It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
Legrand used the NSNA theme as a cool or romantic theme, and it was ok. But the action themes are tuneless. His best was the cue as Bond rescues Domino on horseback.
Barry was offered NSNA wasn’t he?
And yes, an appropriate score would greatly improve Never Say Never Again. If you listen to the commentary on the DVD, director Irvin Kirschner describes some of the tracks Michel Legrand provided as unuseable. Forcing him to decide to use tracks written for specific scenes to be matched with others. That's unbelievable and it probably affected some editing of the film. This and the dwindling funds toward the end of the production explain the state of the film.
But with that said, I saw THE SPECIALIST once and I'll probably never see it again. Not even a great John Barry score would want me to endure the utter boredom that is the 1994 Stallone film. This is the same for other known turkeys like SUPERGIRL. I own the soundtrack for that and listen to that multiple times, but I never feel any urge to revisit it just because of the music. I imagine that would have been the same case with NSNA even if Barry delivered the best Bond score ever.
A good score only truly elevates a film when the film itself is already that good. They need to compliment each other. If it's terrible, I only want the soundtrack.
Agree with these sentiments. I don't think The World Is Not Enough or Die Another Day would've been deemed as better films had they hypothetically been scored by Barry. The same too can be said NSNA.
However, out of a musical career that spanned over 300 albums of film scores, pop music, and original orchestral work, this has to rank pretty near the bottom.
From what I can tell, he and the producers had disagreements about the way the score should go, Legrand favouring his typical lush and whimsy-heavy style while the producers wanted a more typical action sound for the score, and a "modern" synth sound for the title track.
At the very least, huge parts of it sound noticeably different to Legrand's scores that came both before and after. Much like NSNA itself, the end result feels like a somewhat unsatisfying mess made by a group of overqualified people.
I would almost have prefered it if Legrand hadn't compromised his own style and simply walked away and been replaced. His previous work suggests he could have made a really great Bond score, just not for the kind of movie NSNA turned out to be.
The best contribution of the SW films outside of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of The Jedi are John William's scores.
But enough of Star Wars!
For me, simply put - yes. I've nothing against Legrand, but this would make it feel a lot more like a traditional Bond film (Sean Connery and Thunderball plot rehashing aside), even without the use of the main theme and gunbarrel.
I'll compare that with AVTAK having a Barry score. Still a pretty awful Bond film in my opinion and it's my least favorite Barry score, so that part of it doesn't lift it any for me, so it kind of varies by case.
I don't think the soundtrack alone would have improved the movie, but I think it would have enhanced the movie experience.
Just watch this fan made attempt at a PTS NSNA complete with Barry score and gunbarrel. It makes it a complete different experience.
It is amazing how the music can really punch up a scene. I wonder who made the decision to the have the title track playing while Bond storms the fortress? Not a good choice to me.
That worked very well.
Unscripted writers Dick Clement and Ian Lafrenais
claimed in an interview that they wrote that opening training exercise as a pts, but it was probably due to the length of the movie that the filmmakers decided to put the theme song over it!
In any case, I seem to remember John Barry as stating that he was offered the NSNA gig, but turned it down out of loyalty to Cubby.
I like the title song as well. To me it's no better or worse than ALL TIME HIGH. When one is in the mood for early '80's easy listening cheese, look no further than the soothing, relaxing sounds of Never...............Never Say Never Again. Never..................Never Say Never Again.
But I love All Time High! Way better!
The theme for MR was offered to a few artists. Frank Sinatra and then Kate Bush were both offered and both turned it down.
What if one of these choices had been made. Who would you say was the biggest miss of the series? Who could have really made a classic Bond title song artist?
Can we envision Old Blue Eyes singing MR? What it would sound like? What about Kate Bush? I think of the three songs that Bassey did MR is frequently given short shift but it is a good song. What say you Mi6? What is Frank Sinatra or Kate Bush had recorded MR? Would it had been a bigger hit? Did we miss out on a more classic Bond theme song by not having these artists?