That's pretty much it. The music was wrong for this period fantasy piece and it hasn't gotten any better. I love Rutger Hauer in this romantic handsome leading man role and would love to watch it again but I am afraid the music will ruin it for me. Please fix the music!!!!
sharetotally agree with the original poster. Saw this movie when I was a teen and saw it again on cable last night with my wife. Couldnt help thinking that the score absolutely sucks. Its not a score that fits in with the medieval time period.....its more like a 70's porn film. It needs more Gregorian chant type stuff and less of the backyard - still practicing - techno crap./
shareThe techno music is really only in a few places. There isn't that much of it. Also, the pieces themselves are good. If they rescored it, they could use the same pieces but with an orchestra.
shareI agree with the OP.
shareAgreed the score is totally inappropriate.
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It`s an epic fantasy(or tries to be)and I think a keyboard score is totally wrong for this type of film.The score does contain some orchestral cues which ,although quite decent, are seldom used.Imagine "Lord of the Rings" with something similar-doesn`t bear thinking about.
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The composer tried something different and I think it failed.An orchestral score can provide an epic sweep which I think this film needed but there`s certainly no written rule.
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Agree that to each their own and all that, and there are obviously people who did like the score, incomprehensible as that is to me.
Of course there is no *rule* that fantasy movies must have orchestral music! I don't mind if they try something different, but this "something different" FAILED, big time IMO. I own the movie and absolutely love it, but must admit that I don't watch it often and that the main reason for that is the terribly cheesy score. I would often thing, "I'm in the mood for Ladyhawke" then think of the score and summarily put something else on. But that's just me [and most other people who has seen it]! lol
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to the original poster: WHY ON EARTH SHOULD THIS FILM BE RESCORED? DO NOT RESCORE THIS FILM. It was filmed in 1984 and most of the music was recorded in very late 1984 to January 1985. Rescoring this film would ruin it and be considered an insult to the fans of this film.
shareCount me as another who liked the original score.
he thing I find more mystifying about the people who think the music is dated, is that they want to replace it with orchestral music, a style that is basically unchanged from the 19th century. Talk about dated...
Orchestral music is not 'more appropriate' to this film, its simply the standard used for period movies nowadays and people feel uncomfortable with the unfamiliar.
It's not that it's dated. The music was horrible and inappropriate when it first came out, too. It's like it was scored by a high school student as a school project. Not being orchestral has nothing to do with it. The Tangerine Dream music in Legend works better than the alternate orchestral score by Jerry Goldsmith. This score is just flat out terrible.
shareAGREE!
shareI love this film but the music was cheesy back then and it is worse now. Unlike the other scores of it's kind it it's times like Legend and Blade Runner it is too over the top and far too repetitive. Yet as i type I am watching this film.
shareI think there needs to be a "like' "dislike" button or "agree" button etc. So we are not typing the same things over and over. I totally agree with you. I adore this movie. One of my most favorites, but I hate hate hate the music. Always did.
shareI don't know what people's problem is with the music, I think it's just fine. At least they had to nerve to try something different. These days if you suggest something different in Hollywood they put you up against the wall and have you executed. But that's beside the point. I seriously don't see what the problem is here. Most of the "rock music" is in the opening credits. And I really like the main theme, I find it touching and very romantic. So complain all you want but I like it and the rest of you can go soak your heads!
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"Go away or I'll call the brute squad!"
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You think Ladyhawke's score was unconventional? The whole reason it's dated is because the score was as conventional as you could get. Maybe it was unusual to use that kind of thoughtless composition on live action fantasies, but certainly not for Saturday morning cartoons:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma-to1rI-XE
Of course, that's more playful but the simple rhythmic ideas and meandering melodies are just as by the book and unimaginative as Ladyhawke's score.
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I do like this movie but the music is so wrong. It reminds me of all those cheesy TV shows (Charlie's Angels, Chips, etc.).
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Totally disagree with the notion of rescoring Ladyhawke.
I love the score, and it gives the film a nice fantasy feeling (as in "this is not for real, people") .
yes, but no one is saying that you would have to give up your version. But to those of us who love the movie and despise the soundtrack (and we are legion) why not have an alternative version? If no one will do it in hollywood, I'd love if someone on this great internet would save the dialog, rescore it and put it in an open source mp3 that we could play along with the movie.
Why not? It would only make the move more watched, which seems like a good thing.
PS apparently you can use the music soundtrack (available on Amazon), invert it, and cancel out the music. Someone out there must be able to do it.
I liked the score just the way it was. And we're legion, too.
If they ever remake this movie it might be cool if they worked in a cover of "Killing Moon" by Echo and the Bunnymen. Maybe over the closing credits.
I'm not saying there are fewer of you, of course. I'm saying that rescoring it would not impact you in any way whatsoever, and would be much more enjoyable to all the rest of us.
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YES! I came here to start a thread like this. I remember people complaining at the music when it came back in the 80's. It was bad and inappropriate. Now it's bad, inappropriate AND dated. It is really distracting from an otherwise wonderful movie.
shareAnother vote for a new score. Ladyhawke is a very good movie, but the 80's synth moments are horrible and were a huge mistake. There are moments when a real score is backing the scenes and it sounds wonderful, but then the electronic music comes in and ruins the atmosphere.
I'm not a fan of revisionist cinema (*ahem* Star Wars), but this film desperately needs a musical makeover.
For those who say the synth music in this movie fits perfectly and wonder why people insist that only sweeping orchestral scores are appropriate for medieval/fantasy movies:
Synthesizers, keyboards, drum kits, and electric guitars/basses did not exist in the time period in which these kinds of stories are set.
In a period piece like this, even one that is clearly fantasy (but still mirrors the medieval period), hearing musical instruments that flat out did not exist in that time period completely pulls you out of the story and the ambiance. In the Middle Ages, people had woodwinds, bowed string instruments (precursors to modern violins, cellos, etc.), lutes, lyres, and so on, so when you hear those (or their modern equivalents) in a medieval/fantasy movie, even if they're not being played by someone on-camera, it still feels authentic... or at least more authentic than electronic instruments that won't even be invented for another 900 years or so.
It was bad then, and smells worse with each passing moment, like all dead things.
CB
Good Times, Noodle Salad
Could not agree more. This movie would be a classic with decent music. Offhand I can't remember any other good movie so ruined by its music.
CB
Good Times, Noodle Salad