TOP 100 HENRY MANCINI FILMS: #80-71
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#80-71 of the Top 100 Henry Mancini Films
Moving right along now! We’re getting into some really, really amazing titles and ones that – welp – I just don’t understand how they scored so high. Either way, the music’s fine. Let’s roll.
#80: Sunset (1988)
In Sunset (1988), Tom Mix (Bruce Willis) and Wyatt Earp (James Garner) team up to solve a murder at the Academy Awards in 1929 Hollywood. I mean, that sentence says it all. Willis and Garner are acting in a manner that lets you know they are acting…and having fun while doing it. Sunset is a fun ride, but more in the guilty pleasure range as opposed to an Oscar-worthy film screening. It’s also one of my favorite discoveries in this grand Henry Mancini experiment.
#79: The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973)
Critics and Henry Mancini fans have written off The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973) as a good score but a lousy movie. I disagree. The film is delicious in all its deceit and the wonderful limitations of 1973 - fashion, technology, graphic design of onscreen titles, and more. And the score is classic 70s Mancini. So much fun.
#78: Peter Gunn (1989)
Peter Gunn (1989) is a modern take on the classic late 1950s/early 1960s TV show with touches of the 1980s TV show Miami Vice. This was surprisingly well-written and well-directed. Nice tongue-in-cheek noirish acting with, of course, that killer Mancini score. Fun watch. This is in my personal favorite Top 10 Mancini films and will be featured in an upcoming article I'm writing for Film Score Monthly.
#77: Nightwing (1979)
Nightwing (1979) follows the nature horror formula perfected by Jaws (1975) - a community (in this case, an Indian reservation) has a demonized natural force/killer (bats carrying plague). Our hero is a man of two worlds but first and foremost a man of law (Duran - played stoically by Nick Mancuso). But! He needs help. In Nightwing (1979), the filmmakers combined the rich Jaws scientist Hooper with the lifelong beast-obsessed Quint into one character: vampire bat hunter Philip Payne - played eloquently by David Warner. There's even a "humans in a cage/beasts outside" scene before the final, fateful encounter. The story is relatively tight and dabbles briefly with culture clashes. If the effects weren't dated, it'd be pretty rock solid. Charles Rosher's cinematography is superb and Henry Mancini's score is more haunting than jump scare which works masterfully. Brief clips of music by Crystal Gale and Kenny Rogers shine like diamonds in the desolate vastness portrayed in Mancini's gentle soundtrack. In short, all the right elements - just some laughable stop-motion bats that give our MST3K pals a thing to point and laugh about.
#76: Welcome Home (1989)
Welcome Home (1989) is an adequately-constructed drama about an awkward concept. Mancini's score soars in the Southeastern Asia scenes.
#75: The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982)
The Trail of the Pink Panther (1982) is a highlight reel with no new music but the fact that these were deleted scenes mashed together gives it a Chaplin/Keaton feel. I liked it.
#74: Carol for Another Christmas (1964)
Every recording star wants an original Christmas song and Henry Mancini has his with the Carol for Another Christmas (1964) theme. This film is a wonderful sci-fi spin on A Christmas Carol and contains my favorite performance of Peter Sellers. Robert Shaw is amazing, too. And Mancini’s theme is my second favorite Christmas song of all time.
#73: The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956)
The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956) is not as funny or heartwarming as Ma and Pa Kettle at Home (1954). Ozarks has a few laughs and the usual wink-wink jokes. This was another film scored during Mancini’s self-proclaimed graduate school years at Universal. Read more about it in his bio written by yours truly.
#72: The Night Visitor (1971)
The Night Visitor (1971) deserves better than being placed between The Kettles in the Ozarks (1956) and A Fine Mess (1986). But here it is at #73. The film has Shawshank Redemption-like storytelling and scene construction. Most importantly, von Sydow is amazing. This is an arthouse, tastefully-done horror/thriller and Mancini's score is wonderfully weird and divergent. Star Wars fans may recognize Max von Sydow – who played the legendary traveler and galactic explorer Lor San Tekka in Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens (2015).
#71: A Fine Mess (1986)
A Fine Mess (1986) has an impressive list of 80s actors. It also has a terrible script filled with insulting humor. Worst yet, is its under-utilization of Henry Mancini. I spent $2.99 and 90 minutes watching this and will never get any of that back. Ever. So sad.
Confused as to why this film scored the way so high? Check out The System we used to rank the Henry Mancini films. I did my best to combine critics and fans' opinions on the films for their mathematical placement on the list.
That wraps up #80 through #71. The next batch has an even more polarized quality of movies. It’s a real yo-yo of 10 films. Don’t miss it.
More Mancini:
* Thanks to David P. Ramos for that impressive sketch of Hank hard at work, Scott Derby for the iconic Digging Star Wars logo, and Josh Taback for the much-needed art direction of the overall Top 100 “square art” layout.
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