Last year, the great Italian composer Ennio Morricone died after a long and prolific career. He truly was one of the greatest composers working in film, and we will be celebrating him and his music throughout the coming months.
While he perhaps is best known for his collaborations with Sergio Leone, he wrote scores for many directors in a wide variety of genres. He was nominated for countless awards and was the recipient of two Oscars (The Hateful Eight [1] in 2016 and an honourary Oscar in 2007 "for his magnificent and multifaceted contributions to the art of film music."); three Golden Globes; four Grammys, and more. His score for The Mission [2] was given the AFI distinction of being one of the Top 25 Best American Film Scores of All Time.
Many of the films for which Morricone composed (what he called his "applied music") were epic in scale and are best experienced the way they were intended: in a cinema, on the biggest screen with the biggest sound.
The following is our upcoming screenings at the Playhouse. Tickets for these films are on sale at the links. Look for more films to come, including the Dollars trilogy, Days of Heaven and more.
Sept 24 & 26: Once Upon a Time in the West [3] (1968)
Oct 1, 3 & 7: The Mission in 35mm [2] (1986) Special Presentation: 35mm projection
Oct 16 & 17: John Carpenter's The Thing [4] (1982)
Oct 31 & Nov 2: Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage [5] (1970)
November: TBA
For an excellent primer and discussion on Ennio Morricone with Sir Christopher Frayling, complete with score selections, we invite you to listen to the highly-recommended podcast, Mr. DeMille FM [6], hosted by Hugh Cornwell.