Well, the contest has ended and many fine essays were received. Vik's presents a sampling of the entries that most touched the heart of Henri
Henri's favorite
Ahhh, how could I ever forget the swinging rhythms of the JB-7 nudging the
action in BEAT GIRL - The Soho nightlife in all its grimy glory, tiny
porcelin cups filled with espresso, the Vespas, the hotrodding, the
primordial strip clubs. Or what about Mr. Barry's pizzicato strings, plucked
in feverish fury, or his artful faux-Morricone guitar twangs? Let's face it
- even before he scored Bond he was the UK's answer to Henry Mancini. A
co-worker and I were discussing movie soundtracks and she was raving about
John Barry's score for OUT OF AFRICA. I just sniffed and said, "You probably
think of Ennio Morricone as that guy that did the soundtrack for THE
MISSION." She looked befuddled, and nodded yes. "What's the matter with
you? You're older than me - don't you remember the 60s? John Barry wrote
"007" AND "Goldfinger" His scores are the epitome of vodka-splashed danger!
They swagger, they lurk, they do gypsy dances in the firelight" She
suddently found some work to do. So I did what I had to do - I slipped a
cassette of FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE into her dictaphone. A soundtrack so
perfectly conceived that it can conjure images of Sean Connery's chest hair
over a dictaphone. With a flushed look she excused herself, and went to the
ladies room. JB knows how to take it to the bridge...
Favorite recollection
john barry has touched me in ways no other man has ever touched me. it
was 1957 and i was just back from serving in Korea.New York was a
hopping place back then. John was playing at the Kit Kat Klub. I went
with some friends but left with only John. When we first layed eyes on
each other, flames went a flyin'. It was only one night, at a motel
down on 157th street called Motel Amore'. John had this birthmark
right below his left breast. Man, was he something out of this world.
He left town the next day, off to Kansas City, but he remained in my
heart forever. He came back to town several years later but acted like
he didn't know who i was. He was married by then and had a kid. Can't
blame him for ignoring me. oh well, at least i had that one night.
Favorite physical reaction
Those pizzicato strings mixed with the super-deluxe twangy guitar of Mr. Vik
Flick cause a strange vibration. My inner organs start to rub together and,
suddenly I feel like shaking (not stirring). I need to wear my ray-bans at all
hours and I grit my teeth a lot. (flexing the jaw muscles) Though it's all a bit
uncomfortable, the chicks seem to dig it and I've never been more popular...
Thanks John!
The Salvadore Dali Surrealism Award
I first met John Barry when I was driving through Georgia and he was
hitchhiking. He looked terrible, oil spills and God knows what on his jeans,
hadn't brushed his teeth in a week, etc. Knew every bee-hive-haired waitress
in every Waffle House on I-75, and kept disappearing into the kitchen or
ladies' room with them for 5-10 minutes each. After each stop, he'd get back
in the car, toothpick and Marlboro in his mouth, and start singing the Barney
song to me in a Donald Duck voice. Around Chatanooga or so I just couldn't
take it anymore. I gave him a five dollar bill and told him good luck. Not
long after that I discovered that the car ran a lot better than usual, but
there was a little brown stain the size of a quarter on the passenger side
seat.
Best Run On Sentence
John Barry, while my booze-addled recollections are not so far shot as to deny the undeniable suaveness of his mid-period soundtrack work, let us not allow our critical faculties to be clouded by nostalgia and forget that John Barry's greatest gift to America was incontrovertible evidence that the British cannot rock.
