Great Moments in Film Scoring, V. I: Shake Hands with Danger

A heat-drenched landscape coughs up dust. A bulldozer belches exhaust. And a lazy blues guitar is heard strumming in the pounding heat.

A worker climbs on the bulldozer's gears, failing to realize his life is at risk...

Yes, it's "Shake Hands with Danger", an industrial safety film produced for Caterpillar from the 70s (via BoingBoing).

The music is inspired by the darkest of songs from the man in black, Johnny Cash. Lots of reverb, exposed blues melody lines, languid pauses between phrases - the perfect mood for working hard in the heat and losing two fingers because you weren't careful.

Don't miss it when the foreman says "What if he bumped that control by accident? You'd be mincemeat by now!" (Has anyone really said "mincemeat" since 1975?)



"Shake Hands with Danger
Meet a guy who ought to know
I used to laugh at safety
Now they call me...three-fingered Joe

Shake hands with danger
Find it anywhere you choose
Be careless for a moment
Spend a lifetime with the blues."

Golden Globe Nominations

The Golden Globe Nominations are out today, here are the noms for original score (I've added in past films for the nominees).

The Painted Veil
Composed by Alexandre Desplat (Syriana)

The Fountain
Composed by Clint Mansell (Doom, Sahara)

Babel
Composed by Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain)

Nomad
Composed by Carlo Siliotto (The Punisher)

The Da Vinci Code
Composed by Hans Zimmer (Gladiator, Black Rain, and also did you know he was in the Buggles, the band that did "Video Killed the Radio Star", the first video ever aired on MTV?

The only one I've seen is Da Vinci Code, of course.