With the soundtracks to cult British revenge movies We Still Kill The Old Way and We Still Steal The Old Way released this Friday, we asked the films’ producer, British film legend Jonathan Sothcott, to talk us through his 5 favourite movie soundtracks.
The Long Good Friday
The ultimate British gangster film has, of course, the ultimate British soundtrack. Francis Monkam’s electrifying score is as action packed as the film. It is probably the most played CD (yes, I have all of these on CD) in my office.
Favourite track: Main Title. Its just so bloody cool.
Jaws
Jaws has been my favourite film as far back as I can remember and there’s no two ways about it, John Williams’ masterful score is a huge part of the movie’s enduring appeal. I think this was the first movie soundtrack I bought and I love the careful use of music to represent the shark which is, of course, largely unseen.
Favourite track: Night Search. One of my favourite scenes is when Brody (Roy Scheider) and Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss) set out to look for the shark on their own and instead find what’s left of Ben Gardener. This is haunting, evocative stuff and still feels mysterious 45 years later.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
Its hard to pick a Bond soundtrack as I love most of them but this just pips The Man With The Golden Gun and A View To A Kill to the post. It’s the most epic Bond score and showcases John Barry at his sophisticated best. And how can you not love ‘We Have All The Time In The World’?
Favourite Track: Now this is really hard. I love ‘Ski Chase’ – it really gets the blood pumping, but I think my favourite is ‘Over and out’ – its so evocative of those choppers coming in as the sun sets. Absolute pinnacle John Barry.
Rocky 4
I think Vince Dicola is one of the most underrated soundtrack composers of the 80s – this and Transformers alone justify his status as a musical legend but he sort of faded away afterwards. It is hard to pick between Rocky 3 and 4, both as films and as soundtracks and while 3 arguably has the best song with ‘Eye of the Tiger’ I think the score on 4 beats it to the punch.
Favourite Track: No Easy Way Out. Janine, my partner, and I love playing this in the car at full volume.
Who Dares Wins
Maybe the least known OST on my list but a favourite nonetheless. For me this is the ultimate lads’ movie and I think the soundtrack adds a veneer of class to it. It’s a thumping collection of tunes and its very hard not to try and break into the ‘Lewis Collins jog’ when the main theme kicks in.
Favourite Track: I think it has to be Welsh Mountains. It’s the most 80s track on the album and it really sets up the movie as something special. Roy Budd was a brilliant composer.
The soundtracks for We Still Kill The Old Way and We Still Steal The Old Way are available via
www.herefordfilms.co.uk
