Bill Wrobel's DVD - Film Score Rundowns

Next is Reel 9, Con Moto, 14 bars. Etc.
At any rate, if you are curious about this dated movie (dated subject matter) or a
fan of any of the stars or director, then by all means purchase this dvd. Otherwise, no big
deal. As stated earlier, I am a big fan of Max Steiner’s music so that’s why I even
bothered. I’m glad I did buy it because I found elements of the music quite interesting to
me (the self-borrowing, the Reel 6/1 cue (and scene) I liked, and so forth. [end session
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 4:07 pm. Obama’s State of the Union speech comes on in
less than two hours. Watching Hardball with Chris Matthews.]
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-The D.I. (1957) *** [music ***]
http://www.wbshop.com/DI-The/1000179568,default,pd.html?cgid=ZARCHIVEALL
You could say that I am somewhat of a fan of Jack Webb, especially his color
Dragnet series, so I decided to purchase this dvd. This black & white 1957 movie opens
without a Main Title immediately but waited almost 5 minutes so as to showcase the
Sergeant Jim Moore (Webb) interrogating five of his new marines, ending with
troublemaker PFC. Owens. It was hilarious, a great opening. Webb both produced and
directed the movie. He still looked pretty lean and mean, although he gained noticeable
weight by the time he started his Dragnet color series 9-10 years later. He made a terrific
drill instructor, rivaled perhaps only by R. Lee Ermey 30 years later in Kubrick’s Full
Metal Jacket. Ermey played Sergeant Hartman in the movie, but in reality he was actually
a drill instructor during the Vietnam war. Webb had a faster tongue. Emery was fiercer
with a hands-on approach (literally). Webb’s crew cut and thin upper lip and fast staccato
delivery (but with no profanity) was nevertheless impressive. About 28 minutes into the
movie he dresses up in his full display dress uniform with a buddy sergeant to join a
party. I liked that scene. I especially enjoyed the song at that club sung by the blonde, but
soon Moore strikes up a conversation with a brunette played by Jackie Loughery (Webb
in real life was married to her at the time). I liked the quiet scene out on the night dock
together about 1 hour 9 minutes into he movie. 1:09:41 thru 1:09:51 are nice freeze-frame
shots. Cozy little scene. The soft music was nice too. It was fun seeing Virginia Gregg in
a role towards the end of the movie. She was obviously a friend of Webb’s because she
was in a lot of episodes of Dragnet as well. I believe an actor playing the Captain then
was also in the television series now and then. Jack Webb seemed to be an ok guy. My
wife and I both commented it would be great to have known him, have him as an uncle or
something. The movie is 1:45:47 in length. Just right.
The music is by David Buttolph. I did not expect that. The Main Title has a nice
four-note romance theme in the middle of the Main Title medley. The rest of the music
for it was largely paraphrasing the Marine Corps music. This type of movie simply did
not lend itself for a “big” score that Buttolph was capable of (such as Beast from 20,000
Fathoms, House of Wax, and others).
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