Thursday, September 07, 2006

when excellent soundtracks happen to outstanding films



a consequence of playing a fair amount of Derek Bowie in the car has meant hearing his other outstanding musical achievement from the 1980's, This Is Not America. for the other outstanding achievement, refer to my Cat People post.

This Is Not America is the theme from The Falcon And The Snowman, one of the most accomplished, impressive films of the 80's, or any decade really. if you are not aware of the ture events depicted, fear not, no spoilers here!

Sean Penn delivers, arguably, the greatest performance of his career. sure, there are a number of films which can claim to contain his best (At Close Range, Mystic River, Carlito's Way all spring to mind), but this is the one which gets my vote. and, on the basis of this film, you can never, ever understand how or why Timothy Hutton more or less fell off the face of mainstream acting.

it tells of a time when America was seen as the bastion of freedom, the reliable, honest policeman of the world. it unveils the cracks in the foundations, what is really at the heart of the land as we know it now. this and perhaps Blue Velvet were, in retrospect, rather erudite in revealing the America which the world would see in years to come.

it is pretty easy to find this film on DVD. i suggest you do so immediatley.

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