Why ‘May December’s’ Use of ‘The Go-Between’ Score During Viral Hot Dog Scene Is Problematic
variety.comJon Burlingame Taking an old film score and dropping it into a new film is “like wearing somebody else’s underwear,” veteran composer Earle Hagenused to say.
Hagen, the Oscar-nominated, Emmy-winning composer of such classic themes as “The Andy Griffith Show,” “The Dick VanDyke Show” and “The Mod Squad,” would have been appalled by the musical choices in Netflix’s “May December.” A scene from that film, with Julianne Moore opening her refrigerator door to a melodramatic piano cue, has gone viral.
It’s a funny moment if you don’t recognize that music. But if you do, like thousands of film buffs around the world, then it’s either cringe-worthy or just head-scratching.
The music in question is Michel Legrand’s score for “The Go-Between,” a 1971 English cinema classic directed by Joseph Losey from a script by renowned playwright Harold Pinter. “The Go-Between” was a period romantic drama that starred Alan Bates and Julie Christie and has, over the years, been hailed as “one of the world’s great films” and “Losey’s masterpiece,” among other praise.
Read more on variety.com
