Category Archives: Films

Has Gladiator’s Music Score Been Unfairly Forgotten?

“Are you not entertained?” boomed Russell Crowe in Gladiator, a movie that hit the headlines again recently, 18 years after it first hit our screens. It was after Mr. Crowe decided that it was time to sell off some of his personal effects, including a jockstrap from one of his movies and a fake Roman chariot used in Gladiator. Well, to answer your question, Mr. Crowe, we were entertained (as you can see from our review), but while we remember the classic quotes from the movie and the stunning landscape that provided a backdrop to the action, one aspect has been lost slightly in any discussions about the movie which won the 73rd Academy Award for Best Picture. That aspect is the music for the movie, which was created by a legend in his industry: Hans Zimmer.

and Russell Crowe (54)💃🌹
2CELLOS – Now We Are Free – Gladiator [OFFICIAL VIDEO]https://t.co/P8VRXRkGHY pic.twitter.com/sS2Rqdkoaz

— Jolanta Dzieszko (@dzjolanta1) April 7, 2018

Do casino games represent a sign of the times?

Zimmer won awards at the Golden Globes, but the critical legacy seems to have revolved around the graphics used in the movie, with more awards for the likes of best costume design picked up by Gladiator than plaudits for the score. The visual effects and costumes at the time were stand-out, but looking back, they don’t seem like anything special, especially compared to costumes and backdrops from the stunning period dramas we’ve seen from the past decade (think Downton Abbey or Versailles for good examples of this).
The music, meanwhile, when you watch the movie again, hasn’t aged at all, despite the raft of technological changes which have emerged since the movie’s production. It is the look of the movie that has arguably had the biggest impact on pop culture as well; one look at the details about this fantastic game shows that there is far more of a focus on the aesthetics of the game rather than the music, which focuses primarily on sound effects like beeps and chimes.

It’s an honor to be nominated for an eleventh Academy Award for #Dunkirk. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/WkR2ngYLXW

— Hans Zimmer (@HansZimmer) March 5, 2018

This Platinum Play casino review shows that the Gladiator slot reached new heights of popularity, becoming one of the most popular games from that particular operator, highlighting how the music has become something of the forgotten element of the award-winning movie.

Not the only snub to Hans

For as much as it may seem unfair, Zimmer perhaps won’t have been overly surprised by his snub. After all, he has already seen his score for Hannibal be horribly underrated. With tracks like The Battle and Now We Are Free significant pieces of music, it is still a tragedy that the blood and guts is what sticks in the mind all these years later, and that the selling off of items by Russell Crowe can still be what grabs the headlines, rather than the inspirational work of a great movie soundtrack composer.

The CV and the awards that Hans Zimmer has earned throughout his career highlight that he is a man who has clearly earned appreciation in the world of music, even if he hasn’t been able to remain memorable in public consciousness. For the time being, if you want to enjoy Hans Zimmer, you just need to watch movies as diverse as The Lion King, Inception, and, of course, Gladiator, to hear him at his finest.

See also:

My thoughts on: Gladiator (2000)

Film/TV Reviews

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

The Wind in the Willows “The Merrily Song” (1949)

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West “The Girl You Left Behind” (1991)

1 Reply

The first sequel to Don Bluth’s beloved-if-somewhat-disturbing An American Tail is an underrated gem of a story that follows Russian immigrant mouse Fievel Mouskewitz and his family as they immigrate to the wild West to make a better life than the one they have in New York City. Predictably, Fievel is separated from his family during the journey and he must race to catch up to their new home in Green River before the nefarious Cat R. Waul (John Cleese) fulfills his dream of turning all the mice into mouse burgers via a giant mouse trap.

One of my favorite sub-plots in this story is that of Tanya, Fievel’s older sister. With a gorgeous singing voice, Tanya is filled with dreams of becoming a great actress or a singer (or both) but her mother won’t hear of it. It’s not until Cat R. Waul happens to hear her singing to herself one day (“Dreams to Dream”) that Tanya is given a chance to realize her dream of becoming a performer. She’s taken to the local saloon and made up into a show girl by Miss Kitty (Tiger’s on-again off-again girlfriend) and is then thrust onto the stage where she has to perform for a saloon full of cats! Tanya’s nerves almost get the better of her, but with a little encouragement from Miss Kitty, she lets out a glass-breaking note that leaves the entire room staring at her in awe, and then the real fun begins!

“The Girl You Left Behind” is one of my favorite animated songs that doesn’t come from a Disney film. It was created by the late James Horner and features the vocals of Cathy Cavadini (aka Blossom from The Powerpuff Girls). In this song, Tanya entertains the cats by singing about “the girl you left behind” and how they shouldn’t let her go.

Do you… do you ever miss…

Do you ever miss the girl…you left behind?

Is the girl you left behind out there tonight romancin’?

Makin’ eyes at someone else and singin’, is she dancin’?

Only the girl you left behind is real when you’re sleepin’

Puts the teardrops in your eyes from secrets she is keepin’

Happy just playin’ a tune and dance the whole night away

Hope the girl you left behind will be there for you someday

Lonely is the wind that blows, you know you’ll always miss her

Lonely is a lover’s heart, if only you could

Kiss her, kiss her, kiss her

Tanya’s debut takes place while Chula (Cat R. Waul’s tarantula henchman) is hunting Fievel to eliminate him as a loose end (he knows about the cats’ plan to kill all the mice). The poor mouse tries time and time again to get his sister’s attention but she’s so caught up in her performance that she doesn’t notice.

Chula is a sadistic tarantula with a high aversion to pain (just listen to his dialogue during the scene where he gets sprayed with Miss Kitty’s perfume). At one point, he corners Fievel and sings a demented version of “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” that goes like this: The itsy bitsy spider caught a mouse in his web/The itsy bitsy spider BIT OFF THE MOUSE’S HEAD!

All the girls you left behind could fill up California

Please don’t leave them too darn long, I think I oughta warn ya

Absence makes the heart go cold and makes a heart to wander

If you stay there by their sides, you’ll feel their hearts grow fonder

Cats:

Hope you see her someday

Hope I find my way

Back to the girl I left behind

Tanya:

So tell me you will never roam

Cats:

(We swear we won’t go roaming)

Tanya:

You’ll be by your fireside

Cats:

(We’ll all be home sweet home and kiss her, kiss her, kiss her)

Tanya:
So where’s the girl you left behind?

Cats:
She’s waitin’ for her sister

We won’t stop until we’re home we’ll hug and hug and kiss her

I’ll find the girl

All:
You’ll (I’ll) find the girl

You’ll (I’ll) find the girl you (I) left behind

Tonight! Tonight! Tonight!

That’s right

Alright!

I can’t lie, as a little kid, I used to pretend I was Tanya putting on the performance of a lifetime. I wanted to put a big feather in my hair and dress up too (*sighs* good times…) What do you think of “The Girl You Left Behind”? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day 🙂

Soundtrack Review: I Kill Giants (2018)

See also:

Film Soundtracks A-W

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Soundtrack Review: Tomb Raider (2018)

See also:

Film Soundtracks A-W

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Moana “How Far I’ll Go” (2016)

8 Replies

Moana has nearly convinced herself that she can live happily for the rest of her life on Motonui but fate has a different plan for this chief’s daughter. One day, as Moana is going about helping the people, a group comes up to show her a basket of rotten coconuts. No problem, Moana instructs them to start gathering from a different grove and to remove the diseased trees. But then the fishermen come up and show their empty baskets: there are no fish in the lagoon, nor are there any to be found in any of the other usual fishing spots that Moana suggests they try instead. While her father gets into a heated discussion with the fishermen, Moana is struck by a brilliant idea: why don’t they go beyond the reef to fish? I believe that she is making a sincere suggestion that might help the island (and not just because she wants to go explore herself) but her father does not see it that way at all. He rejects her flatly and insists they will find another way because “no one sails beyond the reef.”

Disheartened (again), Moana remains on the beach and ponders her seemingly unending desire to explore the ocean. This is the setting of “How Far I’ll Go.” There’s a version of this song in almost every animated Disney song that I can think of:

Sleeping Beauty “I Wonder” (1959)
The Little Mermaid “Part of Your World” (1989)
Pocahontas “Just Around the Riverbend” (1995)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame “Out There” (1996)
Hercules “Go the Distance” (1997)
Mulan “Reflection” (1998)
Tangled “When Will My Life Begin?” (2010)
Frozen “Let it Go” (2013)

And those are just to name a few! But despite this type of song showing up in so many films, it doesn’t change the fact that I love this song! It resonates with me because I too struggle with wanting to do things that people close to me do not always understand.

I’ve been staring at the edge of the water
Long as I can remember
Never really knowing why
I wish I could be the perfect daughter
But I come back to the water
No matter how hard I try

Every turn I take, every trail I track
Every path I make, every road leads back
To the place I know where I cannot go
Where I long to be

See the line where the sky meets the sea
It calls me
And no one knows
How far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea
Stays behind me
One day, I’ll know
If I go, there’s just no telling how far I’ll go

I know everybody on this island
Seems so happy on this island
Everything is by design
I know everybody on this island
Has a role on this island
So maybe I can roll with mine

Moana’s argument does make sense: everybody else is perfectly happy with their roles on the island, so why shouldn’t she be content with her role as a chief’s daughter (and future chief in her own right)? She doesn’t understand why she’s drawn back time and time again to the ocean, in fact she wonders if there’s something wrong with her!

I can lead with pride
I can make us strong
I’ll be satisfied if I play along
But the voice inside
Sings a different song
What is wrong with me?

All of Moana’s doubts are swept away every time she stares back at the ocean. Deep down, nothing else matters if she can just get out there and explore. That’s why, despite just hearing her father say no one can go beyond the reef, Moana runs back to the beach, grabs a boat and begins paddling out into the lagoon (despite not knowing the first thing about sailing!!)

See the light as it shines on the sea
It’s blinding
But no one knows
How deep it goes
And it seems like it’s calling out to me
So come find me
And let me know
What’s beyond that line?
Will I cross that line?
See the line where the sky meets the sea
It calls me
And no one knows
How far it goes
If the wind in my sail on the sea
Stays behind me
One day, I’ll know
How far I’ll go

The song ends on a high note but almost immediately turns into disaster when Moana’s boat is capsized and she nearly drowns with her foot stuck in the coral reef. This scene subverted a fairly common Disney trope where the hero/heroine gets caught doing something they shouldn’t by the stern authority figure/parent. I fully expected Moana to get caught by her father and get another tongue-lashing, but instead the only one who catches her is her beloved grandmother Tala (who doesn’t mind at all that Moana loves the ocean).

“How Far I’ll Go” was composed and written by Lin-Manuel Miranda (of Hamilton fame) and remains one of my favorite Disney songs almost two years after the film came out in theaters. What do you think of “How Far I’ll Go?” Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

See also:

Moana “Where You Are” (2016)

Moana “How Far I’ll Go (reprise)” (2016)

Moana “We Know the Way” (2016)

Moana “You’re Welcome” (2016)

Moana “Shiny” (2016)

Moana “I am Moana” (2016)

Moana “Know Who You Are” (2016)

Disney Soundtracks A-Z

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

My thoughts on: Inglorious Basterds (2009)

5 Replies

locandinapg12

This may shock some of you but before I sat down and watched Inglorious Basterds, I don’t think I’d seen a single Quentin Tarantino film (not all the way through at any rate, since I have seen snippets from Kill Bill). Since I’m looking to expand my cinematic knowledge, I decided Inglorious Basterds was a good place to start. And as it turns out…I liked this film a lot more than I thought I would.

If you haven’t seen this movie, Inglorious Basterds is set in an alternate World War II where Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt with an accent that doesn’t fit him in the slightest) leads a special commando group (the titular ‘Basterds’) on an operation to assassinate Hitler shortly before D-Day in 1944. This group has struck fear into the German army not just because they rarely leave survivors, but also because they scalp their victims (Raine has demanded 100 scalps from every man in his group). The Basterds consist of:

Lt. Aldo “The Apache” Raine
Sgt. Donny “The Bear Jew” Donowitz
Hugo Stiglitz
Wilhelm Wicki
Private “The Little Man” Utivich
Private Andy Kagan
Private Michael Zimmerman
Private Simon Sakowitz

Except for Raine and Stiglitz (a former German soldier locked up for brutally murdering a lot of German officers), the entire group consists of Jewish-American soldiers who are out to wreak havoc on any Nazis they can get their hands on.

shosannahaha

Concurrently, the story follows the story of Emmanuelle Mimieux (real name Shosanna Dreyfus) (Melanie Laurent), a (secretly) Jewish woman who barely survived being murdered by Colonel Hans Landa (Christoph Waltz) when the man hiding her and her family gave away their hiding place to Landa to save his own family. Emmanuelle now runs a cinema in Paris with her lover Marcel (Jacky Ido) and comes to the attention of a German soldier named Fredrick Zoller, who is immediately smitten with her. It turns out that Zoller is the star in the latest Nazi propaganda film Nation’s Pride which tells the (heavily exaggerated) story of how Zoller killed 250 soldiers in a single battle.

Zoller, wanting to impress Emmanuelle (and not taking the hint that she is not interested in him) convinces Goebbels to move the premiere of the film to Emmanuelle’s smaller cinema and Hitler himself will be in attendance along with most of the high command. This gives Emmanuelle the idea to kill the Nazi leadership by locking the cinema doors and setting on fire a large collection of nitrate films (nitrate being extremely flammable). Her plans are unwittingly on a collision course with the Basterds plans, who also wish to take out Hitler at the movie premiere.

68c8f32346b38b597ddab32b9a3cb8c9

I found myself deeply engrossed in this story once it got going. Waltz’s performance as the sadistic Colonel Landa was simply mesmerizing. He carries himself as the perfect gentleman (even when hunting the Dreyfus family at the start of the film) but a twisted element is always present. One of my favorite scenes is when Landa unwittingly meets Emmanuelle at a cafe (not realizing that it’s the same girl he tried to murder three years previously). Emmanuelle clearly remembers who he is and the tension is palpable until the oblivious colonel leaves and the traumatized woman lets out a sob as her repressed emotions spill out.

Another perfect moment came at the climax of the film when Marcel set the nitrate film on fire. Before this, Emmanuelle had recorded some footage and spliced it into a reel of the new movie. In it, she revealed her true name, that she was a Jew and everyone in the theater was about to die at her hands. The rest of the footage is of her laughing as the flames roar into the theater. It’s terrifying (because of the theater going up in flames) and satisfying (because the Nazis are getting what’s coming to them) all at the same time. There’s a fantastic shot of Emmanuelle’s laughing face visible against the smoke in the theater long after the screen has burned away.

Melanie-Laurent-as-Emmanuelle-Mimieux-Shosanna-Dreyfus-inglourious-basterds-38821858-500-334

I’d been told going in that Tarantino films were known for their bloody moments and this film certainly had those (though not as many as I’d feared). The worst moment for me came at the end when two of the surviving Basterds are pumping bullet after bullet into the mangled bodies of Hitler and Goebbels; the corpses were so riddled with holes that I could barely look at them, but that part only lasted for a moment.

In conclusion, I did enjoy Inglorious Basterds. It’s a fascinating look at a World War II that never was. If you’ve seen the film, what did you think about it? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

For more film reviews see also: Film/TV Reviews

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Robin Hood “Not in Nottingham” (1973)

3 Replies

Robin Hood “Double the taxes!” (1973)

Prince John is, not surprisingly, infuriated when he hears what the people of Nottingham are singing about him. So, he decides the town should sing “a new tune.”

“Double the taxes,” he cries “triple the taxes! SQUEEZE every last drop out of those insolent, musical peasants.”

It’s left to Alan-a-Dale to explain what happens next. Whereas before the town was merely oppressed by high taxes, now it’s been completely ruined. Anyone who can’t pay their taxes ends up in a dungeon deep inside Nottingham Castle. And since everyone was destitute to begin with, this means the entire population of Nottingham is imprisoned (even the minstrel rooster, who sadly sings about the woes of the town).

Robin Hood “Not in Nottingham” (1973)

Every town…
Has its ups and downs…
Sometimes ups…
Outnumber the downs…
But not in Nottingham

I’m inclined to believe,
If we were so down,
We’d up and leave,
We’d up and fly if we had wings for flyin’…
Can’t you see the tears we’re cryin’?
Can’t there be some happiness for me?
Not in Nottingham.

The song is intermixed with various scenes of the townspeople sleeping in the dungeon. There is even a chain gang of raccoons being led inside, presumably after a long day of hard labor. It seems the only ones not locked up are Friar Tuck and the two church mice. Tuck is ringing the church bell to announce the evening service, but nobody is coming. Nevertheless, the friar is determined to keep hope alive, even though no one has donated to the church’s poor box in ages. This gives Mrs. Church Mouse an idea; there’s one last farthing saved in their little home in the church wall, but she decides the poor need it more than they do. Cue the arrival of the Sheriff of Nottingham to ruin the moment (it’s almost like he has an internal sensor to let him know when there’s any money around).

Robin Hood “Friar Tuck arrested” (1973)

When the wolf takes the just-donated farthing for “taxes,” Friar Tuck reaches his limit with the fat Sheriff. He forces the wolf outside to give him a good thrashing with a quarterstaff; unfortunately that gives the Sheriff grounds to arrest the badger for high treason and he’s led off to jail to join the rest of the people of Nottingham.

I’ve always liked “Not in Nottingham,” it’s so sad but it also perfectly sums up the desperate situation happening in the town. Roger Miller’s performance is rich, smooth and a joy to listen to. What do you think of the song “Not in Nottingham”? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below and have a great day!

See also:

Robin Hood “Oo-De-Lally” (1973)

Robin Hood “Love” (1973)

Robin Hood “The Phony King of England” (1973)

Disney Soundtracks A-Z

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

My thoughts on: Live Free or Die Hard (2007)

7 Replies

*this review was requested by a patron as part of his $5/month pledge on Patreon

51YtBMa-prL._SX200_QL80_

It took about a week longer than I’d planned but I finally managed to sit down and watch Live Free or Die Hard (2007), the first film from the Die Hard franchise that I’ve ever seen. After two long, painful hours, the credits finally began to roll and I came to the following conclusion: this movie is terrible!

In this fourth installment in the Die Hard franchise, John McClane (Bruce Willis) finds himself forced to protect a hacker (Justin Long) after a mysterious organization tries to kill him with a C4 bomb hidden in his computer. This is after a different group hacks the Department of Cyber-Security (or something to that effect) and then systematically begins murdering the hackers who helped them do it. It turns out this group is led by Thomas Gabriel (Timothy Olyphant), a former analyst for the Defense Department, who was ousted from his position after predicting something like this might happen and is now shutting down the country’s infrastructure via hacking to prove his point (that the U.S. cyber-security is woefully lacking). McClane has to stop Gabriel from throwing the country into chaos and rescue his daughter too.

live-free-or-die-hard-mary-elizabeth-winstead-timothy-olyphant

That is the plot in a nutshell and I wish I could give more detail but it really wouldn’t help. On the one hand, I do see where the filmmakers were trying to go with this story. The idea of genius hackers taking down the system in this manner is a frightening one and would make for a good story if done properly. Unfortunately, with lousy dialogue and at times cringe-worthy camera work, this movie reminded me more of those bad B-films the SyFy channel puts on every weekend instead of a big-budget blockbuster.

Despite overall not liking this film, I was able to find a few bright spots:

Justin Long: I loved his performance as in-over-his-head hacker Matt Farrell; he’s clearly the audience surrogate for this story and he nailed the part.
Warlock: Matt’s hacker friend “Warlock” (Kevin Smith) might be my favorite character in the film. He’s the quintessential “nerd who lives in his mom’s basement” but he’s also this master hacker with an awesome computer rig. I love how his “command center” was this literal cave of nerd-dom, with gaming consoles, collectibles, everything a hardcore nerd could ever want.
The first threat video: Gabriel uploads two threatening videos to the nation’s news networks. The first of these is a speech cobbled together from televised speeches given by presidents ranging from Truman to George W. Bush (the then-current President). It’s a visual example of a ransom note, the ones you’d see with letters cut out from different sources to make one word. That was one element I really liked.
The music: Marco Beltrami’s score is relatively simplistic but it serves the needs of the film, which is a big plus given how bad most of the film was.

MV5BZDRmM2Q1YTctMjY1ZC00NTM4LWFlMTktZGZiZTFlNjg1ZWM1XkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNTc3MjUzNTI@._V1_

And then there’s what I hated:

The dialogue: If I really got going, I could probably rage for hours about how atrocious this dialogue was, especially the lines given to Timothy Olyphant. It just didn’t sound believable a lot of the time and it ruined any attempt to get invested into the story.
Lack of plot: Most of this film can be boiled into this format: car chase + helicopter chase + another car chase/gun fight + helicopter gun fight + repeat ad nauseam. I’m not against chases in movies (as a matter of fact I enjoy them for the most part), but what I strongly object to is chase after chase with very little plot in between it all.
That scene with the F-35: I may be wrong, but I’m pretty certain most of what happened with that fighter jet couldn’t happen in real life. It also stretched my suspension of disbelief that the pilot would get authorization to use deadly force in an area full of civilians (at the very least he should have requested something verifying the order).

Final thoughts: Live Free or Die Hard has, for the moment, justified my reasons for avoiding this franchise (though I’ve been told the first film is much better). A few bright spots and a decent score couldn’t save this movie in my opinion. It’s great if you’re a fan of mindless action sequences, but it’s really not for me.

Let me know what you think of Live Free or Die Hard in the comments below, have a great day!

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

Film/TV Reviews

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂

Check out the YouTube channel (and consider hitting the subscribe button)

Robin Hood “The Phony King of England” (1973)

5 Replies

The 30 year period between Disney’s Golden Age (which ended in 1959 with Sleeping Beauty) and the Disney Renaissance (The Little Mermaid (1989)) is often, I feel, unfairly marginalized as a period of sub-par films that aren’t worth remembering compared to what came before and after. Now, I’m not saying every film in this period is a masterpiece, but there are some genuinely good animated films that deserve their just due. And one of these films is Disney’s Robin Hood (1973), an underrated film if ever I saw one.

The story is presented as the “true” version of the Robin Hood story as the residents of the animal kingdom remember it. To that end: Robin Hood (Brian Bedford) and Maid Marian (Monica Evans) are foxes; Little John (Phil Harris) is a bear; Friar Tuck (Andy Devine) is a badger; King Richard and the conniving Prince John (both voiced by Peter Ustinov) are lions; the Sheriff of Nottingham (Pat Buttram) is a wolf; and Alan-a-Dale (Roger Miller) is a singing rooster.

The film has a great soundtrack with some memorable songs,one of my favorites being “The Phony King of England” (lyrics written by Johnny Mercer and performed by Phil Harris). The song takes place after our heroes have escaped from the archery tournament where Prince John attempted to capture and kill Robin Hood. Practically the entire population of Nottingham is gathered in Sherwood Forest to celebrate humiliating the prince and Little John leads the festivities with a whimsical song describing exactly how the people really feel about their would-be king.

Oh the world will sing of an English King
A thousand years from now
And not because he passed some laws
Or had that lofty brow
While bonny good King Richard leads
The great crusade he’s on
We’ll all have to slave away
For that good-for-nothin’ John

Incredible as he is inept
Whenever the history books are kept
They’ll call him the phony king of England!
A pox on the phony king of England!

To say “a pox on…” somebody means you’re basically cursing that person saying “I hope that person shrivels up with a pox and dies” And for someone to curse their ruler that way, well…you’re doing a pretty bad job if your subjects think THAT about you. While Little John leads the singing, some of the others put on a puppet show in the hollow of a tree, mocking Prince John and his advisor Sir Hiss (Terry-Thomas).

He sits alone on a giant throne
Pretendin’ he’s the king
A little tyke who’s rather like
A puppet on a string
And he throws an angry tantrum
If he cannot have his way
And then he calls for Mum
While he’s suckin’ his thumb
You see, he doesn’t want to play

Too late to be known as John the First
He’s sure to be known as John the worst
A pox on that phony king of England!

Throughout the film, there’s a running gag of Prince John bursting into childish whining whenever his mother his mentioned (“Ooohhhh, Mommy!!!”). This is a reference to the problems the real Prince John had with his mother Eleanor of Aquitaine. It was no secret that Eleanor favored Richard and John resented it for most of his life. Also, the line “too late to be known as John the first, he’s sure to be known as John the worst” refers to the fact that John is, to this day, regarded as one of the worst (if not the worst) kings that England ever had, so much so that there’s never been a John the Second.

While he taxes us to pieces
And he robs us of our bread
King Richard’s crown keeps slippin’ down
Around that pointed head
Ah! But while there is a merry man
In Robin’s wily pack
We’ll find a way to make him pay
And steal our money back
A minute before he knows we’re there
Ol’ Rob’ll snatch his underwear!

The villagers all dance during this song with animation that is (quite noticeably) reused from The Aristocats (1970), The Jungle Book (1967) and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937). It’s actually fun to watch and see just how many pieces of animation are borrowed pieces from earlier films (it feels like I find a new example every time I watch).

The breezy and uneasy king of England!
The snivellin’ grovellin’,
Measly weasly,
Blabberin’ jabberin’,
Gibberin’ jabberin’,
Blunderin’ plunderin’,
Wheelin’ dealin’
Prince John, that phony King of England!
Yeah!

I’ve loved this song since I was little. It’s a fun, quirky song that makes you want to smile (and hopefully sing along). I hope you enjoy listening to “The Phony King of England.” Let me know what you think of the song in the comments below and have a great day!

See also:

Robin Hood “Oo-De-Lally” (1973)

Robin Hood “Love” (1973)

Robin Hood “Not in Nottingham” (1973)

You can become a patron of the blog at patreon.com/musicgamer460

You can subscribe to my YouTube channel here

For more Disney songs, see also: Disney Films & Soundtracks A-Z

Don’t forget to like Film Music Central on Facebook 🙂