What could possibly be better than John Williams’ masterpiece score to The Reivers (1969)? How about a souped-up version of the same score, accompanied by Burgess Meredith, who narrated the movie? (Hear both, and compare!)

By Nicholas Stix

In 1968, a youngish piano player known in the business as “Johnny Williams” (1932-) who had cut his teeth as a hollywood studio musician and arranger, got the job of composing the score to a quirky Steve McQueen (1930-1980) vehicle called The Reivers, which had been directed by a young upstart named Mark Rydell (who is still alive, at 95!).

Unlike Martin Scorcese, who claims to have seen every movie ever made, I have yet to see The Reivers. However, I have looked it up. It was based on Faulkner’s last work, the eponymous, autobiographical story of an adventure he’d gone on in 1916, as an 11-year-old squirt, with a couple of adult friends, involving his grandfather’s luxurious, yellow automobile, a Winton Flyer (which “Boss,” as grandfather was known, did not know how to drive!), a thoroughbred, and a race between the two.

The score, as played in the movie, is just stunning, and one of the most original I’ve ever heard from Williams. Thus, it currently 23rd on my list of the 25 greatest movie scores. Williams is also represented at #13 (The Cowboys, 1972) and #18 (Jaws, 1975).

If you check my list, you’ll see Williams also at #24 (Saving Private Ryan, 1998). However, I have pull that entry, and replace it with James Horner’s score for Courage under Fire (1996), which Williams clearly ripped off. The same reason caused me to not list Williams’ scores for Star Wars (1977) or Superman: The Movie (1978), both of which were obvious rip-offs of Holst’s The Planets.

https://nicholasstixuncensored.blogspot.com/2018/04/the-25-greatest-movie-scores-did.html

When my chief of research turned 12, I introduced him to The Planets. A few months later, I had him listen to a suite of Williams’ Star Wars score. He was immediately disappointed, remarking, “I guess no one’s really original.”

The Reivers got Williams his first Oscar nomination. The picture also got black comedian-actor Rupert Crosse nominated for Best Supporting Actor. (You don’t recall Crosse because he was a heavy smoker, whom the “Red Witch” came for at a mere 38.)

I only learned the other day that the movie was narrated by Burgess Meredith, after I found an even more moving version of Williams’ score (did he arrange it, too?), which Meredith again accompanied with his wistful narration.

Steve McQueen, whom I have taken to calling, the king of cruel (his sycophants long ago dubbed him “the king of cool”) starred in this picture.

Long after McQueen’s death, his old neighbor and friend, Jim Garner said, “Steve wasn’t an actor,” but sometimes he was, and he occasionally went for wild undertakings, like this distinctly uncommercial project, and Soldier in the Rain (1963).

The following paragraph was inspired by TCM’s Red Eddie Mueller.

Were Red Eddie writing this, he would surely note that Burgess Meredith was blacklisted during the 1950s. But what Red Eddie would definitely not tell you would be that Meredith was a communist, and as such yearned not so wistfully to slaughter tens of millions of American patriots, and variously imprison and enslave almost all of the rest. (I have not yet been able to determine if Meredith was an actual member of the CP USA.)

American patriots begged to differ, and so Burgess Meredith had no choice but to spend the duration earning bundles of cash on the Broadway stage as star, director, and producer.

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0580565/

Ah, but I just double-checked Meredith’s credits, and determined that he was NOT blacklisted! The entire period during which he was “blacklisted,” he worked in movies and TV.

imdb’s Anthony Adam, a college professor, writes,

“Meredith served in the United States Army Air Corps [sic] in World War II, reaching the rank of captain. he continued in a variety of dramatic and comedic roles often repeating his stage roles on film until being named an unfriendly witness by the house un-American activities committee in the early 1950s, whereupon studio work disappeared. his career picked up again, especially with television roles, in the 1960s, although younger audiences know him best for either the Rocky (1976) or Grumpy Old Men (1993) films. Meredith also did a large amount of commercial work, serving as the voice for skippy peanut butter and united air lines, among others.”

First off, if Meredith served in The War, he served in the United States Air Forces. The United States Army Air Corps was renamed in 1941, prior to the jap sneak attack on Pearl.

As I noted above, professor Anthony Adam lied about Meredith being blacklisted. If you were blacklisted, you did not work in pictures or tv. Period. The stage was different, because theater producers did not honor the blacklist.

And so, I have just discovered yet another case of blacklist b.s.

The Reivers (1969) | Soundtrack Suite (John Williams)

[N.S.: Look at how old Steve McQueen looked! He was only 38, yet he looked to be a good 20 years older. Heck, I look much younger now!]

Playlist:

-00:00 = Main Title /First Instruction / The Winton Flyer

-02:14 = Family Funeral / Lucius’ First Drive

-04:09 = The Road to Memphis

-05:30 = Reflections

-07:01 = The Sherriff Departs / The Bad News / Ned’s Secret

-09:52 = Ned’s Tale

-11:00 = The People Protest

-12:03 = Finale




The Reivers · John Williams · Boston Pops Orchestra

“Released on: 1994-04-01

“Producer: Thomas Z. Shepard

“Non Lyric Author: William Faulkner

“Adapter: Irving Ravetch

“Adapter: Harriet Ravetch”