Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/501792
23 SPRING 2015 / CINEMONTAGE requiring editorial finesse. Up to this point, he had relied exclusively on pre-existing film scores for temp tracks, but a pivotal love scene with Zack and Paula was giving him fits. Nitzsche, preoccupied with other cues in the film, had not solved the scene, and none of the film scores Sobel had at hand were doing the trick. After coming home from work, he put on jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour's just-released album, Rit — not to get ideas but simply to unwind from the editorial impasse. "I was getting frustrated," Sobel recalls. But in listening to a track entitled "Dreamwalk," he had a moment of inspiration. "It was for the time very contemporary, very clean-sounding," Sobel says "I made a copy of it, played it against the scene and thought, 'This works; this is like a film cue.'" He ran the scene with "Dreamwalk" for Hackford, and the director agreed. "Instead of giving Jack the additional chore of trying to replace Lee's song, which worked like gangbusters for the love scene, I suggested we reach out to Lee and see if he would be interested in recording Jack's themes for the film, but using his 'Dreamwalk' arrangement as the template," Sobel explains. Ritenour was game, and the scene was solved. Sobel adds, "Lee received end-credit acknowledgment for his arrangement and I believe it became a hit for him." Meanwhile, an even more important scene was proving challenging: the ending, in which Zack — having completed school but seemingly leaving Paula in the lurch — arrives unannounced at the factory where she works and leads her (carries her, actually) to what promises to be happy days ahead. The scene was fraught with anxiety even before it reached the music editor. "They didn't want me to shoot that last sequence," Hackford remembers. "The studio, the producer, even Richard Gere said, 'Don't shoot it. It's phony. It'll never work.'" The director persisted, but the scene would not play until it was determined what music to use and how to use it. Sobel, though, reached back to Nitzsche's main theme for the film and arrived at the idea of combining it with his secondary theme — an orchestral version of what would become a verse from the film's song "Up Where We Belong" — at the moment when she, unprepared for Zack sneaking up on her at work, embraces him. "I clicked it out, I looked at it, I figured out the tempo for it," Sobel says. "When Zack kisses Paula, I brought in the secondary theme, played by a large string section. When Zack actually picks her up to carry her out, I modulated the cue to emphasize their movement and bonding, securing their future together." The music soars as Zack and Paula depart, the other factory workers gathering around in hearty applause. Suddenly, with Sobel's arrangement, the scene worked — not by going against its emotion and sentiment, but by reinforcing it. "You either had to go with it and accept what you were watching — accept the fact that this was maybe going to be a corny ending, but one that was very romantic — or not accept it," Sobel points out. "And the music had to go with that; it couldn't hold back." On Oscar night, Nitzsche was up for two awards for An Officer and a Gentleman: Best Original Score and Best Original Song for "Up Where We Belong," winning the latter (along with Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings); the film's second Oscar went to Gossett, Jr. for Supporting Actor. At the podium, Sainte-Marie made a point to acknowledge Sobel, whose partnership with Nitzsche continued for several more films, including John Carpenter's Starman (1984). Critics and fans commonly refer to the "fairy tale ending" of An Officer and a Gentleman — but it was a fairy tale ending not just for Zack and Paula, but also for Curt. "When in conversation with people, they say, 'Oh, what was your favorite film?' this is definitely one of a handful, if not the first one, that I always bring up," Sobel reflects. "Because of its importance of establishing a relationship with Taylor, and already having been in a trusted relationship with Jack." There was another consolation for the music editor: "Of course, having my name mentioned on the Oscars was a real thrill for my parents, who always worried about whether I was going to be able to find a job out here." f MY MOST MEMORABLE FILM At the "wrap luncheon" for An Officer and A Gentlemen in 1981: assistant editor Sonny Baskin, left, editor Peter Zinner, ACE, music editor Curt Sobel, additional editor Priscilla Nedd and director Taylor Hackford. Courtesy of Curt Sobel