Henry Mancini: Reinventing Film Music

by John Caps

Through film composer Henry Mancini, mere background music in movies became part of pop culture--an expression of sophistication and wit with a modern sense of cool and a lasting lyricism that has not dated. The first comprehensive study of Mancini's music, Henry Reinventing Film Music describes how the composer served as a bridge between the Big Band period of World War II and the impatient eclecticism of the Baby Boomer generation, between the grand formal orchestral film scores of the past and a modern American minimalist approach. Mancini's sound seemed to capture the bright, confident, welcoming voice of the middle class's new efficient interested in pop songs and jazz, in movie and television, in outreach politics but also conventional stay-at-home comforts. As John Caps shows, Mancini easily combined it all in his music.

 

Mancini wielded influence in Hollywood and around the world with his iconic dynamic jazz for the noirish detective TV show Peter Gunn, the sly theme from The Pink Panther, and his wistful folk song "Moon River" from Breakfast at Tiffany's . Through insightful close readings of key films, Caps traces Mancini's collaborations with important directors and shows how he homed in on specific dramatic or comic aspects of the film to create musical effects through clever instrumentation, eloquent musical gestures, and meaningful resonances and continuities in his scores. Accessible and engaging, this fresh view of Mancini's oeuvre and influence will delight and inform fans of film and popular music.

 

John Caps is an award-winning writer and producer of documentaries. He served as producer, writer, and host for four seasons of the National Public Radio syndicated series The Cinema Soundtrack, featuring interviews with and music of film composers. He lives in Baltimore, Maryland.

 

A volume in the series Music in American Life

Genres: Music, Nonfiction

278 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 2012

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It is hard to tell by the sad sequence of trivial films Mancini had to score in the last ten years of his life how far he would have been able to push his evolution as a film scorer."

Sad is right. Mancini was by all accounts a very modest, easygoing guy, who was thrilled by the opportunity to work on worthwhile projects, but mostly just grateful to be working at a craft he loved. I don't think he was well served by whoever was managing his career, especially from the mid-1970s onward. If only he'd had an agent who got him better material to work with than the likes of "Condorman" and "Ghost Dad."

Tim Burton wanted him to do the score for "Ed Wood," which would have been undoubtedly great, but unfortunately Mancini was too ill at that point to take the job.

[Randall Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book gets into a lot of the wonderful orchestration combinations Henry does, like his self-described “Ravel rip-off” where you divide the violins into four lines and then drop all the lines an octave or further and double the four lines with violas and cellos. Or how Moon River uses that super cool 8 voice Mancini Sound – 4 womens parts, four men’s parts. For Moon River, he calculated Audrey Hepburn had a thirteen note range in Funny Face prior, so he wrote a song with that limitation so she could sing it. It took him thirty days to decide the feel of the piece and only 30 minutes to write it. Its “Huckleberry friend…” is a reference to Mark Twain. The Pink Panther theme came from Mancini overhearing Plas Johnson’s tenor playing that gave him a tone and mood to describe David Niven sneaking around hotel rooms. Mancini had learned that scoring clearly funny music behind a funny scene was both redundant and counter-productive, and hence his seriously swinging music. The Pink Panther character was drawn by Friz Freleng, the same guy who brought you your favorite Bugs Bunny characters! Mancini said the hardest part of soundtracks was deciding the style of music; his films average about 37 separate cues. Like my other favorite all-around film composer John Barry, Mancini loved contrasts like minor key melodies with major key choruses, thin percussion or piccolos against fat low brass, and serious dramatic sections against schtick. I gave this book four stars because it has a lot of usable information about all Mancini’s different soundtracks that it’s a great read for musically inclined Mancini fans. Now, if only someone will write a book this interesting about John Barry’s soundtracks…

[Emilie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a good, though not essential, overview of Henry Mancini's evolution as a film composer. I've been an admirer of his work for a few years now, especially his darker thriller scores and more melancholy efforts. He had a far greater range than "Moon River," that's for sure.

The impression one gets reading this book is that Mancini deserved worthier projects to dedicate his talents to after the 1960s. He was so associated with the pop and easy listening melodies that made him famous that no one seemed as willing to take him on for heavier or more challenging projects. By the 1980s, a new generation of film composers had displaced Mancini, leaving him with projects of varying quality but to which he always dedicated his very best efforts.

I do have some quibbles with the book. Firstly, the author dips into the questionable realm of psychoanalysis a little too often for my tastes. I'm not one for "this score relates to how he felt about his distant father and/or estranged son" school of analysis. Secondly, Mancini's 1980s efforts, with a few exceptions, are glossed over more than I would have liked.

A pretty good primer on Mancini's style, evolution, and influence all the same.

[John Lamiell]

Could not read it; very disappointed; font is too small and too light; my “floaters” get in the way.

[Rodney Aho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written, in a dignified, insightful and honest approach.

[GONZA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book about the life of Henry Mancini trough his work and music. For the people that want to know more and are interested in the argument this is a very easy and enjoyable reading.
THANKS TO NETGALLEY AND University of Illinois Press FOR THE PREVIEW

[Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a very informative book, and the analysis of Mancini's music is excellent, but it is a very dry read.