CT Vader vs Luke rescored.

So, I found out a while back about the score that was originally written for the Bespin fight. Found a video where someone inserted it into the scene:



So, what do you think about the original score? I think it sounds great, and I love that it sounds like something out of a horror movie at times. I do think it's better without the music though.

Sorry if this has been posted before.

 

That's damn interesting, but I find the score a weency bit distracting. It may be impossible for me to give an unbiased opinion, however, considering that I've been thrilling to that scene since I was 11 in 1980.

 

The music removes the tension in my opinion. It definitely doesn't sound bad though.

 

The first part when the duel begins works well, but the use of Yoda's theme during the second part doesn't work as well as Williams had intended.

 

Agreed, it just works better without music. It's one of those rare, potent scenes in cinema in which the drama is conveyed purely through visuals, sound effects and dialogue.

Isolated from the scene, the music itself is wonderful.

 

The Empire Strikes Back is the only movie in the Saga in which large portions of the score were dialed out in favour of silence (mainly in the early scenes in Hoth during the storm sequence, in the early Dagobah scenes with creepy Yoda, and during the duel). The lack of music always gives a scene a more "realistic" sound that suits the movie and creates more tension (whereas the music tends to give more emotion to a scene).

It's curious that Williams actually scored Empire almost wall-to-wall (the first movie didn't have that much music), but so much of it was not used.

 

As good as the music is (which is very), no music actually sets the tone much better. Much more tense. I'd love to see the entire movie with the expanded score, if only for curiosity's sake.

 

Good work.

 

not good at all.

 

Great job finding this!

I think it works better without music, because I honestly believe the sound of the lightsabers is its own soundtrack for this fight. Somehow, the sound of the lightsabers alone makes the scene tense and exciting.

There are some parts of the duel with a soundtrack, but I was referring to the parts without one.

 

Far more tense without music. I do like the horror movie esque tune when Luke enters the chamber though.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Tapatalk

 

Well, that's partially because of Lucas. He seemed to be in charge of the music, even though Kershner and Marquand were the directors and had final say. After ANH, Lucas felt that more was important to the story. That's why more and more each film had so much with the score.

 

Well, before Star Wars, it was very unusual to have a wall-to-wall scored film. A film would have 30 or 40 minutes of music on average, not much more.
For Star Wars GL decided he wanted a lot of music, virtually in every scene. The result was a 90 minute score for a 2 hour movie... which was considered A LOT in the 70s. (In fact, because they felt that the film had a lot of music during the first and second acts, they decided that there would be no music from the moment the heroes escape the Death Star until the final battle, which is almost 10 minutes without any music- the longest stretch in a SW movie!).

After the success of SW wall-to-wall scoring became more and more popular for fantasy films, so naturally, the sequels would have more music.


For example, concerning the lightsaber duels: in the first film they decided that they would not score the duel because of the sound effects of the lightsaber. As sequels were made and the wall-to-wall scoring became more and more popular, the idea would fade out in favour of more music. In Empire, most of the duel was scored but most of it went unused. In Jedi, the duel is scored, but the music is very atmospheric and low-key until the final moments (Luke's attack on Vader). With the prequels, most duels would have a grand and prominent music score (though not always).

 

So much better without music. Great use of silence to emphasise the sheer power of the lightsaber sounds and little feet movements of Luke/Vader edging for position.

 

Put me down as another for "I like that bit of the score itself but the fight works better without it".

 

I agree. But it's still distracting. The lightsabers are sufficient music. I do like Williams' music a great deal, of course.

 

i like the original better. plus i played shadows of the empire so much that music is drilled into my head even more than hearing it in the movie.

 

The score almost makes Vader into a good guy when he's giving his speech from about 2:20... That's the moment it gets totally inappropriate IMO.

 

part of the flow is that the silence is scary. then the music kicks back in during the heroes escape. then back to no music during the duel.

 

Not that so much as 'the viewer is agreeing with Vader because minimal-experience Luke is showing what he learned on Dagobah by getting back into the fight and pushing Vader back.'

Works best with no music though. Keeps the tension.