Listening to Stanley Kubrick by Christine Lee Gengaro Read Free Book Online

re-appears with a driving rhythm and tremolos in the winds. Rising four-note figures, played by different instruments, accompany patrolman Kennan’s drive to the track. When he stops the police car under the open window—from which Johnny will throw the stolen cash—the brass plays a final dissonant fanfare and briefly falls silent. Similar music, drawing upon elements of the original main theme, appears under scenes in which Maurice takes his place at the track to start his diversion and as Nikki drives to the track.
    After Nikki shoots Red Lightning, we jump backward in time a few hours. Johnny is on his way to the track. The racing fanfare plays, as do some new elements in the high strings. Fried includes the rising four-note figures as well. The result is a relentlessly forward-moving cue, one that continues to grow in both tension and complexity. Johnny’s preparations for the robbery (putting on a mask, getting the gun) and the immediate aftermath, are accompanied by snare rolls, but the actual robbery is unaccompanied by the score. The brass play loudly as Johnny makes his escape from the track.
    When Kennan, O’Reilly, and Peatty meet up afterward, they listen to the radio and jazz music begins to play after a news bulletin about the heist. It plays as Val enters, looking for the money. George shoots Val, setting off a shootout after which only George is left alive, although wounded. Meanwhile, Johnny retrieves the duffle bag full of cash from the motel, the score more dissonant and driving than ever. Johnny sees George stumble out of the apartment, wounded, so he drives away, intending to keep the money. As Johnny stashes the loot in an old suitcase, the opening musical conflict of three versus four appears. The jazz music re-appears as George returns home to find Sherry waiting for Val and packing her suitcase. George shoots her and then dies himself.
    The rising figures in the orchestra play under the establishing shot of the airport. Due to airline rules, Johnny and Fay are forced to check the bag full of money, instead of carrying it in the cabin. As they wait outside to board their plane, a runaway dog causes Johnny’s suitcase to fall off a luggage cart. The money spills out and is blown away by the turbines of the surrounding planes. Johnny and Fay nervously return to the airport while the three versus four conflict music of the opening plays. This time, the tempo is a bit slower, almost halting, as Fay and Johnny realize they are going to be caught. They try to get a taxi but cannot, and two plainclothes policemen draw their guns and advance on Johnny as “The End” appears on-screen.
    This score is Fried’s densest score yet. There is a cue for nearly every scene. True to form, Kubrick and Fried chose to provide music for the tensest parts of the narrative, but left it out during the race, the actual robbery, and Maurice’s diversion (which is basically a wrestling match). Composer Bernd Schultheis observed that the score “is built in modules and can therefore easily be adjusted to the dramatic needs and cutting sequences. It outlines the action superficially and sometimes, to increase the tension, grows beyond the confines of the images.” 39 Fried’s cues, constructed in multiple sections, allowed him flexibility to use bits and pieces throughout the film in order to suit whatever each scene required.
    Synopsis and Score Description for Paths of Glory
    The final collaboration between Kubrick and Fried was Paths of Glory . What Kubrick does with the sound and music in this film represents what some may see as a turning point in his development. The sound aspect of this film is extremely important. As in other Kubrick films, there are moments where there is no musical underscore at all, and in those moments the sounds take center stage. The sound of gunfire, of artillery, of footsteps: these are the sounds of war. But there are also moments of music and their scarcity speaks volumes of meaning.