Oscar (1991 Film) - Soundtrack

Soundtrack

The film score was composed by Elmer Bernstein and is based around Gioachino Rossini's Barber of Seville. In the Varese Sarabande edition of film soundtrack, there are liner notes from John Landis about the score:

“ As I shot the film I envisioned a particular kind of score and knew that Elmer would be the one to write it. By using a comic opera approach, I was actually contradicting the musical theory that Elmer and I had inaugurated 14 years ago with the serious score for Animal House. ”

The opening track is Largo Al Factorum from The Barber of Seville, performed by Earle Patriarco. Track Cops and Real Crooks concludes Finucci Piano Boogie composed and performed by Ralph Grierson. The Varese edition of the film's soundtrack also contained four songs which appeared during the film: Sweet Georgia Brown (performed by Bing Crosby), Rockin' In Rhythm (performed by Duke Ellington & His Orchestra, Tea For Two (performed by Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians) and Plain Dirt (performed by McKinney's Cotton Pickers).

There are currently two versions of the soundtrack. The first comprises four tracks used in the film in certain scenes. These are:

  1. "Rockin in Rhythm"
  2. "Sweet Georgia Brown"
  3. "Plain Dirt"
  4. "Barber of Seville" - (excerpts)

This is the May 1995 version of the soundtrack and does not include the selections by Elmer Bernstein.

The second includes all of the selections from the film, including the tracks from the other soundtrack:

  1. "Largo Al Factotum" (performed by Earle Patriarco) (4:42)
  2. "Grifting" (5:43)
  3. "Lisa Dreams" (3:46)
  4. "Tea and Romance" (4:29)
  5. "Revelations" (5:27)
  6. "Cops and Real Crooks" (composed and performed by Ralph Grierson) (5:45)
  7. "Sweet Georgia Brown" - Bing Crosby (2:54)
  8. "Rockin' in Rhythm" - Duke Ellington and His Orchestra (3:21)
  9. "Tea for Two" - Fred waring and His Pennsylvanians (3:21)
  10. "Plain Dirt" - McKinney's Cotton Pickers (2:38)

Read more about this topic:  Oscar (1991 Film)