Customer Reviews

Havana: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Havana may have been a mediocre movie, but the score by Dave Grusin is lovely and under-appreciated. Dave is one of the finest film music composers, having contributed to, among others, "Three Days Of The Condor", "Tootsie", "The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter", "The Graduate", "The Firm", "The Cure", and "Random Hearts", all scores worth listening to. He won a Grammy for "The Fabulous Baker Boys", and an Oscar for "The Milagro Beanfield War".

Dave is at his lyrical best here, with a gorgeous main theme that has amazing motivic development. Film composers are notoriously rushed into completing their music - it's at the end of production and everyone wants the film out. The word on this score is that Sydney Pollack, out of respect for Dave, gave him a more reasonable amount of time to complete this beautiful work. Another reviewer in these pages has noted some similarities in thematic material from cue to cue, but this is not a flaw in Grusin's composing, but is the nature of film music. One introduces a theme and then varies and re-uses it throughout the film - it helps to conjure up feelings of nostalgia and provides effective emotional subtext. It's best to listen to film music compilations like a musician would - with close attention to the subtle variations on a few themes. I notice a little Michel Legrand influence here and there.

An absolutely magnificent piece of scoring from one of the industry's best...

Barnaby Finch

Dave Grusin confirms once more the arsenal of his creative powers when composed this unusual soundtrack with a little help from his friends: Ritenour, Valentin Sandoval, Acuña and a lot of talented musicians who were extremely inspired.
Fabulous Latin mood.
Above the average all the way: You won't believe it.

The Havana soundtrack is good relaxing music to which to listen after a hard day's work. One can just sit back and read quietly while listening to these songs.

Dave Grusin always does a fabulous job...I grew up in Key West, FL and this kind of music (although in the 50's & 60's was not called Jazz) was everywhere. I learned to cha-cha at the age of 14 to this kind of spirited and rhythmic music - you just have to start snapping your fingers and moving your hips. It helps to have watched and really enjoyed the movie...the very last scene is Robert Redford at a beach in Key West - I place I know oh-so-well!

Beautiful soundtrack. I smell some of the feel of Ivan Lins in the vocal track that runs over closing titles. I could find no mention of Lins, a Brazilian composer, on the reviews.
I have to find a nice CD of this Grusin work.

CCW

While the film starring Robert Redford was mediocre, the music by Dave Grusin was, in my humble opinion, extraordinary. I never tire of listening to it. Too bad it did not get the recognition it deserved.

This CD is worth its penny in gold.

When Havana first came out, I had no interest in seeing it. Then while browsing on Dave Grusin's website a few years I came across this CD and thought I'd give it a listen....I'm so glad I did! All the songs are played with such feeling and emotion. I would have given the CD five stars, but I felt that Grusin overused the same basic melody in many of the songs (he did the same thing on the "Condor" soundtrack as well).

The one song that sticks out the most is "Hurricane Country". The muted trumpet; the wordless vocals by Dori Caymmi; the beautiful and haunting string arrangements-it is the most original, unique song that I've ever heard. Simply incredible.

As for the movie, I've never seen CasaBlanca so I can't say that it's better or worse. I'll say that it's a decent film and a nice quiet way to spend time with that special someone.

"Havana," the Robert Redford/Lena Olin film is a yet another forgettable, nearly character for character remake of the classic film "Casablanca." How many of those do we need?

However, the soundtrack is pretty flavorful! Dave Grusin, who knows a thing or two about writing for the screen (from television - "St. Elsewhere," to the film scores for "The Fabulous Baker Boys" to "Selena" among a large canon of work), takes us on a journey to Cuba and the trip is an auditory treat.

This disc should probably have been labled as a "Motion Picture Score" rather than a "soundtrack," since there are none of the hit songs from the film available here. But that's ok. The Main Title theme is brilliant at setting the tone, all percussion, spanish guitars, flutes and a lone trumpet.

The problem here is that there is a theme that gets used in several tracks, notably "Night Walk," "Cuba Libre," "Love Theme" and "Hurricane Country," which each have a variation on this theme. That's a full third of the disc that's practically the same song with slight changes. Though it is a lovely piece of music, it would have been nice to have more variety from the disc.

Still, it winds up being better than the film itself! Borderline recommendation.

This soundtrack to the 1990 Sydney Pollack film features a good selection of Latin jazz and romantic music that follows the plot of this film, a romantic drama set in late 1950's Cuba.