ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953)
Audrey Hepburn won the role of Ann because of the now-famous audition tape. The cameraman was told to keep filming even after Hepburn had finished the audition scene. She was filmed as she was waiting around and being interviewed. The unrehearsed, spontaneous moments captured won her the role.
Here's a little taste of it:
Showing posts with label Audrey Hepburn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Audrey Hepburn. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Favorite Movie Monarchs
"If the British monarchy is good for nothing else, it's superb at producing the subjects of films."
ROGER EBERT
Some of my favorite movies are about monarchs. I think this is because the format for a movie about royalty is often grand and dramatic. (I also have a thing for British movies, but that's an entirely different discussion...) I've found that my favorite movies about kings and queens are not ones that show how lavish and fabulous their lives are. My favorites are usually films about the downside of being royal, monarchs struggling with public perception or the sheltered nature of their lives.
In no particular order, here are a few of my favorite movie monarchs:
Queen Elizabeth I
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998)
Played by Dame Judi Dench
The main reason that the arts flourished in the Elizabethan Age is because Queen Elizabeth loved the theater. She would have theater troupes perform for her at the palace. Judi Dench doesn't do anything half-way. She completely gave herself over to this role. Despite the fact that she is on screen for less than 15 minutes, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and rightly so. In Shakespeare in Love, Queen Elizabeth has a sharp tongue and fierce way about her that I love. Men and women alike find her incredibly intimidating.
Favorite Royal Moment: After the performance of Romeo and Juliet, Viola is in danger of being revealed as woman and the queen comes to her defense and speaks my favorite line from the movie: "I know something of a woman in a man's profession. Yes, by God, I do know about that."
Prince Edward
ENCHANTED (2007)
Played by James Marsden
The reason I love Enchanted so much is because it's a send-up of the great Disney princess films and Prince Edward is a perfect example of that. In the film, Edward ventures from his perfect, animated kingdom of Andalasia to New York City to find his lost love, Giselle. He is well-intentioned, but also incredibly narcissistic and dumb. If you think about it, most Disney princes are very one-dimensional. They exist only to brandish a sword, sing a song or two, and then save the damsel in distress. James Marsden plays Edward so over-the-top and he's even more hilarious when compared to Patrick Dempsey's uptight lawyer. Edward is definitely the funniest character in the film.
Favorite Royal Moment: The chipmunk, Pip, is trying to mime to Edward that Nathaniel is not trying to save Giselle, he's trying to kill her, and Edward keeps guessing wildly wrong things. The scene is funny for a number of reasons: First, whenever you play charades, there's always that one person who is terrible at guessing and the writers are making fun of that. Also, Edward's guesses are wonderfully vain. When Pip keeps miming "dying" and "death" and Edward guesses, "I'm even handsome when I sleep!" and "You'd die without me here!"
King George III
THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE (1994)
Played by Nigel Hawthorn
The Madness of King George is about King George III's descent into insanity and the political and royal corruption that takes place as a result of his inability to properly rule. The film starts a few years after the colonies have won their independence, which was very trying for the king. For years his insanity ebbs and flows. The film is also about the sorry state of medical practices in the 1700s. There are many scenes where the king is forced to endure many terrible treatments that were thought to cure mental illness. Nigel Hawthorn was not very well known to film audiences because he was mainly a stage actor in Britain, but he was an incredible actor. He played King George III in a way that was both darkly comedic and very sad. He completely carried the film. I would say that the insanity spread to the Academy voters who gave the Oscar to Tom Hanks instead. (I love you, Tom Hanks, but come on, Forrest Gump was not deserving of an Oscar.)
Favorite Royal Moment: There are many comedic moments in the film and my favorite is a scene where the king discusses the new country of America with one of his advisors.
KING GEORGE: What of the colonies, Mr. Pitt?
PITT: America is now a nation, sir.
KING GEORGE: It is? Well we must try and get used to it. I have known stranger things. I once saw a sheep with five legs...
Princess Ann
ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953)
Played by Audrey Hepburn
Roman Holiday is my favorite Audrey Hepburn film. She plays Princess Ann, a young woman who is bored with her over-scheduled, sheltered life. The writing never actually tells us what country she is from, but that doesn't matter. When her good-will tour of Europe takes a stop in Rome, she sneaks out and spends a day in the city with a young American writer. The very first scene of the film is one where Ann is at a ball and she has to greet hundreds of foreign dignitaries. As she meets them, the camera cuts to a shot of her feet under her dress. She takes her sore foot out of her shoe and her shoe falls over and during the rest of the introductions she tries to get her foot back in her shoe. It's such a charming way to introduce Ann. Sometimes people underestimate how funny Audrey Hepburn could be. This is the role that introduced Audrey Hepburn to the world (her credit reads "Introducing Audrey Hepburn") and it was quite an introduction, an Oscar-winning introduction in fact. Hepburn is incandescently beautiful in all her movies, but I think she never looked lovelier than in Roman Holiday.
Favorite Royal Moment: In the evening, Ann and Joe (Gregory Peck) go out dancing and two of Ann's secret servicemen spot them and there is a skirmish as Ann and Joe escape. However, before they escape, Joe throws a few punches and Ann gleefully smashes a guitar over a secret serviceman's head. I love it because it's the polar opposite of how Ann is introduced, all prim and proper. The scene is a lot of fun to watch.
Queen Elizabeth II
THE QUEEN (2006)
Played by Dame Helen Mirren
For the most part, I find the British monarchy ridiculous and unnecessary, but I have to say, I like the current queen very much. She's always struck me as very smart and strong-willed, as if her pampered lifestyle didn't affect her the way you would expect. Did you know that at the age of 18 she was a mechanic in World War II? She basically watched the job kill her father and then became queen at the age of 27. The Queen is about a small section of her reign. The film is about the aftermath of Princess Diana's death. Many felt that the queen handled it very poorly. She refused to fly the flag at half-mast above Buckingham Palace and it took her days before she spoke publicly on the matter. Though the royals could be thought of as the "bad guys" in this film, Helen Mirren, in an Oscar-winning role (are you sensing a trend in this list?), plays the queen with real strength. You get the feeling that she's not malicious (as the media made her out to be), she's conflicted.
Favorite Royal Moment: I love the scene where Prime Minister Blair (Michael Sheen) meets HRH for the first time since getting elected. He is sort of overwhelmed and she is very straight-forward with him. She holds the power the entire scene. The meeting is short and formal, but there are some great lines. It's an impressive scene for Mirren.
King George VI
THE KING'S SPEECH (2010)
Played by Colin Firth
Let me first start off by saying that I saw The King's Speech four times in theaters and it never gets old. Colin Firth was pegged for the Oscar win MONTHS in advance. Sorry James Franco and Jesse Eisenberg, but no one else had a chance to win. He plays Prince Albert (soon-to-be King George VI), who had a terrible stutter. He was never meant to be king, but his older brother Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson. The theme I love most in the film is the fact that Albert was really the first monarch who had to be king on television and on the radio. There's a line in the film where he says, "In the past, all a king had to do was look respectable in uniform and not fall off his horse. Now we must invade people's homes and ingratiate ourselves with them." As prince and then as king, Albert was expected to give grand speeches and make public appearances. Firth plays him with so many layers. He's incredibly self-conscious, but also very stubborn. In his early scenes with his speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) he is proud and haughty, but then there are some beautiful and emotional scenes with Helena Bonham Carter, who plays his wife, where he cries and pours out his soul to her. There is not a false step in the entire performance.
Favorite Royal Moment: Albert has a terrible argument with his brother who makes fun of his stutter by calling him B-B-B-Bertie. As Albert vents to Lionel, his speech therapist, he drops a few swears and Lionel points out that he doesn't stutter when he swears and encourages him to shout as many swears as he can think of. Then follows the most hilarious part of the movie. Colin Firth starts shouting swear after swear, louder and louder and faster and faster as Lionel eggs him on. "Yes! Defecation flows trippingly from the tongue!" The first time I saw it in the theater, I was afraid the 80-year-old woman in front of me was going to die from laughing so hard.
A close second is the scene where he makes up a bedtime story for his daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.
Queen Victoria
THE YOUNG VICTORIA (2009)
Played by Emily Blunt
Other than The King's Speech, The Young Victoria is the best movie about royals released in a long time. Emily Blunt portrays Queen Victoria during the turbulent first years of her reign. She became queen when she was just 18 and there were many people who wanted her to sign over her duties until she was older, but she refused. The film largely focuses on her relationship with Albert and how they fell in love and ruled as a team. Albert was an incredibly devoted spouse, even taking an assassin's bullet for her. In terms of historical power couples, Victoria and Albert are right up there with John and Abigail Adams. It takes a very good actress to play a role like this and Emily Blunt plays it beautifully. Blunt is one of those actresses whose career I'm very excited to watch. She is incredibly talented. If you want a good picture of her abilities, watch The Young Victoria and Sunshine Cleaning.
Favorite Royal Moment: One of the first times Victoria meets Albert, they play a game of chess. They are very closely watched by her mother and a number of other women who are in the same room, so they carry on a very quiet conversation so they can't be overheard. Victoria talks about how sometimes she feels like a chess piece, as though she's simply being moved around by powerful politicians.
ALBERT: Then you had better master the rules of the game until you can play it better than they can.
VICTORIA: You don't recommend I find a husband to play it for me?
ALBERT: I should find one to play it with you, not for you.
ROGER EBERT
Some of my favorite movies are about monarchs. I think this is because the format for a movie about royalty is often grand and dramatic. (I also have a thing for British movies, but that's an entirely different discussion...) I've found that my favorite movies about kings and queens are not ones that show how lavish and fabulous their lives are. My favorites are usually films about the downside of being royal, monarchs struggling with public perception or the sheltered nature of their lives.
In no particular order, here are a few of my favorite movie monarchs:
Queen Elizabeth I
SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE (1998)
Played by Dame Judi Dench
The main reason that the arts flourished in the Elizabethan Age is because Queen Elizabeth loved the theater. She would have theater troupes perform for her at the palace. Judi Dench doesn't do anything half-way. She completely gave herself over to this role. Despite the fact that she is on screen for less than 15 minutes, she won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and rightly so. In Shakespeare in Love, Queen Elizabeth has a sharp tongue and fierce way about her that I love. Men and women alike find her incredibly intimidating.
Favorite Royal Moment: After the performance of Romeo and Juliet, Viola is in danger of being revealed as woman and the queen comes to her defense and speaks my favorite line from the movie: "I know something of a woman in a man's profession. Yes, by God, I do know about that."
Prince Edward
ENCHANTED (2007)
Played by James Marsden
The reason I love Enchanted so much is because it's a send-up of the great Disney princess films and Prince Edward is a perfect example of that. In the film, Edward ventures from his perfect, animated kingdom of Andalasia to New York City to find his lost love, Giselle. He is well-intentioned, but also incredibly narcissistic and dumb. If you think about it, most Disney princes are very one-dimensional. They exist only to brandish a sword, sing a song or two, and then save the damsel in distress. James Marsden plays Edward so over-the-top and he's even more hilarious when compared to Patrick Dempsey's uptight lawyer. Edward is definitely the funniest character in the film.
Favorite Royal Moment: The chipmunk, Pip, is trying to mime to Edward that Nathaniel is not trying to save Giselle, he's trying to kill her, and Edward keeps guessing wildly wrong things. The scene is funny for a number of reasons: First, whenever you play charades, there's always that one person who is terrible at guessing and the writers are making fun of that. Also, Edward's guesses are wonderfully vain. When Pip keeps miming "dying" and "death" and Edward guesses, "I'm even handsome when I sleep!" and "You'd die without me here!"
THE MADNESS OF KING GEORGE (1994)
Played by Nigel Hawthorn
The Madness of King George is about King George III's descent into insanity and the political and royal corruption that takes place as a result of his inability to properly rule. The film starts a few years after the colonies have won their independence, which was very trying for the king. For years his insanity ebbs and flows. The film is also about the sorry state of medical practices in the 1700s. There are many scenes where the king is forced to endure many terrible treatments that were thought to cure mental illness. Nigel Hawthorn was not very well known to film audiences because he was mainly a stage actor in Britain, but he was an incredible actor. He played King George III in a way that was both darkly comedic and very sad. He completely carried the film. I would say that the insanity spread to the Academy voters who gave the Oscar to Tom Hanks instead. (I love you, Tom Hanks, but come on, Forrest Gump was not deserving of an Oscar.)
Favorite Royal Moment: There are many comedic moments in the film and my favorite is a scene where the king discusses the new country of America with one of his advisors.
KING GEORGE: What of the colonies, Mr. Pitt?
PITT: America is now a nation, sir.
KING GEORGE: It is? Well we must try and get used to it. I have known stranger things. I once saw a sheep with five legs...
Princess Ann
ROMAN HOLIDAY (1953)
Played by Audrey Hepburn
Roman Holiday is my favorite Audrey Hepburn film. She plays Princess Ann, a young woman who is bored with her over-scheduled, sheltered life. The writing never actually tells us what country she is from, but that doesn't matter. When her good-will tour of Europe takes a stop in Rome, she sneaks out and spends a day in the city with a young American writer. The very first scene of the film is one where Ann is at a ball and she has to greet hundreds of foreign dignitaries. As she meets them, the camera cuts to a shot of her feet under her dress. She takes her sore foot out of her shoe and her shoe falls over and during the rest of the introductions she tries to get her foot back in her shoe. It's such a charming way to introduce Ann. Sometimes people underestimate how funny Audrey Hepburn could be. This is the role that introduced Audrey Hepburn to the world (her credit reads "Introducing Audrey Hepburn") and it was quite an introduction, an Oscar-winning introduction in fact. Hepburn is incandescently beautiful in all her movies, but I think she never looked lovelier than in Roman Holiday.
Favorite Royal Moment: In the evening, Ann and Joe (Gregory Peck) go out dancing and two of Ann's secret servicemen spot them and there is a skirmish as Ann and Joe escape. However, before they escape, Joe throws a few punches and Ann gleefully smashes a guitar over a secret serviceman's head. I love it because it's the polar opposite of how Ann is introduced, all prim and proper. The scene is a lot of fun to watch.
THE QUEEN (2006)
Played by Dame Helen Mirren
For the most part, I find the British monarchy ridiculous and unnecessary, but I have to say, I like the current queen very much. She's always struck me as very smart and strong-willed, as if her pampered lifestyle didn't affect her the way you would expect. Did you know that at the age of 18 she was a mechanic in World War II? She basically watched the job kill her father and then became queen at the age of 27. The Queen is about a small section of her reign. The film is about the aftermath of Princess Diana's death. Many felt that the queen handled it very poorly. She refused to fly the flag at half-mast above Buckingham Palace and it took her days before she spoke publicly on the matter. Though the royals could be thought of as the "bad guys" in this film, Helen Mirren, in an Oscar-winning role (are you sensing a trend in this list?), plays the queen with real strength. You get the feeling that she's not malicious (as the media made her out to be), she's conflicted.
Favorite Royal Moment: I love the scene where Prime Minister Blair (Michael Sheen) meets HRH for the first time since getting elected. He is sort of overwhelmed and she is very straight-forward with him. She holds the power the entire scene. The meeting is short and formal, but there are some great lines. It's an impressive scene for Mirren.
THE KING'S SPEECH (2010)
Played by Colin Firth
Let me first start off by saying that I saw The King's Speech four times in theaters and it never gets old. Colin Firth was pegged for the Oscar win MONTHS in advance. Sorry James Franco and Jesse Eisenberg, but no one else had a chance to win. He plays Prince Albert (soon-to-be King George VI), who had a terrible stutter. He was never meant to be king, but his older brother Edward abdicated the throne in order to marry his mistress, Wallis Simpson. The theme I love most in the film is the fact that Albert was really the first monarch who had to be king on television and on the radio. There's a line in the film where he says, "In the past, all a king had to do was look respectable in uniform and not fall off his horse. Now we must invade people's homes and ingratiate ourselves with them." As prince and then as king, Albert was expected to give grand speeches and make public appearances. Firth plays him with so many layers. He's incredibly self-conscious, but also very stubborn. In his early scenes with his speech therapist (Geoffrey Rush) he is proud and haughty, but then there are some beautiful and emotional scenes with Helena Bonham Carter, who plays his wife, where he cries and pours out his soul to her. There is not a false step in the entire performance.
Favorite Royal Moment: Albert has a terrible argument with his brother who makes fun of his stutter by calling him B-B-B-Bertie. As Albert vents to Lionel, his speech therapist, he drops a few swears and Lionel points out that he doesn't stutter when he swears and encourages him to shout as many swears as he can think of. Then follows the most hilarious part of the movie. Colin Firth starts shouting swear after swear, louder and louder and faster and faster as Lionel eggs him on. "Yes! Defecation flows trippingly from the tongue!" The first time I saw it in the theater, I was afraid the 80-year-old woman in front of me was going to die from laughing so hard.
A close second is the scene where he makes up a bedtime story for his daughters, Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret.
Queen Victoria
THE YOUNG VICTORIA (2009)
Played by Emily Blunt
Other than The King's Speech, The Young Victoria is the best movie about royals released in a long time. Emily Blunt portrays Queen Victoria during the turbulent first years of her reign. She became queen when she was just 18 and there were many people who wanted her to sign over her duties until she was older, but she refused. The film largely focuses on her relationship with Albert and how they fell in love and ruled as a team. Albert was an incredibly devoted spouse, even taking an assassin's bullet for her. In terms of historical power couples, Victoria and Albert are right up there with John and Abigail Adams. It takes a very good actress to play a role like this and Emily Blunt plays it beautifully. Blunt is one of those actresses whose career I'm very excited to watch. She is incredibly talented. If you want a good picture of her abilities, watch The Young Victoria and Sunshine Cleaning.
Favorite Royal Moment: One of the first times Victoria meets Albert, they play a game of chess. They are very closely watched by her mother and a number of other women who are in the same room, so they carry on a very quiet conversation so they can't be overheard. Victoria talks about how sometimes she feels like a chess piece, as though she's simply being moved around by powerful politicians.
ALBERT: Then you had better master the rules of the game until you can play it better than they can.
VICTORIA: You don't recommend I find a husband to play it for me?
ALBERT: I should find one to play it with you, not for you.
And there you have it. A few of my favorite movie monarchs.
Who are some of your favorites?
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Favorite Oscar-Winning Original Songs
The category of Best Original Song was first introduced at the 7th Academy Awards in 1934. Each year the song writers and composers who are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Art and Sciences (AMPAS) nominate 3-5 songs that were written especially for a film and then the Academy as a whole votes for the best one.
The genre with the most songs on my iPod is Soundtrack. I love movie scores and original movie songs. The right song can make a world of difference to particular scene. In the late 80's to late 90's Disney ruled this category, winning it seven times in 11 years. People often refer to this period as the Second Golden Age of Disney.
However, within the last 10 years or so a new trend has sprung up: Instead of the song fitting into a scene in the movie, the song is more of a companion piece to the film and often plays during the end credits. Usually the song will be lyrics set the movie's score or the other way around, with the movie's score being based on the song.
Here are a few of my favorite Oscar-winning original songs:
"Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
By Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer
"Moon River" is one of the most famous songs ever written for a film. It's a song about having a dream, wanting something greater that what you have now. When we first meet Holly Golightly, she seems like a bit of a floozy with good intentions, but then she sings this song. Holly is sitting on her fire escape in very simple clothes (very unlike the high-fashion she wears the rest of the movie) playing the guitar and singing. I love that this is actually Audrey Hepburn's voice. (She was dubbed in My Fair Lady.) She sings the song with such longing and the audience gets to see a new side to Holly.
"When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt (1998)
By Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz has written some of the most famous musicals of the last 40 years: Wicked, Pocahontas, Godspell, Children of Eden, Enchanted and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, to name a few, but this song is his crowning glory, in my opinion. After years of religious education I didn't think there was yet another way to tell the story of Moses, but when I first saw The Prince of Egypt when I was about 11, I was blown away. This movie is so incredibly well done. It appeals to all age-groups and almost everyone I've talked to finds it incredibly moving. "When You Believe" is sung by Miriam, Moses' sister, and Moses' wife, Tzipporah. The Hebrews' prayers to God have gone unanswered and they are beginning to lose faith. This song lifts their spirits (and the audience's) during their exodus from Egypt. The lyrics, which include some Hebrew, are beautiful. The story of Moses is epic to begin with and this song makes it more so. I get chills when I watch this scene.
"Fame" from Fame (1980)
by Michael Gare and Dean Pitchford
The genre with the most songs on my iPod is Soundtrack. I love movie scores and original movie songs. The right song can make a world of difference to particular scene. In the late 80's to late 90's Disney ruled this category, winning it seven times in 11 years. People often refer to this period as the Second Golden Age of Disney.
However, within the last 10 years or so a new trend has sprung up: Instead of the song fitting into a scene in the movie, the song is more of a companion piece to the film and often plays during the end credits. Usually the song will be lyrics set the movie's score or the other way around, with the movie's score being based on the song.
Here are a few of my favorite Oscar-winning original songs:
"Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)
By Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer
"Moon River" is one of the most famous songs ever written for a film. It's a song about having a dream, wanting something greater that what you have now. When we first meet Holly Golightly, she seems like a bit of a floozy with good intentions, but then she sings this song. Holly is sitting on her fire escape in very simple clothes (very unlike the high-fashion she wears the rest of the movie) playing the guitar and singing. I love that this is actually Audrey Hepburn's voice. (She was dubbed in My Fair Lady.) She sings the song with such longing and the audience gets to see a new side to Holly.
"When You Believe" from The Prince of Egypt (1998)
By Stephen Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz has written some of the most famous musicals of the last 40 years: Wicked, Pocahontas, Godspell, Children of Eden, Enchanted and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, to name a few, but this song is his crowning glory, in my opinion. After years of religious education I didn't think there was yet another way to tell the story of Moses, but when I first saw The Prince of Egypt when I was about 11, I was blown away. This movie is so incredibly well done. It appeals to all age-groups and almost everyone I've talked to finds it incredibly moving. "When You Believe" is sung by Miriam, Moses' sister, and Moses' wife, Tzipporah. The Hebrews' prayers to God have gone unanswered and they are beginning to lose faith. This song lifts their spirits (and the audience's) during their exodus from Egypt. The lyrics, which include some Hebrew, are beautiful. The story of Moses is epic to begin with and this song makes it more so. I get chills when I watch this scene.
"Fame" from Fame (1980)
by Michael Gare and Dean Pitchford
"Fame" is another song about having big dreams, but unlike "Moon River" it is upbeat and more confident-sounding. The singer wants, above all, fame and is willing to do whatever is takes to get there. My mom has the original Fame record album and I first heard this song play on my dad's record player in the kitchen of my house. It got me tapping my toes immediately and the next day I went out and rented the movie. The song plays during an awesome scene where all the kids from the performing arts school dance in the streets and on top of cars in New York City. Recently, there was a remake of Fame and, as with most remakes, it was not nearly as good as the first. The original is the only way to go.
"You'll Be In My Heart" from Tarzan (1999)
By Phil Collins
The music in Tarzan is different from other animated Disney movies. The songs comment on the scenes instead of the characters actually singing them. A bunch of Disney movies have one or two songs like this ("Circle of Life," "Can You Feel the Love Tonight") but in Tarzan every song is like this EXCEPT for "You'll Be In My Heart." Kala sings a simple version of it to baby Tarzan near the beginning of the movie. Since this is the only song sung by a character, it makes it stand out. The song has the universal messages of acceptance and unconditional love. The full version, sung by Phil Collins, is so uplifting and heart-felt.
"Into The West" from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)
By Howard Shore and Annie Lennox
*SPOILER ALERT*
The thing I love about this song is that a lot of the lyrics are straight from Tolkien's original text:
And the ship went out into the High Sea and passed into the West, until at last on a night of rain Frodo smelled a sweet fragrance on the air and heard the sound of singing that came over the water. And then it seemed to him as in his dream in the house of Bombadil, the grey rain-curtain turned all to silver glass and was rolled back, and he beheld white shores and beyond them a far green country under a swift sunrise.
Those are the final lines of Frodo's journey in the book. There are different interpretations of what happens to Frodo in the West. I believe the Undying Lands are a metaphor for Heaven, thus Frodo is dying. "Into The West" is about death, but it is not sad, it's hopeful. It's about the beauty of death and how dying means a new beginning. Though the song plays during the end credits, the melody is heard throughout the movie. Interestingly, it plays during scenes about death. For example, there is a huge sweeping version of the melody during one of the most memorable moments from the film, Sam and Frodo on the slopes of Mount Doom. Frodo is ready to give in to the power of the Ring and perish, and Sam saves him. "I can't carry it for you, but I can carry you!" Check it out.
*END SPOILER ALERT*
"Streets of Philadelphia" from Philadelphia (1993)
By Bruce Springsteen
This song plays during the opening credits of Philadelphia. It is set to images of real people from many walks of life in Philadelphia. The song is a rock ballad about love, loss and change. You listen to it and picture a destitute person with hard life and has very little hope left. I love that this is a Bruce Springsteen song because it shows the incredible range he has.
"My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic (1997)
By James Horner and Celine Dion
Many people regard this song as a pop cheese-fest, but I think it's a beautiful song. Jack and Rose's story is one of the most epic love stories of modern times and it deserves a powerful, dramatic song. This is a classic case of lyrics being set to the movie's score, which also won the Academy Award. I'm not a fan of Dion's other music, but there is no denying she an incredible voice. This song is so hard to sing (watch almost any season of American Idol for evidence) and she sings it with real emotion and heart.
"Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head" from Butch Cassidy the Sundance Kid (1969)
By Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
A lot of people don't know that this classic song was originally written for a movie. This scene from Butch Cassidy is one of my all-time favorite Paul Newman scenes. Katharine Ross sits on the handlebars of his bike as they ride through the countryside. The thing I love most about it is that the main characters of the movie are gangsters and criminals, but they are also just people who enjoy the simple things in life like goofing around on a bike. The song is so care-free and fun.
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