion score...

...and what could Bowie have done with it if he'd had the time to do it?)

 

 

[Techwright]

On 5/3/2023 at 8:17 AM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

 

The result is Battle Beyond The Stars - aka Magnificent Seven... In Space, ...a grumpy Robert Vaughn,

 

Funny you reference Mag 7, since Robert Vaughn was one of the Seven.

 

Oh, I've had one of these in mind for years...YEARS!

 

King Solomon's Mines - cheese served with a side of cheese.  It's sequel , Alan Quartermaine and the Lost City of Gold, was cheese with a side of cheese served on a plate of cheese.  All this despite having Richard Chamberlain and John Rhys-Davies (who was the best part of the film, IMHO).  

 

But you asked for the music.  It was by Jerry Goldsmith. "Nough said.

 

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by Techwright

[InvaderStych]

 

 

 

 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

51 minutes ago, InvaderStych said:

 

 

 

 

 

Ah, I was trying to remember this one a few months ago. I don't know whether this was pre Anthrax vs Public Enemy, but a really fun and interesting soundtrack project... tacked onto a B- survive-the-night movie. Essential part of the Nostalgic 90's Kid Starter Kit.

 

3 hours ago, Techwright said:

But you asked for the music.  It was by Jerry Goldsmith. "Nough said.

 

...aka Jerry does Raiders, for a rip-off of Raiders, which was... a rip-off of King Solomon's Mines thrown in the blender with classic 40s/50s pulp serials.

It's got every Jerry signature in it you could ask for as well, brass triplets, big strings, sweeps...

 

...which brings me to a movie that I unashamedly love, for all its flaws: bringing back one of the OG radio-era and two-reeler superheroes.

Had wild fits of imagination and beautiful period-meets-steampunk (décopunk?) design. And Tim Curry.

Oh, and, of course, Jerry. (And a pinball machine that ate more 50p's in college than I should haver had sense for.)

But never quite caught fire in the way it should have.

 

 

Edited May 10, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver
Spelling fix

[Techwright]

3 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

...which brings me to a movie that I unashamedly love, for all its flaws: bringing back one of the OG radio-era and two-reeler superheroes.

Had wild fits of imagination and beautiful period-meets-steampunk (décopunk?) design. And Tim Curry.

Oh, and, of course, Jerry. (And a pinball machine that ate more 50p's in college than I should haver had sense for.)

But never quite caught fire in the way it should have.

 

 

 

Just Tim Curry? 

Oh, and its a dieselpunk design, though decopunk works too.

 

I think we've had a variation of this discussion before.  I'm crazy about the pulp-era/proto-dieselpunk heroes:  The Shadow, Doc Savage, Green Hornet & Kato, The Rocketeer, Sky Captain (the theme of which sounds so much better when sped up 25%), and...The Phantom.

 

Both The Shadow and The Phantom were movies that hit all the lore, but somehow felt a little lacking in the storytelling.  Nevertheless, I love watching the films, and both their soundtracks are excellent.

 

Doc Savage was, well, savaged.  In an world where "camp" reigned supreme, they created a movie which was the Doc Savage version of 1966's Batman TV show.  Sad, because Doc, cousin Pat, and the "Five Brothers" are such an awesome team.  The movie should have been something special.  Instead we got corny lyrics set to John Phillip Sousa (which is awesome music, but still). 

 

I will not discuss the most recent version of the Green Hornet.

 

There are two other movies that come to mind that fit the OP query:

 

The Black Hole, with John Barry's edgy, ominous theme:

 

 

and Space Camp, which had the double misfortune of (1) being a shuttle disaster movie set to release right at the time of the real first shuttle disaster and (2) having enough campy situations added in the story (such as a cutsy, fairly smart A.I. robot) that they decided to put a warning in the title (apparently).

 

 

Actually, that's a little harsh on Space Camp.  The film did have a goofy plot of a bunch of kids checking out the space shuttle and getting accidentally launched, and yes, the robot was goofy too, but the show did take a somewhat straightforward, if overly-simplistic look at what was needed to deal with a shuttle challenge in space.  But that real world loss left most theater-goers unwilling to stomach a fictional disaster as entertainment.

 

As to The Black Hole, it had an interesting plot, and a few interesting characters, but the pacing was a bit ponderous and one got the feeling that there were both a lot of rewrites, and a coin toss as to how the story ended.  It does have one of the scariest villains in live-action Disney movie history, though: the cold, calculating, and exceptionally lethal robot Maximilian.

Edited May 10, 2023 by Techwright

[InvaderStych]

8 hours ago, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Ah, I was trying to remember this one a few months ago. I don't know whether this was pre Anthrax vs Public Enemy, but a really fun and interesting soundtrack project... tacked onto a B- survive-the-night movie. Essential part of the Nostalgic 90's Kid Starter Kit.

 

A few years after; Bring The Noise was 1987. Highly under-rated soundtrack though. Well, not my favorite Therapy? track, to be honest, but iirc their involvement was sort of last minute and fraught; I forget the exact story.

 

One of these days I'll make it across the Atlantic while T? is still doing shows.

 

.... aaaannnyway ...

 

... there is another handful of early/mid 90s crappy movies that made interesting use of contemporary music resulting in better soundtracks than movies ...

 

... now if I can just remember the titles ...

 

🤣

 

 

[Trike]

How many of the Star Warses qualify? "Duel of the Fates" is an astonishingly great cue from an otherwise terrible movie.

 

I have a whole playlist of awesome movie scores, and there are a fair number of bad movies represented. (For a number of years I did movie and TV scores on Twitter under the tag #TrikeTuneTip, if you want to go down that rabbit hole.)

 

One of the all-timers in this category of Great Soundtrack, Terrible Movie has to be Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. The score is epic and magnificent, everything that Kevin Costner's peek-a-boo accent isn't.  Even more surprisingly is that it's by Michael Kamen, whose work I don't typically enjoy, but he crushed it here.

 

 

Another one is Treasure Planet. I actually don't recall much about the flick other than thinking "meh" at the time. But the score by James Newton Howard is spectacular, start to finish.

 

 

Oh, and John Debney's score for Cutthroat Island, the Geena Davis pirate movie. So good. One of my favorite movies of the early talkies is Captain Blood (I even had two characters named that back on Live), and it's pretty clear Debney was updating Korngold's score for that film. Which makes sense: everyone steals from Korngold, especially John Williams.

 

 

[Techwright]

6 hours ago, Trike said:

 

Oh, and John Debney's score for Cutthroat Island, the Geena Davis pirate movie. So good. One of my favorite movies of the early talkies is Captain Blood (I even had two characters named that back on Live), and it's pretty clear Debney was updating Korngold's score for that film. Which makes sense: everyone steals from Korngold, especially John Williams.

 

 

 

I'm still puzzled by the loathing of Cutthroat Island.  I saw it premier week, and thought it was a jolly good popcorn flick, nothing deep but entertaining, then the trashing from all sides started.  I mean, were they expecting Citizen Kane? 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Those of us who lived through the 80s and 90s will remember much worse movies than Cutthroat Island, some of which we might have even paid money to see.

 

Specifically, there were a number of musical artists who thought they could act or direct. Looking at you here, Madge, but also the mighty Prince. While Purple Rain's very watchable, the success of that flick gave him 100% free rein for Under The Cherry Moon... and may His Royal Purpleness rest in enlightenment and be praised for ever, but that flick just goes to show even genius has off-days. And that you need honest people giving you feedback.

 

However.

 

The OST album to Cherry Moon is better known as Parade, and sweet Freya in Asgard, it's as awesome as anything else he ever put out. 

Girls & Boys, Mountains... and of course, Kiss.

 

 

 

Speaking of which, it's not just musicians who grab the directorial chair and fall out of it. That same year, Stephen King had a crack at it with Maximum Overdrive. He's given a frank assessment of his skills on that over the years, and I think he's been a bit hard on himself. It's very, very silly and a bit clunky but ludicrously enjoyable for what it is - an updated 50s drive-in movie played at least partly for laughs. 

 

But... if there's one thing he did get right, it's hiring AC⚡DC. Who Made Who only gives you one original song and two of the instrumentals from the flick, but the rest is basically your AkkaDakka Fan Starter Kit (ute, mullet and ratty Collingwood shirt not included.)

 

 

Edited May 17, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[Dynamo-Joe]

Speaking of AC/DC - I know, I know... I KNOW this is objectively a TERRIBLE movie. But I swear by the almighty Wave-Motion Gun of Space Battleship Yamato that it damn well works FOR ME!  

BATTLESHIP - With AC/DC coming in along with the USS Missouri in the clutch!  
 

 

[Dynamo-Joe]

Also - the REST of the series was frankly execrable. But the FIRST live-action Transformers film in 2007 actually had some decent chops. And the soundtrack just KICKS. 
 

And of course - how could I mention THAT one - without mentioning the 1986 Version? 
 

Of COURSE it's a STUPID movie... 
But sometimes... you have to... 
DARE TO BE STUPID. :D
 

 

[Techwright]

Oh, we're going to pull TV animation movies out, eh?

 

Alright, weird sci-fi/fantasy storyline, but one of the best opening numbers in the animation-for-product-sales business: 

 

 

On 5/19/2023 at 2:12 AM, Dynamo-Joe said:

...But the FIRST live-action Transformers film in 2007 ...
 

 

 

Wait...2007?  I'm old 🤯😭

[MyriVerse]

Without ELO and Olivia, Xanadu would be completely worthless.

 

And to mention Prince, again, Graffiti Bridge.

[Dynamo-Joe]

On 5/21/2023 at 8:14 AM, Techwright said:

Wait...2007?  I'm old 🤯😭

Dude. 

 

I've been a fan of Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) since 1979. When people ask me "how old are you?"  I tell them that I am EXACTLY as old as the Star Trek franchise and that they can do their own damn math. 

 

I'm not just a dinosaur. I'm not just JURASSIC... 

 

I'm one of THE GREAT OLD ONES. 

IA IA SHUB RODDENBERRYAAH!!! 

 

[Techwright]

1 hour ago, Dynamo-Joe said:

Dude. 

 

I've been a fan of Star Blazers (Space Battleship Yamato) since 1979. When people ask me "how old are you?"  I tell them that I am EXACTLY as old as the Star Trek franchise and that they can do their own damn math. 

 

I'm not just a dinosaur. I'm not just JURASSIC... 

 

I'm one of THE GREAT OLD ONES. 

IA IA SHUB RODDENBERRYAAH!!! 

 

We're of an age.  I was actually born on the premier date of one of the original Star Trek episodes, one of my favorites.  I won't say which one.  Got to maintain a shred of dignity, still.  And yeah, Star Blazers was THE thing when it premiered here.  At least in my region the TV stations brought in Ultraman, Space Giants, and all the Godzilla-type movies at the same time.  G-Force, Robotech, and Voltron soon afterwards.

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

6 hours ago, Techwright said:

I was actually born on the premier date of one of the original Star Trek episodes, one of my favorites. 

One of my brothers still complains about being dragged away from Doctor Who to come pick me up. I mean, being born Saturday teatime, so damn inconsiderate to the fandom...

[Dynamo-Joe]

On 5/21/2023 at 10:13 AM, MyriVerse said:

Without ELO and Olivia, Xanadu would be completely worthless.

 

And to mention Prince, again, Graffiti Bridge.

Don't know about the latter. But Xanadu has been a guilty pleasure of mine ever since it came out. And totally agreed on ELO and Olivia. Not to mention Gene Kelly and... The TUBES???? 

 

(James Burke amused bemusement)  "I mean... what??" 

 

[biostem]

I rather like the selection of songs in Suckerpunch.

[Frostbiter]

20 hours ago, biostem said:

I rather like the selection of songs in Suckerpunch.

 

Definitely deserves to be on the list. The problem with Sucker Punch is Zack Snyder tried to tie all the action sequences together with a nonsense plot when he should have just cut each one together with a fade to black in between each time.

[Dynamo-Joe]

On 5/3/2023 at 7:17 AM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

But as well as being one of Rog's better non-Hammer outings, it's the first meeting between a young, eager cameraman / FX designer / production designer named Jim Cameron, and an equally scrappy young composer... and a lifelong friendship. You won't need to guess who after five seconds.

 

 

Thank you SO MUCH for re-introducing me to that film! I hadn't even THOUGHT of it in a couple of decades! It may be cheese - but if it's cheese, it's HIGHEST QUALITY cheese! *chef's kiss*

And it just so happens to be FREE to view on Youtube currently! 

AND AND... 

I just thought that for a sci-fi "bad but fun" movie double-feature for a themed party night, you can't get much better than pairing Battle Beyond the Stars with FLASH GORDAN!!!

I mean seriously! Same year, similar themes. The only way it could possibly have gotten any better would've been for BRIAN BLESSED to be in both films!  LMAO!!! 

[ThaOGDreamWeaver]

Similar idea to Judgement Night - the Spawn movie was objectively not great, even with John Leguizamo gurning frantically as The Clown.

 

However - if you can find it - the OST is a late-90s time capsule of metal and techno. The mix doesn't always work out - the Prodigy x Tom Morello and Metallica x DJ Spooky offerings are surprisingly tame for both partners.

 

But when it does, like the Filter x Crystal Method opener...

 

 

Edited May 30, 2023 by ThaOGDreamWeaver

[InvaderStych]

On 5/30/2023 at 5:59 AM, ThaOGDreamWeaver said:

Similar idea to Judgement Night - the Spawn movie was objectively not great, even with John Leguizamo gurning frantically as The Clown.

 

Good call! Had been meaning to swing back around to this thread to post that very OST.

 

👍