Author Archives: admin

Sydney Pollack – a filmmaker with a great sense of music

Posted on July 1, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett Music has been an intrinsic element of filmmaking since the silent era but not all filmmakers have had a full grasp of how to blend it successfully into a production. Sydney Pollack, who would have turned 90 … Continue reading →

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Dave Grusin’s good and bad memories scoring movies

Posted on June 26, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett Great keyboard jazz player Dave Grusin, who turns 90 today, has written many wonderful movie scores including several for the late director Sydney Pollack, who told me, ‘He’s a chameleon, he can do anything.  His range is … Continue reading →

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KFMF marks Elliot Goldenthal’s 70th with his ‘Symphony No. 3’

Posted on May 20, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett American composer Elliot Goldenthal’s affinity with Poland and that nation’s cultural icons reached another pinnacle with his ‘Symphony No. 3’, which will be performed as part of the Krakow Film Music Festival’s ‘Traces of Memory’ evening at … Continue reading →

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Duane Eddy – meeting a rock legend in the shade

Posted on May 3, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett In the 1950s, Duane Eddy, who died on April 30 aged 86, was one of the American rock stars most popular in the United Kingdom. With his band the Rebels, his hit singles ‘Rebel Rouser’, ‘Peter Gunn’, … Continue reading →

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There are film composers and then there’s Elliot … Goldenthal

Posted on May 2, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett Oscar-winning American composer Elliot Goldenthal, who turns 70 today, said that the first time he saw the sheet music for Krzysztof Penderecki’s ‘Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for 52 Strings’ when he was 17, he turned … Continue reading →

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Songwriter Steve Dorff in praise of Clint Eastwood

Posted on April 21, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett American songwriter and composer Steve Dorff, who turns 75 today, has a huge number of screen credits including TV series such as ‘Murphy Brown’, Spenser for Hire’ and ‘Major Dad’. In a Q&A for The Hollywood Reporter, … Continue reading →

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Henry Mancini and the best strip club in London

Posted on April 16, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett A memory of the great film composer Henry Mancini, who was born 100 years ago today: London’s Soho strip clubs in the Sixties (so I’m told) were shabby and sleazy, compared to which the long-gone Raymond Revuebar … Continue reading →

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Going drink for drink with ‘Dallas’ star Howard Keel

Posted on April 13, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett In 1981 when he was 62, Howard Keel’s days as the star of great Hollywood musicals were long gone. He was living in Oklahoma with his third wife Judy when he received a phone call. ‘I was … Continue reading →

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The sad fate of Carolyn Jones, the original Morticia Addams

Posted on April 10, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett The Ringwood Music and Dramatic Society production of the hit Broadway musical ‘The Addams Family’ this week is the latest in a long run of versions of the original one-panel cartoon series created by cartoonist Charles Addams … Continue reading →

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Lauren Bacall, a friend’s death and a total eclipse of the sun

Posted on April 8, 2024 by admin

By Ray Bennett LONDON – Lauren Bacall was wrapping up the pre-Broadway run of ‘Applause’, the stage musical based on the feature film ‘All About Eve’, at Detroit’s Fisher Theatre in February 1970. After the final curtain in a nearby … Continue reading →

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