Klarinet Archive - Posting 000603.txt from 2002/12

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] More clarinets in movies
Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2002 09:32:23 -0500

More clarinet playing in the movies: "The Rocketeer" (1991, available on DVD
and VHS), directed by Joe Johnston, is an adventure tale set in the late
1930s. It's about a young barnstorming pilot (Bill Campbell) who
accidentally acquires a back-pack rocket that mobsters stole from Howard
Hughes. The mobsters work for a sleazebag actor, played with slimy panache
by Timothy Dalton. The villainous actor turns out to have a more sinister
motive than mere greed.

Elmer Bernstein composed the excellent original music, but the soundtrack
also features several classic Artie Shaw numbers, mostly in scenes that take
place in a ritzy nightclub where the sleazebag tries to seduce the hero's
girlfriend in order to, uh, pump her for information. A young actor stands
in for Shaw, leading the band with his clarinet, but that's authentic Shaw on
the soundtrack. Though the movie isn't remotely realistic, I think it's fun.
(Dalton's character, exposed and confronted, protests, "I wasn't lying, I
was *acting*!")

Lelia

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