{"id":176,"date":"2012-07-27T03:20:47","date_gmt":"2012-07-26T18:20:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tatsuyaoe.com\/blog\/?p=176"},"modified":"2024-10-09T19:41:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T10:41:26","slug":"great-sound-on-great-motion-2-the-taking-of-pelham-123-74","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tatsuyaoe.com\/blog\/great-sound-on-great-motion-2-the-taking-of-pelham-123-74\/","title":{"rendered":"Great Sound on Great Motion 2 – “The Taking of Pelham 123 (’74)”"},"content":{"rendered":"

While this isn’t an original cut from the ’74 film The Taking of Pelham 123<\/a>, the tribute footage on YouTube is a sight to behold. The editor’s skill in reviving the coolness of David Shire’s theme song<\/a> in a modern and creative way while maintaining its original role, significance, and atmosphere in the film is pretty impressive.<\/p>\n

As you might know, David Shire<\/a> is a prolific film composer who is especially famous for his music on ‘Saturday Night Fever.’ His work, along with other composers like Lalo Schifrin<\/a>, contributed to the rise of ’70s Jazz Funk music in the film industry. This genre might not appear so fresh today, but I believe Shire’s work was one of the first epoch-making attempts to synchronize funky ‘grooves’ with crime\/action movies, creating what we now know as the ‘Archetype of Cool’<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Watching this tribute footage, it’s as if the editor is reconstructing and reimagining the past archetype from a present perspective, utilizing the resources we have now. What’s truly fascinating is the editor’s remarkable ability to avoid ‘just another cliche’ and instead engage us in a fresh way that the original trailer didn’t.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I could only devote a little space to the music itself, but if you’re interested in the innovative techniques Mr. Shire adopted in this theme song, I recommend you Google’ 12-tone techniques’ for a deeper understanding of his groundbreaking approach.<\/p>\n