DAZED AND CONFUSED

Planes, trains and, um, bongos…

‘You’ve been smoking one of those jazz cigarettes, haven’t you, dude?!’

INDIANA JONES AND THE DIAL OF DESTINY ★★★★★

John Williams turns back the clock with alluring, expansive shows of lush romanticism and frisky grit for Indy’s farewell. Helena’s Theme is gorgeous and fluent, generously flushed with golden-age Hollywood sweep yet brightly adaptable to action duties. Alongside clear character/Dial cues, any sense of wonderment in the film is attributable to Williams’ twinkly scoring. As for old friends, Raiders March/Marion’s Theme are warmly reunited: weathered and wistful but still irresistible.

Talk about a ‘top priority’, to quote Jason London’s Randall ‘Pink’ Floyd. When it came to the all-important music for his summer-of-’76 teen movie Dazed and Confused (1993), Richard Linklater brooked no compromise. He fought hard when the label requested a cheesy 90s cock-rock cover of a 70s song to boost sales – ‘a big fat no way,’ he wrote in a production diary. And when Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant refused the use of their music, Linklater was not in a forgiving mood. ‘Lifetime boycott,’ he wrote.

School of Rock (2003) saw that boycott lifted, of course, but Dazed doesn’t miss Zep or our 90s rockers. Issued across two albums (still incomplete, mind), Linklater’s awesome mix bulges with 70s hard-rock hits and pre-MTV deep cuts, all livedin rather than researched choices. The results are so spot-on, they can’t help but invoke vicarious nostalgia among generations who weren’t there. One toke on Foghat or Frampton and you could be riding shotgun in the Chevy Chevelle, ready to get wasted at the beer bust.

Maxing his cast’s immersion, Linklater made character mixtapes for the actors – an idea that might have made for a fine third album. As a result, the soundtrack seems to emanate from the loose limbs and hair on screen as soon as Aerosmith’s

Sweet Emotion unfolds in a blur of teenage uncertainty – ‘I can’t say, baby, where I’ll be in a year.’ (Aerosmith refused the song’s inclusion on the album, sadly. Boycott!)

Even if the music may be disreputable, it still rocks - and you fully believe it soundtracked the characters’ lives. Alice Cooper, ZZ Top and Kiss rank among the headliners, all dirty riffs, hair and big choruses. The Sweet’s sleazy Fox on the Run accompanies Wooderson’s lecherous philosophies; The Runaways’ Cherry Bomb might have been made for Parker Posey to fall over drunk to. Soft-rockers Seals & Crofts’ Summer Breeze is a teen-crush go-to tune, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Tuesday’s Gone a comedown beauty. As for closing music, Foghat’s Slow Ride summons a youthful sense of summer opening out ahead: ‘We can roll all night…’.

The film took time to find its audience, but the first soundtrack album sold well, necessitating the second volume. Linklater didn’t see a penny for his work: ‘I waived most of my rights to pay for the soundtrack,’ he said. But it was money well spent, capturing an age when music was a primal means of expression and Aerosmith tickets could be the summer’s ‘top priority’. Now, any chance of issuing that third album? It’d be a lot cooler if you did…

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE – DEAD RECKONING PART ONE

★★★★★

In a busy year (see also D&D: HAT, Luther: The Fallen Sun, Ghosted…), Lorne Balfe isn’t slacking off for Fallout’s follow-up. Jostling with thrusting strings, brassy aggro and ballistic bongos, Reckoning adds spooked electronic atmospherics for The Entity and elsewhere. A few stronger character themes might have alleviated the gusty bluster a little, but the action cues burn rubber bracingly, while This Was the Plan adds distinguishing swells of emotional grandeur.

UNIVERSAL, LUCASFILM, PARAMOUNT, SONY MUSIC