MovieChat Forums > The Outlaw (1946) Discussion > Library Music?

Library Music?

posted 14 years ago by John-367
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Several people have criticized the score which seems as bizarrely inconsistant as much of the rest of the film. It sounds to me though as if much of it is library music i.e. written for other films or generic compositions. Some of the cues in particular sound like they were written for cartoons or the broadest slapstick comedy.
The ego maniacal and "perfectionist" Hughes may have rejected some or all of a perfectly decent score and instead inserted his own selections from the archives, including many which are absurdly inappropriate.
This seems plausible as the composer is uncredited (and proved elsewhere that he was more than capable).

[–] Artemis-9 14 years ago

This is my fourth viewing in a few weeks time.

The music made me feel that the director was psychotic on the first viewing, and then on the second, I believed the choice of comedic and cartoon tunes (one I think, comes straight from Woody Woodpecker, 1941, the year the film was on production!) was deliberate, to present the melodramatic scenes as the director wanted, satire.

Subsequent viewings reinforced my interpretation of the inappropriate score of this film. That is by choice.

Jane Russel says on screen (for the 2008 DVD colorized edition) that Howard Hughes had to make over 18 takes of a scene before he was able to choose what he liked best, and that the scene by the Doc's grave had over a 100 takes. Even taking these statements with the slight exageration of hear-say (19-year-old Miss Jane was not much on the set, overly occupied with a batallion of the photographers and marketing people that the producer had elsewhere), Hughes was a nitty-picking person who wouldn't leave the sound score to another's decision.

This peculiar sound was chosen to go with these peculiar scenes. Satirical, or plain psychotic it's for us to decide. But a classic western it ain't!