Listening to Stanley Kubrick

by Gengaro, Christine Lee

  Dr. Strangelove

  Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was Kubrick’s next project. Adapted from a novel called Red Alert by Peter George, Kubrick shared screenwriting credit with him and Terry Southern. Peter Sellers contributed a lot of ad libs in the dialogue but was not given a writing credit. Because the role of Quilty was expanded in the film version of Lolita, and because Sellers did such an admirable job playing Quilty in multiple disguises, Columbia Pictures agreed to finance Dr. Strangelove if Sellers was given multiple roles. Of the four roles he was slated to play—British Captain Lionel Mandrake, U.S. President Merkin Muffley, former Nazi scientist Dr. Strangelove, and Major T. J. “King” Kong—Sellers played only the first three. Slim Pickens memorably played Kong, a character who, at the first sign of trouble, puts on his cowboy hat. Pickens had appeared in Brando’s One-Eyed Jacks, the film project Kubrick had briefly worked on before Spartacus.

  The film began as a serious Cold War drama; however, as Kubrick worked with the material, he began to see the comedic possibilities in the topic. He envisioned what he called a “nightmare comedy” about a paranoid general (played by Sterling Hayden, who starred in Kubrick’s The Killing) who initiates an unprovoked attack on the Russians that cannot be recalled. To add to the comedy, the character of Dr. Strangelove was added, an over-the-top former Nazi whose right arm and leg seem to be out of his control. The music adds ironic counterpoint to the film, although Dr. Strangelove is not a very musical movie. There are two preexistent songs that bookend the film, and there is the recurrent musical trope of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” Many of the scenes—especially those in the war room and at Burpelson Air Force Base—have no underscore at all. For the musical portions of the film, Kubrick hired British composer and arranger Laurie Johnson. In his career, Johnson has worked with big bands, including the Ted Heath Band and his own London Big Band, and has composed and arranged music for film, television, and the stage.

  Synopsis and Score Description for Dr. Strangelove

  The opening credits feature footage of an air force bomber refueling in midair to an orchestral version of “Try a Little Tenderness.” The romantic mood of the song against the obvious sexual reference of the long fueling tube engaging with the bomber’s tank sets the satiric tone for the rest of the film. The music and the visuals bring to mind what Luis M. Garcia Mainar calls the “main ideas in the film: the connection between desire and destruction.” 69 When the tube disengages, the song concludes gently, with an almost melancholic air.

  At the end of the film, the efforts to recall the last B-52, piloted by Major Kong, fail, and the nuclear bomb dropped by the plane begins a chain reaction of bombs around the world, annihilating mankind. A montage of nuclear explosions appears with Vera Lynn’s World War II–era song “We’ll Meet Again.” The lyrics, by Hughie Charles, speak of loved ones re-uniting, ostensibly after the war. Kubrick had toyed with the idea of showing the lyrics on-screen, with a bouncing ball cueing the audience when to sing. Although he ultimately decided against this, the version of the song in the film featured an informal group of voices singing along with the chorus.

  The musical centerpiece of the film is the tune “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” Multiple versions of this song appear over the course of the film, during scenes inside Major Kong’s bomber. There are eight such scenes, and Johnson provides a different variation of the song in each, some with full versions of the tune, some only with fragments of certain lines. The instrumentation and tempo may vary, but in each case a drum, particularly the snare, is present.

  The song “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” is credited to Irish American composer and bandleader Patrick Sarsfield Gilmore. Gilmore led a Boston band as part of the 24th Massachusetts Infantry. In 1863, Gilmore claimed to have written “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” although it bears striking melodic similarity to an Irish tune, “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye.” Although it was written during the Civil War, the song became a popular wartime tune, spawning many parodies and alternate versions.70

  In the first bomber scene, the crew receives the order of “Wing Plan R,” a serious bombing mission that carries the implication that a field commander is retaliating for a surprise attack. The music begins only after the crew has confirmed the order from base. The first version features snare and trumpet and later humming male voices under Major Kong’s pep talk. The next scene in the bomber begins with humming voices and drum. The humming voices complete one verse then pause for drum rolls. Then they perform another verse. Major Kong distributes the attack plans to all members of the crew so they can lock in the code prefix (that will only allow the person with the code, Hayden’s General Jack D. Ripper, to call off the attack). Brass instruments play the tune, with two extra measures of drum cadences between each line of the verse, effectively making the tune last twice as long. The humming version has no such delay. In the third scene in the bomber, the crew looks at the contents of their survival kits. Playing the tune this time with the drums is a harmonica. In the fourth bomber scene, in which a missile is tracking the bomber, the tune moves into the low brass, with echoes and arpeggios in the trumpets. The music gets lost in the noise after the missiles hit the plane, but part of the tune reappears at the end of the scene as the plane regains control. In the fifth bomber scene, the drum cadence has changed somewhat, allowing for an augmented (that is, lengthened) version of the tune, although we do not get the tune in its entirety, only fragments.

  In the sixth bomber scene, the trumpets are in the middle of the tune, playing the last phrase. Here, Laurie Johnson adds a downward arpeggio in the lower brass. This is the least coherent version of the tune so far. In the seventh bomber scene, the tune is heard in its entirety, played in an augmented version by the lower brass. The low brass then provide squawking accents during the tune’s repetition. The arpeggios are not in time with the drum cadence. In the eighth bomber scene, the tune is played in its entirety, played by muted brass. When the crew is arming the bomb, an alternate melody appears in the muted trumpet. Then the tune is played by the French horn. As Major Kong goes down to the bomb bay, the tune continues, with drum and brass accompaniment, and then it appears in the trumpet with low brass accents. More drums have been added, ratcheting up the tension. When the bomb bay doors open, the music stops, as Major Kong drops with the bomb onto the target area.

  Although Dr. Strangelove did not have the same potential to sell soundtracks as did Lolita, music still formed part of the promotion of the film. Columbia released a 45 rpm record on Colpix with the A side as “Theme from Dr. Strangelove” and B side called “Love That Bomb.” The latter song, which does not appear in the film, is a comedic early-sixties doo-wop song. At about a minute and a half in length, it belongs to a genre known as the novelty record. The artist on the 45 is listed as Dr. Strangelove and the Fallouts. Colpix also planned to release a 45 of Vera Lynn’s version of “We’ll Meet Again” in conjunction with the film.71 The soundtrack album for Dr. Strangelove is actually a compilation album of songs from Colpix soundtracks. Notable on the album is a cue from Maurice Jarre’s score to Lawrence of Arabia. The only song from Dr. Strangelove on the album is the so-called “Theme from Dr. Strangelove,” which is Laurie Johnson’s arrangement of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home.” Missing from the album are “We’ll Meet Again,” “Try a Little Tenderness,” and the popular music that Captain Mandrake finds playing on a transistor radio (clueing him in that there is no actual nuclear emergency at hand).

  Although the music in Dr. Strangelove is perhaps less integral than one might see in the later films like 2001, A Clockwork Orange, and The Shining, interviewer Michel Ciment suggested that it was in Dr. Strangelove that Kubrick began to use “music as a cultural reference”;72 however, one could argue that this is something Kubrick did very skillfully in Lolita. In either case, Kubrick’s relationship with the music in his films was about to change greatly with 2001. But more than twenty years after Dr. St
rangelove, Kubrick would revisit the same kinds of cultural musical references as he did in the 1967 “nightmare comedy.” There is no Kubrick film that uses popular music as a cultural reference point more intelligently than 1987’s Full Metal Jacket.

  Full Metal Jacket

  For his first project after the horror film The Shining, Kubrick once again drew upon a war story, this time set in a marine boot camp and then in Vietnam. Kubrick’s source material for this film was the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford. Screenwriter Michael Herr, who had written the Vietnam memoir Dispatches, also contributed personal anecdotes to the film. Kubrick follows a platoon of marines from the beginning of their training to their deployment into a war zone. Kubrick drew primarily on popular music for the soundtrack. Additional original underscore was provided by Kubrick’s daughter Vivian, writing under the pseudonym Abigail Mead. Full Metal Jacket was Kubrick’s first film in more than a decade to eschew classical or art music as part of the score. As Kubrick discovered in Dr. Strangelove, popular music can be very powerful in the two main ways it creates meaning for the viewer: “Through its musical features (rhythm, melody, lyrics, etc.) and through the connotations such songs may suggest to the viewer, who is supposed to share the culture that has produced them.”73 At the time of the film’s release, many of the viewers of Full Metal Jacket were old enough to remember both the war and the music Kubrick chose for his soundtrack.

  Synopsis and Score Description for Full Metal Jacket

  The music for the film’s opening, a country song by Johnny Wright called “Hello, Vietnam,” sets the tenor of the film, much like Purcell’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary does in A Clockwork Orange and the Dies Irae does in The Shining. Kubrick shows the characters getting their heads shaved at the beginning of basic training. Kubrick chose not to have the sound of the razors at all on the soundtrack, preferring instead to have the music be the only sound. Each of the character’s expression is a little different from the others, some obviously upset about the loss of their hair (for some, a symbol of their individuality) and others seemingly indifferent. During the first part of the film, when the protagonist Private Joker attends boot camp at Parris Island, South Carolina, the aural landscape of the film consists of the booming voice of the senior drill instructor, played by real-life gunnery sergeant R. Lee Ermey, and orchestrated military cadences.

  The very first scene of the film, after the haircuts, is the introduction of the gunnery sergeant. There is no exposition before this, and we are thrust into boot camp without any ado. The gunnery sergeant sings cadences and the platoon echoes him. After a few scenes of training, drums take over the cadence and the training continues. The drum attacks are sharp, making them sound at times more like gunshots than drums. The men of the platoon are able to move with the rhythm of the cadence, but one marine named Leonard—although he is called “Private Pyle” in reference to Gomer Pyle—cannot seem to get into the rhythm of it; he is falling behind. For scenes of Private Joker teaching Private Pyle, there are percussive cadences with distant-sounding brass. On the shooting range, sounds of gunshots overtake music on the soundtrack.

  The soundtrack’s first ominous cue from Mead comes when Private Pyle is beaten by the rest of his platoon. Music of this type will return when Pyle has a mental breakdown. Similar cues appear when the platoon is in Vietnam. The intimation of this repetition suggests that the war begins for this platoon when they must turn against one of their own for the good of the many. Other musical moments include the platoon singing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus at Christmas, and graduation, which features a band version of the Marine Corps Theme Song (played by the Goldman Band).

  On the last night of basic training, Private Joker takes fire watch, and an ominous cue called “Leonard” plays. It features percussive sounds played at irregular intervals and an unpredictable melodic line. Underneath, there is what sounds like breathing, almost like the sound of a respirator in a hospital. The music is tense and uneasy. Joker finds Private Pyle in the head, loading the magazine for his rifle. When the gunnery sergeant comes in, the distant and indistinct melody gets louder. Pyle shoots the sergeant and then sits on a toilet and shoots himself in the mouth.

  Nancy Sinatra’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” provides the transition from the first part of the film—ending with Private Pyle’s murder-suicide—to Vietnam. It begins as a prostitute walks toward Joker. This could be her theme song, this woman with an attitude, but more likely the boots belong to these soldiers who are walking through Vietnam, who, in effect, walk “over the inhabitants of the country.”74 While the song plays, Joker haggles with the woman over her price. The song fades out to the sound of a helicopter and a change of scene. The Dixie Cups’ “Chapel of Love” plays on the holiday of Tet, accompanying a scene in the barracks. In both of these scenes, the music could be playing on-screen. It’s quiet under the dialogue and “Chapel of Love” fades out when the soldiers leave the barracks to fight. “Chapel of Love” seems an ironic choice since the song discusses innocent love and commitment, while on-screen a marine looks at a magazine with nude pictures. The song continues playing as the men discuss the condition of those who see battle. Some original underscore, a cue called “Ruins,” follows Joker and fellow journalist Rafterman to a mass grave.

  Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs’ “Wooly Bully” accompanies the scene in which Joker meets up with Cowboy’s platoon (Cowboy was one of Joker’s friends at Parris Island). As the platoon moves through the country, again, the music seems to rise out of the sound effects of war. In this case, it is overtaken by the gunshots of battle. “Surfin’ Bird” by the Trashmen accompanies images of journalists filming footage of soldiers in battle and of a helicopter being filled with wounded soldiers. As the platoon searches for a sniper in the film’s denouement, Mead’s musical cue “Ruins” creaks and wheezes. Again, there is no recognizable melody, only repeated sounds. Like the war itself, it is unpredictable and unsettling. A different cue, “Sniper,” is more melodic and distant and plays underneath the discussion of what to do with a dying sniper, who turns out to be a young woman. She begs to be shot, the music gaining volume and intensity with her pleas. The cue quiets down at Joker’s single gunshot.

  At the end of the film, Private Joker and the surviving members of the squad march to the Perfume River singing their own version of the “Mickey Mouse Club” theme song as a kind of cadence. It is a song that seems at odds with the bombed out and burning landscape.75 Joker’s voiceover, however, explains the cheerfulness of the song, the elation after the near-death experience with the sniper. Joker says, “I am so happy that I am alive, in one piece. In short: I’m in a world of shit. Yes. But I am alive, and I am not afraid.” The soldiers singing together is a distant echo of the end of Paths of Glory, but in both cases it’s a restoration of the men’s humanity, a shared experience that seems to pull them back from the brink of inhumanity, cruelty, and the horrors of war. Again they “are more like children, frightened and happy to be alive, than like killing machines.”76 The final credits are accompanied by the Rolling Stones’ song “Paint It Black.”

  What is so striking about the original underscore is how seamlessly it blends with the diegetic sounds of the scenes and rises up out of nowhere, like the enemy. The cues may appear at first to be sounds on-screen, but then take on structure that reveals them to be musical. When the cues are over, they can then retreat into the background again. The utilization of musical “noise” over traditional or orchestral music suits the subject matter quite well. If, as in Paths of Glory, melody is humanity, Mead has captured the inhumanity of war.

  The commercially available soundtrack for Full Metal Jacket begins with R. Lee Ermey’s cadences set to a drumbeat with some help from guitar. This five-minute track was arranged by Abigail Mead (Vivian Kubrick) and Nigel Goulding and was released as a single called “Full Metal Jacket.” The soundtrack contains almost all of the popular songs from the film, including “These Boots Are Made
for Walkin’” and “Wooly Bully,” but the Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black” does not appear on the soundtrack. Mead’s cues from the film appear on the album’s second half (the B side, when it was issued on vinyl) and were performed on a Fairlight Series III synthesizer. Full Metal Jacket was Kubrick’s penultimate film, and it was his last powerful meditation on the nature of war.

  Notes

  1. Thomas M. Pryor, Hollywood Dossier, New York Times, February 22, 1959.

  2. James Naremore, On Kubrick (London: British Film Institute, 2007), 17.

  3. Michel Ciment, Kubrick: The Definitive Edition, trans. Gilbert Adair (New York: Faber and Faber, 1999), 151.

  4. Interview with Gene D. Phillips, in Stanley Kubrick Interviews, ed. Gene D. Phillips, (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2001), 145.

  5. Sanya Shoilevska Henderson, Alex North, Film Composer (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1993), 62.

  6. Roger Hickman, Reel Music: Exploring 100 Years of Film Music (New York: Norton, 2006), 200.

  7. For a complete filmography of all of North’s credits, see Henderson, Alex North, Film Composer, 219–224.

  8. Henderson, Alex North, Film Composer, 71.

  9. Henderson, Alex North, Film Composer, 133.