Film Classics
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with JACK GOGGIN Sundays at 6 PM ET!
If you love movies, you know that a fine musical score can make a bad picture good and a good picture great. WRCJ 90.9 FM's Jack Goggin is your guide to the world of film music. Click here to see how the show started. If you enjoy "Film Classics" let Jack know that you appreciate his fine work with a contribution!
Missed a show? Don't worry, below you can listen to Jack's shows, any time you like!
June 16, 2013 - IRIS
The original soundtrack recording from the 2001 biographical film about author Iris Murdoch and her husband John Bayley, starring Judi Dench and Jim Broadbent (with Kate Winslet and Hugh Bonneville as the young Iris and John). The score was by James Horner, and featured the talents of violinist Joshua Bell.
June 9, 2013 - TV THEMES
Yes, even though there are some who say it’s not really motion picture music—we’re doing an entire hour of music written for television. Including music by such luminaries as John Williams, Henry Mancini, Jerry Goldsmith, and Dmitri Tiomkin.
June 2, 2013 - "WHAT IS A MAIN TITLE?"
The “Main Title Sequence” is the music they play under the opening credits—and sometimes it’s only a minute and a half long. Tune in and see what we come up with. (But we can tell you that there will be one by Aaron Copland that was replaced without his permission, and one that got Bernard Herrmann fired!)
May 26, 2013 - DINOSAUR MOVIES
They were “terrible lizards”—to be sure—and they’ve inspired some pretty terrible movies—but tonight we’re going to play some pretty good selections from film scores having to do with dinosaurs—including “Jurassic Park” by John Williams, “The Valley of Gwangi” by Jerome Moross and “The Land Before Time” by James Horner.
May 19, 2013 - SUPERHEROES!
Superman! Batman! Spiderman! Iron Man! Amazing abilities they have—and appropriately enough, they’ve inspired some pretty amazing music for the movies that describe their exploits! Tune in and see if we can also come up with a Superheroine!
May 13, 2013 - BRITISH DOCS
Sometimes, even on this show, we forget that documentary films have often had musical scores that are of excellent quality. Tonight, some examples from the United Kingdom, including selections by Benjamin Britten, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arthur Bliss and Doreen Carwithen.
May 5, 2013 - CINCO DE MAYO
For the Fifth of May, music from virtually the only Hollywood film that touches on the events surrounding the Mexican patriotic holiday—“Juarez” from 1939—a Warner Brothers production that starred Paul Muni and Bette Davis, and had a wonderful score by Erich Wolfgang Korngold. Viva Mexico!
April 28, 2013 - METROPOLIS
The original Gottfried Huppertz symphonic score for Fritz Lang’s visionary 1927 masterpiece, which of course, would have been played by a pit orchestra back when the film was made. We’ll be listening to a 2010 recording with the Radio Symphony of Berlin conducted by Frank Strobel.
April 21, 2013 - SONOVAPROGRAM
Music from “Son of Kong”, “Son of Frankenstein”, “Son of Dracula”, “Sons and Lovers” and even “The Sun Also Rises”! (Yes, we know we’re pushing it.)
April 7, 2013 - 50 YEARS OF BOND
OK-we’re a little bit late…2012 marked the 50th anniversary of “Dr. No”—the first screen appearance of Agent 007—but better late than never! Tonight, an hour of Bond music—and not all of it will be by John Barry. Tune in, and perhaps you’ll be both shaken and stirred by what you hear.
March 31, 2013 - A TALE OF THE CHRIST
For Easter Sunday, selections from two motion picture versions of Lew Wallace’s epic novel “Ben-Hur”—the 1959 version with Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd, and music by Miklos Rozsa—and the 1925 silent version with Ramon Novarro and Francis X. Bushman, and music by Carl Davis.
March 24, 2013 - CITIZEN KANE OR VERTIGO?
Last year “Sight and Sound”—the publication of the prestigious British Film Institute—made headlines when it announced that after 50 years at the top of its annual poll of film-makers and critics regarding the greatest movies of all time, Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane” had been supplanted by Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo.” Many differences between these two masterpieces—but listeners to this show probably know that one thing they have in common is that they were both scored by Bernard Herrmann. Selections from both films tonight.
March 17, 2013 - THE QUIET MAN
It’s St. Patrick’s Day, and tonight we’ll feature Victor Young’s beautiful score for the 1952 John Ford classic that starred John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara and Victor McLaglen.
March 10, 2013 - ELMER BERNSTEIN CONDUCTS! (music by other people)
Bernstein (1922-2004) was one of the great film composers, but he was also an excellent conductor who made fine recordings of motion picture music he did not write. So this week we’ll hear him conduct music by Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rozsa, Dmitri Tiomkin and Conrad Salinger.
February 24, 2013 - AND THE NOMINEES ARE...
The Oscars will be awarded tonight—and for Best Original Score, the choices will be “Anna Karenina” by Dario Marianelli, “Argo” by Alexandre Desplat, “Life of Pi” by Michael Danna, “Lincoln” by John Williams and “Skyfall” by Thomas Newman. Who will win? We won’t have to wait long to find out!
February 17, 2013 - FRANKENWEENIE
Danny Elfman’s music from director Tim Burton’s 2012 expansion of his 1984 short film about a boy who reanimates his beloved dog Sparky after a tragic accident. It’s sort of a horror-comedy.
February 10, 2013 - WHO WAS LEIGHTON LUCAS?
Well, he was a British composer (1902-1982) who worked with Alfred Hitchcock, among others. Tonight we’ll be listening to some recent recordings of music from such films as “Stage Fright” (1950), “Ice Cold in Alex” (1958), “This is York” (1953), and “Portrait of Clare” (1950). With the BBC National Orchestra of Wales conducted by Rumon Gamba.
February 3, 2013 - THREE BY JERRY GOLDSMITH
Selections from a trio of movies scored by one of the finest composers who ever worked in Hollywood; including “Chinatown” (1974 ), “Islands in the Stream” (1977 ) and “Air Force One (1997 ).
January 27, 2013 - HITCHCOCK
Anthony Hopkins plays the great director, Helen Mirren his wife Alma, and Scarlett Johansson Janet Leigh—you see, it’s 1960 and they’re making a new movie called “Psycho.” A movie about the movies—there’s even an actor playing Bernard Herrmann! The score for this one is actually by Danny Elfman.
January 20, 2013 - THE HOBBIT
An unexpected journey? Who are they kidding? We’ve been expecting this for quite some time, actually... Director Peter Jackson returns to Middle Earth for another Tolkien screen adaptation, and once again the music is by Howard Shore, who did such a magnificent job with the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy. Even though this is only the first of three parts, don’t worry, there’s plenty of music –it’s a 2 CD soundtrack!
January 13, 2013 - VIDEO GAMES!
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re aware that that video games are now a bigger part (dollar-wise) of the entertainment business than Hollywood—and just as movies and the music written for them have become part of our popular culture, so too are the themes composed for these increasingly complex and cinematic games becoming part of it as well. Tonight, selections from “Final Fantasy,” “Halo,” “Assassin’s Creed,” “Sonic the Hedgehog” and even “Angry Birds”!
January, 6, 2013 - ANNA KARENINA
Music from director Joe Wright’s new movie version of the Tolstoy classic, with Keira Knightley in the title role, Jude Law as Karenin and Aaron Taylor-Johnson as Vronsky. The score is by Dario Marianelli, who previously collaborated with Wright on “Pride and Prejudice” and “Atonement.” We’ll be listening to the original soundtrack recording, conducted by Benjamin Wallfisch.
December 30, 2012 - WHEREMIN? THEREMIN!
Don’t be shocked! Selections from such films as “Spellbound,” “The Lost Weekend,” “The Red House,” ”The Day the Earth Stood Still,” “Forbidden Planet” and “The Thing (from Another World).”
December 23, 2012 - Ho Ho Home For The Holidays!
A jolly selection of seasonal favorites from the movies, including “A Christmas Carol” by Richard Addinsell, “It’s a Wonderful Life” by Dmitri Tiomkin, “Home Alone” by John Williams and “The Snowman” by Howard Blake.
December 16, 2012 - SKYFALL, ETC.
The latest Bond film, music by Thomas Newman (2012)—and selections from some of the other 007 adventures not scored by John Barry. NOTE: Our copy of the soundtrack says it “… does not contain a recording by the artist Adele.” There, you’ve been warned.
December 9, 2012 - P.O.T.U.S. PICTURES
Music from three films having to do with Presidents of the United States—all scored by John Williams! “Lincoln” (2012)—“Nixon” (1995)—and “JFK” (1991).
December 2, 2012 -
Music from “Whistle Down the Wind” by Malcolm Arnold, “Wild is the Wind” by Dmitri Tiomkin, “Gone With the Wind” by Max Steiner and “The Wind and the Lion” by Jerry Goldsmith. Somewhere, we’re sure there’s something that can tie all these pictures together for an appropriate title.
November 25, 2012 - BEN-HUR
We know what you’re thinking—we’ve done this movie before! But wait! This is music written for the 1925 version of the ancient epic, which starred Ramon Navarro and Francis X. Bushman! A wonderful new orchestral score by Carl Davis composed for the 1989 restoration of the silent era classic.
November 18, 2012 - PLYMOUTH ADVENTURE
Thanksgiving is coming—and while there aren’t too many scores from movies having to do with the Pilgrims—we do have one: “Plymouth Adventure,” a 1952 MGM production with Spencer Tracy, Gene Tierney, Van Johnson and Leo Genn. The music was by Miklos Rozsa, and to be honest, it’s really the best thing about the picture. Also, if we have time, music from a new film about the president who proclaimed Thanksgiving a national holiday. What could it be?
November 11, 2012 - ELEGY FOR HEROES
In honor of Veterans Day, music from “Glory” (1989) by James Horner, “Saving Private Ryan” (1998) by John Williams and “The Best Years of Our Lives” (1946) by Hugo Friedhofer.
November 4, 2012 - SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT, AND STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING
A show for those of us who just won’t grow up! Musical selections from “Finding Neverland” (2004) by Jan Kaczmarek, “Hook” (1991) by John Williams, and (of course!) the 1953 Disney animated version of “Peter Pan.”
October 28, 2012 - CRY WOLF!
Music from “The Wolfman” (2010) by Danny Elfman and “Curse of the Werewolf” (1961) by Benjamin Frankel. Even a man who is pure of heart, and says his prayers at night, can turn into a wolf when the wolfbane blooms, and the moon is shining bright.
October 21, 2012 - MOVIE MOVIES
Selections from films that have the movie business itself as subject matter—including “The Artist,” “Sunset Boulevard,” “8 1/2,” “Day for Night” and “The Magic Box.”
October 7, 2012 - THE MERRY MONARCH
Music from three movies involving King Charles II of England—including “Forever Amber” (1947) by David Raksin,“The King’s Thief” (1955) by Miklos Rozsa, and “Restoration” (1995) by James Newton Howard.
September 30, 2012 - WHO WAS JACK CARDIFF?
He was simply one of the greatest cinematographers who ever lived—and his visuals inspired some wonderful music. Tonight selections from such films as “The Red Shoes,” “Black Narcissus,” “The Prince and the Showgirl,” “War and Peace,” “Sons and Lovers” and “The Vikings.”
September 23, 2012 - FERBER-FEST!
Music from movies adapted from books by Edna Ferber (1885-1968)—including “Showboat,” “Giant,” “Cimarron,” “Saratoga Trunk“ and “Ice Palace.”
Setember 16, 2012 - PIRATES!
Avast, ye landlubbers! In honor of International Talk Like A Pirate Day (September 19th)-- a panoramic parade of pirate pictures will be featured. Tune in or be keel-hauled!
In honor of V-J Day, music from movies about WWII. And before you say it, yes, we know we’ve done this before—but this week we’re going to try to concentrate on scores we haven’t already covered on the show. And so, to paraphrase Claude Rains in “Casablanca” (a WWII movie we have done before) we’re not rounding up the usual suspects!
August 26, 2012 - MUSIC, HE WROTE
Selections from scores by the well-respected British composer John Addison, including “Tom Jones” (1963), “Sleuth” (1972), “A Bridge Too Far” (1977) and “Strange Invaders” (1983). (And maybe we’ll have time for his most famous tune, written for a TV show that starred Angela Lansbury!)
August 19, 2012 - MICHELANGELO
Music from “The Agony and the Ecstasy” (1965) by Alex North—and its documentary prologue “The Artist Who Did Not Want to Paint” by Jerry Goldsmith.
August 12, 2012 - GIRLS RULE!
Music from two recent movies with plucky heroines: “Brave,” by Patrick Doyle--and “Snow White and the Huntsman,” by James Newton Howard. (For these pictures, at least, while girls might rule, boys still write the music…)
August 5, 2012 - BOMB'S AWAY!
No, nothing explosive here—just music from movies that lost a lot of money…composers represented will include John Barry, Alex North, Alan Silvestri, James Newton Howard, and Michael Giacchino. Was it the fault of the music? Well, in the words of Bernard Herrmann: “You expect a doctor to make you well—you don’t expect him to make you rich.”
July 29, 2012 - VAMPIRES!
Gee whiz, it seems like those blood suckers are all over the place nowadays. Books, movies, television—you can’t get away from them. And now they’re taking over Film Classics! Tune in and hear what we dig up.
July 22, 2012 - THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN
James Horner’s music for director Marc Webb’s “reboot” of the Marvel superhero’s saga, starring Andrew Garfield and Emma Stone. No kidding, the director really is named “Webb”!
July 15, 2012 - GOLD!
A glittering program that will include “Goldfinger” by John Barry—“Goldiggers of 1933” by Harry Warren & Al Dubin—“Treasure of the Sierra Madre” by Max Steiner, and “Seven Cities of Gold” by Hugo Friedhofer.
July 8, 2012 - PROMETHEUS
Director Ridley Scott’s prequel to his 1979 classic “Alien,” which answers some questions, but raises some new ones. The original soundtrack recording featuring music by Marc Streitenfeld.
July 1, 2012 - CITY LIGHTS
The classic story of the Little Tramp and the blind flower girl, composed by Charlie Chaplin himself in 1931. We’ll be listening to a re-recording of the score made by Carl Davis in 1989.
June 24, 2012 - THE HUNGER GAMES
Music by James Newton Howard from the recent movie adaptation of the hugely successful book by Suzanne Collins.
June 17, 2012 - A TRIBUTE TO JOHN WILLIAMS
The world’s most famous movie composer is 80 years old—and still going strong! Tonight, some highlights from a recent commemorative CD celebrating his career, all the way from “Jaws” to “The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.”
June 3, 2012 - TWO BY MONSIEUR DESPLAT
Selections from a couple of movies scored by the French composer Alexandre Desplat: “The Queen” (2006), which won Helen Mirren an Academy Award for her performance as Elizabeth II—and “Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close” (2011), director Stephen Daldry’s examination of the ripple-effects of 9/11.
May 27, 2012 - TWO BY THOMAS
Newman, that is—son of the legendary Alfred Newman, and quite a notable movie composer in his own right. Tonight, music from two recent movies scored by Thomas Newman: “The Iron Lady,” from 2011, which won Meryl Streep an Oscar for her performance as Margaret Thatcher, and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel,” a new film from director John Madden with a cast that includes Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy and Tom Wilkinson.
May 20, 2012 - BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Excerpts from two recent recordings of motion picture themes arranged for flutist Louise di Tullio (“The Hollywood Flute”)--and violinist Angele Dubeau (“A Time for Us”). To be honest, most albums of this sort aren’t very good—and we don’t often play them on Film Classics—but we think you’ll agree that these arrangements are among the handful that really do the original scores justice!
May 13, 2012 - THE AVENGERS
Music by Alan Silvestri from the first blockbuster of this movie season, written and directed by Joss Whedon. Iron Man, Captain America, Thor and the Hulk team up with their friends to take on an evil alien invasion. (What other kind is there?)
May 6, 2012 - HUMORESQUE AND DECEPTION
Selections from two 1946 Warner Brothers productions that had to do with the complicated lives of musicians: “Humoresque,” which starred Joan Crawford and John Garfield—and “Deception,” which starred Bette Davis, Paul Henreid and Claude Rains. Yes, they were glorified potboilers, but they were considerably elevated by brilliant musical scores by Franz Waxman and Erich Wolfgang Korngold. (By the way, if you’d like to hear some of this music performed “live”—check out this weekend’s offerings from the DSO!)
April 29, 2012 - BRIDESHEAD REVISITED REVISITED
Music from two different film adaptations of Evelyn Waugh’s modern classic by Evelyn Waugh, the 1981 television mini-series scored by Geoffrey Burgon, and the theatrical motion picture from 2008, scored by Adrian Johnston.
But not his own music! This week’s show will feature Mr. Williams (who recently turned 80!) conducting movie music by other composers, and as we think you’ll agree, he does a pretty good job.
April 8, 2012 - BEN HUR & KING OF KINGS
For Easter Sunday--selections from two movies scored (consecutively!) by Miklos Rozsa that cover the same territory—the Life of Christ.
April 1, 2012 - PLAGIARISM EXPOSED!
Just recently we found some recordings in the library here at 90.9 FM WRCJ that reveal the truth about some movie themes most of us thought were original compositions—needless to say—we were shocked! Tune in and find out where these tunes actually came from. We’ve been FOOLED for years!
March 25, 2012 - MARY POPPINS
We’re all saddened by the recent passing of Robert Sherman, who together with his brother Richard formed one of the most successful teams of songwriting siblings since George and Ira Gershwin. Tonight, highlights from their masterpiece: Walt Disney’s “Mary Poppins” (1964)—which starred Julie Andrews, Dick Van Dyke, David Tomlinson and Glynis Johns—and which received no fewer than thirteen Oscar nominations, winning five.
March 18, 2012 - TWO BY JERRY
Selections from two scores by Jerry Goldsmith that we haven’t featured on the show before: “Air Force One” (1997), with Harrison Ford as a President of the United States who just won’t put up with being kidnapped—and “Rio Conchos” (1964), a Western about a quartet of gun-runners (Richard Boone, Stuart Whitman, Jim Brown and Anthony Franciosa) in post-Civil War Texas.
March 11, 2012 - TIME MARCHES ON
Just in time for the switch back to Daylight Savings Time, selections by Alan Silvestri, John Barry, Miklos Rozsa and Ron Grainer. Just “who” is Ron Grainer? Tune in and perhaps we’ll have time to tell you!
For this week's show, music you may have heard via Public Television if you’re a fan of “Masterpiece”—including selections from “Downton Abbey,” by John Lunn, “Cranford,” by Carl Davis, and “Poirot,” by Christopher Gunning.
February 26, 2012 - OSCAR SHOW
The Academy Awards will be given out tonight in Hollywood, and as far as this program is concerned, it’s all about the music. The contenders for Best Original Score are: “The Adventures of Tintin” and “War Horse,” by John Williams—“The Artist,” by Ludovic Bource—“Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy,” by Alberto Iglesias—and “Hugo,” by Howard Shore. We’ll be listening to selections from them all—and bear in mind that indeed, it IS an honor just to be nominated.
February 19, 2012 - TWO BY TERENCE BLANCHARD
He’s better known as a jazz trumpeter, but Terence Blanchard has written some excellent film scores, and tonight we’ll have excerpts from two of them—both of which, as it happens, were directed by Spike Lee and starred Denzel Washington: “Malcolm X,” from 1992 , and “Inside Man, “ from 2006.
February 5, 2012 - THE OMG, WE FORGOT NINO ROTA'S 100TH BIRTHDAY SHOW!
Yes, amid all the hoopla we had last year for the Bernard Herrmann centenary, we actually forgot to commemorate what would have been the 100th birthday (in December) of another legendary film composer—Italy’s Nino Rota. Can we make up for this terrible oversight in one show? Tune in and find out.
Yes, composer Howard Shore has arranged a six movement concert work for chorus and orchestra based on the music he wrote for director Peter Jackson’s epic movie trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien! We don’t actually have enough time for the entire work—but we’ll do our best to include excerpts from “The Fellowship of the Ring,” “The Two Towers,” and “The Return of the King.”
June 29th marked the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernard Herrmann—and so each month this year we’ve been devoting an entire program to his music. September’s installment is one of the wonderful fantasy scores he did for special effects wizard Ray Harryhausen—“Mysterious Island” (1961)—based (rather loosely!) on the novel by Jules Verne.
2011 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bernard Herrmann—and each month of 2011 we’re featuring an entire program devoted to his music. August's installment is from perhaps the most celebrated of Herrmann’s collaborations with Alfred Hitchcock--“Psycho”—from 1960. We’ll be listening to a recording that Herrmann made in Britain not long before his death in 1975. (NOTE: If you need to take a shower tonight, we suggest you take it before listening.)
May 22, 2011 - THE END OF THE WORLD!
April 3, 2011 - TRIBUTE TO ELIZABETH TAYLOR
Jack remembers Elizabeth Taylor with music from movies that featured the legendary star, Hear selections by Alex North, John Green, Miklos Rozsa, John Barry, Franz Waxman and Johnny Mandel.
February 13, 2011 - JOHN BARRY (1933-2011) One of the giants of movie music, John Barry passed away on January 30th at the age of 77. In this edition, excerpts from such Oscar-winning scores as “Born Free,” “The Lion in Winter,” “Out of Africa,” Dances With Wolves”--and as many James Bond scores as time permits.
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September 2, 2012 - WORLD WAR II 
April 22, 2012 - JOHN WILLIAMS CONDUCTS 
March 4, 2012 - MASTERPIECES 
October 23, 2011 - THE LORD OF THE RINGS SYMPHONY? 
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August 28, 2011 - FUN AND GAMES AT THE BATES MOTEL 
