Bohemian Cinema By Jonathan Pacheco

Spaghetti Biblicals

Tags: Composers, Oscars, Musicals, Biopics

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and other Sergio Leones. The Untouchables, Mission to Mars, and other Brian De Palmas. Take some time and look at Ennio Morricone’s resumé—believe me, it’ll take some time to do so. These and many others are how the world knows this composer, and rightfully so, because he’s brought some iconic riffs and diverse scores to the scene over his many years, and he’s finally getting an Oscar for it.

But before I ever saw The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly and reveled in its brilliant music, I knew Ennio Morricone. Throughout the ‘90’s, TNT made a series of, oh, 7 or 8 original films based on stories of the Bible, more specifically the early Old Testament. Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses—you know the boys. These films were fairly well made, but had its share of cheesy scenes that became lore in my family. The budgets usually weren’t large, so there was usually one big name attached (Martin Landau, Ben Kingsley, Spock), and then the bulk of everyone else, predominantly the crew, was made up of Italians.

One such Italian was none other than Ennio Morricone. I didn’t know his legacy, I only recognize his name in the credits, because his name was in the credits for the previous film in the series as well. While his work was not as masterful as the classics mentioned above, it was respectable work. This is how I first knew Ennio, and his work was legendary.

---

Perhaps the Academy is starting to catch on. It seems that every year, we get a biopic, not restricted to, but usually chronicling some musician’s rise to fame and fall from glory. Said film will probably have at least one big star in the title role, and, while the performance may be commendable, it stinks of Oscar Bait. You know, the Ray’s, Walk the Line’s, or even to an extent the 8 Mile’s of the movie world. And it seems that every year the Academy is dying to take the bait.

A couple of weeks ago when the Oscar Nominations were announced, the big story was that Dreamgirls got the most nominations, but nada in the Best Picture category despite being a heavy favorite. News like this brings a smile to my mouth, but it was only this morning that I recognized what could be a pleasing trend.

I had completely forgotten that the same exact thing happened last year. The Oscar Bait: the by-the-numbers take on Johnny Cash, Walk the Line. The film, complete with childhood flashbacks, drug problems, and of course, music (one of the films few redeeming qualities), seemed to have a Best Picture nod in its back pocket. But alas, it was not meant to be, and once again, shockwaves were sent through the Oscar community. Okay, not shockwaves, but perhaps ripples.

Sure, Dreamgirls is bound to win a few statues on that Sunday night, at least one in a Supporting Role category, but I think the point is being made: biopics, particularly musical biopics, need to step up and start being more creative, more compelling, and more artistic. At least that’s what I’m reading into it.

I’m proud of the Academy for not falling for Dreamgirls, but rather falling for Little Miss Sunshine. Ideal? No. But it’s in the right direction, if you ask me.