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THE HATEFUL EIGHT Soundtrack by Ennio Morricone – Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight Soundtrack

Quentin Tarantino’s eighth movie THE HATEFUL EIGHT, I saw just this previous December in its extended road show version. I saw it at a sumptuous venue, surrounded by real cinephiles, and quite liked the movie. I thought it had flaws, because while not a prude by any measure, I did think Quentin went a bit heavy on the profanity button.

Sometimes excess is not verisimilitude, being true to the framework of your film, sometimes it is just excess, and gets in the way of your film.

At some point it becomes like a kid who has just learned to curse, and says it all the time as if there is a maturity in that, when just the opposite is the truth. Over use of profanity is the mark of a juvenile aesthetic. I thought the movie was great, I loved the process and loved the ending and loved the visuals, the only detraction was… that juvenile aesthetic of Tarantino’s.

So it’s a movie I really liked, and want to call a great movie, but a great movie should also be re-watchable, and I’m uncertain how many times I would want to re-watch this. Portions of it sure. But to sit down and rewatch the whole thing? Revisit it, like I do with THE SEARCHERS or TOMBSTONE  or ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE WEST… Not so much. That’s where the juvenile aesthetic works against a film, and works against Tarantino. These slight misgivings aside, It is still a solid B+ of a movie.

However one thing that I was not not conflicted on was Ennio Morricone’s score. Upon hearing this in the theater, I new I loved it and wanted to purchase the soundtrack when available. And I’m not a soundtrack guy, I buy sporadically, and seldom consider buying the score while watching a movie. So that tells you what type of impression this score made on me.

Today I received the Third Man Records stunning 2 LP Pressing of THE HATEFUL EIGHT. Wow! This may just be the collectible of the year!

It takes me back to the thrill I got of getting Records or Laser Discs, back in the day. That larger than life, elaborate and beautiful album cover, filled with extras, such as a booklet with liner notes, posters, photographs.

For around $30 while supplies last , it is a steal!

Morricone purportedly came out of retirement to do this score for Tarantino, and I’m glad he did, because he creates a score for the ages, to stand up to his decades of stunning, influential, and cinema shaping…. scores.

Now while the music is excellent, the pressing is also slightly hampered by Tarantino’s decision to add dialogue to the album. I would have preferred this album without Tarantino’s additions of dialog, and let this just be the music. However the dialogue tracks are easily skipped on CD. Not so easily skipped on the LP,  but the 2 album LP, is a collector’s dream, sporting a beautiful fold out gate fold cover,, and enough extras to make it worth any purchasers time to own both the CD and the LP.

Pick up both at the links below while in stock:

Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight Soundtrack

Quentin Tarantino’s The Hateful Eight CD

 

DVD Review: Umberto Lenzi’s ALMOST HUMAN

Umberto Lenzi’s ALMOST HUMAN– Re-watching this and it is just a scathing film, with Tomas Milian giving one of his finest performances in a lauded career, starring as a venal, cowardly two-bit psychopathic thug, that kills to cover his fears and cowardice, and kills to feel empowered.

As insidious, disgusting and twisted a portrait of a diseased mind as ever put on film and remains a powerful, brilliant film and Lenzi’s finest directorial hour, and one of Ennio Morricone’s most captivating scores.

The Italian dubbed subtitled version is typically lyric (as with all the Italian films of this period it was recorded without sound, so contrary to peoples assumption, the Italian language version is no more accurate or valid than the English language version, and in this case is less so), but the real winner is the English dub which is pretty phenomenally acted, which only makes sense since most of the principles, such as Henry Silva (typically cast as a villain brings a very nice dynamic in his rare role as hero) and Thomas Milian were speaking English, and do their own dubbing. So the English dub is the more accurate, effective soundtrack. Being suitably degenerate and vulgar to coincide with the images burnt into this 70s era bit of celluloid.

That rightness of the English dub, also clearly seen in the title. In Italian the film’s title translate into the inane and wordy “Milan hates: the Police can’t open fire”, whereas the English title perfectly encapsulates everything you need to know about this film… ALMOST HUMAN. A great title for a great film.

The Italian rash of poliziottesco films were a response to the world wide popularity of America’s new wave of brutal crime films, most notably, Don Siegel’s seminal film DIRTY HARRY. And while the Italian poliziottesco wave gave us many enjoyable takes on crime films, such as VIOLENT ROME, Lenzi’s own VIOLENT NAPLES, few transcended mere imitation, to be competently crafted, harrowing powerhouses, with something invariably of its own to say. ALMOST HUMAN is one of those transcendent films, and remains four decades later one of the finest crime films/character portrait ever produced. A+.

Go here to see what copies of Almost Human are available for sale