First Western Whistler ?

[billy bentley]

Literally just finished watching "Gunfight At OK Corral" with my two lads. Kirk Douglas's barber shpuld have won an oscar for that haircut ! The theme song sung by Frankie Laine features some serious whistling. Was this the inspiration and/or influence that lead to whistling being such a dominant feature of Morricone's soundtracks ?

[will.15]

I dunno. But perhaps an interesting, broader question is, what movies had memorable whistling in it. Two that come to mind: John Wayne whistling the haunting theme music from The High and the Mighty, and the soldiers whistling The Colonel Bogey March in The Bridge on the River Kwai.

[billy bentley]

I don't know the John Wayne flick will, but I will look into it. Still I am interested if "Gunfight" begat Spaghetti Western music ?

[billy bentley]

i see that "The High and the Mighty" is a war film, still released in 1954, three years before "Gunfight". I'm thinking that Frankie Laine's theme song and a whole bunch of Western/Cowboy records, would have been heavily influenced by "High Noon".

[batman]

name='will.15']I dunno. But perhaps an interesting, broader question is, what movies had memorable whistling in it. Two that come to mind: John Wayne whistling the haunting theme music from The High and the Mighty, and the soldiers whistling The Colonel Bogey March in The Bridge on the River Kwai.

Plus of course The Whistler series ...

[will.15]

The High and the Mighty isn't a western, but it's not a war film either. It's an earlier and superior version of the Airport story, an airliner in trouble in the sky with passengers, with one of Wayne's best performances as the pilot.



I knid of hijacked your question. Sorry.

[Stephen Laws]

The western THE PROUD ONES just predates GUNFIGHT AT THE OK CORRAL - and has a great 'whistled' main title music theme, composed by Lionel Newman. (Starred Robert Ryan and Jeffrey Hunter). None of the interviews with Sergio Leone or Morricone seem to specify which (if any) Hollywood movies may have been in mind when the DOLLARS music was composed. My guess would be - none of them, since the intention was to specifically do something 'different'.



Stephen Laws

The Midnight Man: The Official Website of the author Stephen Laws

[will.15]

Now that Stephen Laws has answered Billy Bentley's question, more whistling in movies:



Basil Rathbone whistles a tune from a music box, the key to solving his last Sherlock Holmes mystery (in the movies) in Dressed to Kill.



Michael Redgrave memorizes by whistling a tune with secret information in The Lady Vanishes.



Robert Donat keeps whistling a tune he heard in a British music hall, which leads him to discoverintg the meaning of The 39 Steps.

[billy bentley]

Many thanks Stephen Laws, I will definitely check out "The Proud Ones". "Talent borrows and genius steals," goes the old saying and if Ennio and Sergio nicked their idea, I doubt they would admit it outright. Most, if not all of the suuccessful songwriters i know of , never confess when they've swiped an "idea", or perhaps a little more.

[Bernardo]

name='will.15']I dunno. But perhaps an interesting, broader question is, what movies had memorable whistling in it. Two that come to mind: John Wayne whistling the haunting theme music from The High and the Mighty, and the soldiers whistling The Colonel Bogey March in The Bridge on the River Kwai.

It is on BBC2 this afternoon at 14.00. (If you like John Wayne She Wore A Yellow Ribbon follows at 16.20)

[Toscana]

A bit off topic but Wayne made an "Airport" like film the year before The High and the Mighty with Wellman called Island in the Sky. Not a great film IITS but worth a look just to see Andy Devine in swimming trunks.

[George Bailey]

Island In The Sky is a very good film. I only came across it last year never having heard of it before. John Wayne produced it as well as starred in it. Never mind Andy devine in trunks what was good to see was Devine playing a straight part not for comedy.



It was on TV a few weeks ago.

[Steve Crook]

James McNeill Whistler painted Battersea Reach. That's in the western part of London so is it a Western Whistler?



He painted it around 1863 so it's before any of these films mentioned and could well be the First Western Whistler







Steve

[HUGHJAMPTON]

name='billy bentley']Literally just finished watching "Gunfight At OK Corral" with my two lads. Kirk Douglas's barber shpuld have won an oscar for that haircut ! The theme song sung by Frankie Laine features some serious whistling. Was this the inspiration and/or influence that lead to whistling being such a dominant feature of Morricone's soundtracks ?

I think it was probably more down to the limitations of budget, which dictated the sparseness of the soundtrack. Once established as a motiff, it was carried through to the subsequent films.



IIRC, the use of electric guitars, in A Fistfull of Dollars was influenced more by the soundtrack of Dr. No.

[Gerald Lovell]

I'm sure George Sanders whistles the original Saint Theme by Leslie Charteris in The Saint in Palm Springs, which is pretty far out west . . .

[billy bentley]

Just watched "The Proud Ones" which I thought was good, but not great. Robert Ryan was excellent. Does anyone know if that was Fred Lowery (the blind whistler) whistling the theme ?

[Rangebuster]

More whistling out west - Whistling Dan (1932) with Ken Maynard, Whistling Bullets (1937) with Kermit Maynard and Whistling Hills (1951) with Johnny Mack Brown. And Red Skelton played a radio detective The Fox in Whistling in the Dark (1941), Whistling in Dixie (1942) and Whistling in Brooklyn (1943.)

[billy bentley]

will.15 i've just learned that Fred Lowery whistled the theme of "The High And The Mighty", so there appears to be a connection between it and The Proud Ones. Next I've got to look into Rangebuster's titles.

[will.15]

I think Rangebuster's titles just have whistling in the titles. But I think it's quite possible there is some B Western with a singing cowboy with a song that is partly whistled. But I'm not a fan of the genre so can't say for sure.

[billy bentley]

I've just seen a 45 that credits Muzzy Marcellino as the whistler on Lionel Newman's theme for "The Proud Ones". Now trying to figure out which is the version from what I would call the original soundtrack recording, i.e. what's in the film.