MovieChat Forums > Mr. Holland's Opus (1996) Discussion > The Opus itself

The Opus itself

posted 18 years ago by peltonni
51 replies | jump to latest

I'm a big fan of this movie and I've watched it a bunch of times, but I have to say, I just cannot like the symphony at the end. In fact, it's so bad to me that I almost feel like it cheapens the rest of the movie.

I think what happened is that the composer for the film wrote a symphony that he thought sounded like the end of a movie, as opposed to someone's life work. Almost the entire song has the same one note (for all intensive purposes) bass line and ridiculous "go get 'em" rythym. Then, the other instruments take turns playing one of the 2 or 3 melodies he uses on top of it. After watching his entire life go up and down and in and out, you'd expect a dynamic symphony that would reflect all the powerful events that we see throughout the movie. But instead, the song sounds like Mr. Holland has spent his entire life getting ready to ride in to battle on a huge elephant or something.

I mean, I hate to complain about a movie trying to show you a man's life work, when clearly the movie didn't have a lifetime to work on it. But man, that symphony was just so bad. Like, horrible slapped together in ten minutes bad. It never goes anywhere or does anything or change anyone or evoke feeling or anything. It's just the same dun dun diddle dun dun diddle dun dun junk over and over again.

I really REALLY wanted to enjoy it, but it just makes Mr. Holland look like a joke. "You've been spending your entire life on that??!?!?!?! Maybe you diserve to be an unknown music teacher who gets his funding cut."

Seriously, great movie. But what the hell were they thinking with that final symphony? I think if they had spent at least another day on it it could have been 100 times better.

[–] yolhanson 15 years ago

Getting to this thread very late, but I have to agree with whomever posted this a while back:
"I always imagined that we were only hearing part of a larger work, trimmed down to a length fitting for the end of a movie."

True. Indeed, some parts of the "symphony" were scored over at the start, weren't they (Holland in his little room)? I'm happy to be corrected on this point.

But, still, it's not the work of thirty years.

Unless he's been dead lazy.

[–] henrydalton 15 years ago

Hmmm, I was someone who felt the same way when I first watched the film, but the 'opus' has grown on me with time - both because I accept is as an excerpt of a larger work, and because I also felt that having something that wasn't the most astonishing musical achievement of all time was also kinda the point. But reading the comments on this thread got me to check out the full eight and a half minute version... And now I do wish that had been the one that was included in the film. Sure, they couldn't have gotten away with some epic 40 minute piece, but those extra few minutes do give the work a lot more scope and variety, and I don't think it would have been outside the realms of possibility to include them. People would probably have still had problems with it though... ;)

EDIT: Actually, scratch that. What they should have done is had Mr Holland come up, pick up the baton, and that's where the film ends - and the credits music is the full 8 min version of the American Symphony. The film has said what it needs to say by that point, and that way people could hear the full version, and the ones that wanted to think it needed to be something more than it was could just think it was the end credits music and have the 'opus' be whatever they wanted, as the point is the lives he affected. It'd also have the bonus of getting rid of that godawful schmaltzy song that's actually on the credits.

*The only good Kennedy is a Dead Kennedy*
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http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2474017/

[–] yolhanson 13 years ago

The "Symphony" is just the theme music of the film. It is another way of breaking the "fourth wall" between the art and the audience. Some of it is heard at the start (conducting, in his mind, in his living room). One might ask, why is he conducting essentially the same music (once in his head, later on stage), but thirty years apart? Is he so bereft of ideas?
The reason is that producers of films can't just commission symphonies for inclusion in a film, and for no other reason. If they did commission such a work, it would inevitably find its way into the soundtrack.
That's what happened here.

[–] Music357 15 years ago

I agree and disagree with many of the comments on here. The complete "American Symphony" is an 8 minute song that takes many of the themes heard throughout the movie and combines it all into one composition. I find the entire composition to be one of my favorite compositions of the soundtrack because it is kind of an 8 minute musical summary of the movie. I suggest everyone should heard the complete symphony before they state that the piece in entirety in rubbish. I will agree that the last three minutes of the piece are a bit over the top, but when heard with the rest of the song I find it is a sufficient ending.

[–] BillHicks 15 years ago

I cannot believe that this mistake has gone uncorrected for damn near 3 years now. The subject of this thread is "The Opus itself". And everyone keeps saying how the final musical piece that took him 30 years to write didn't live up to whatever they thought it should. THE TWO HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH EACH OTHER! "The Opus itself" is not the music that he wrote.

When his former student, the current governor, comes back at the end, she gives a speech that says, "We are your symphony Mr. Holland. We are the melodies and the notes of your opus. We are the music of your life." You can read the entire quote in the quotes section, but that pretty much sums it up. His "Opus" is the impact and affect he has had on his students, their families, his fellow teachers, and his community. Not the "notes on a page".

www.protect.org

[–] jbowmore 15 years ago

Exactly,

The small part of "American Symphony" we heard was just a work by Mr. Holland.

His students were his Opus.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Carlo893 15 years ago

'After watching his entire life go up and down and in and out, you'd expect a dynamic symphony that would reflect all the powerful events that we see throughout the movie. But instead, the song sounds like Mr. Holland has spent his entire life getting ready to ride in to battle on a huge elephant or something.'

ahahahahahahahah - yes! :)

[–] jbowmore 15 years ago

All we heard at the end was the first of five movements. The second movement was "Rowena's Theme", and the last three were written later (but before he retired).

This is hinted at on screen, and confirmed in the script.

[–] MiCharlie124 15 years ago

It's really "Mr. Holland's Fanfare" - The editing of the film shows this "opus" to be complete in and of itself. I think they could have done a fairer job by editing the clip to show a longer passage of time while he's conducting so as to show that this wasn't just a 3 minute piece he's spent his entire life fretting over. Yes, the real opus was the impact he made on the lives of all those students over 30 years, but I just personally would have found it more satisfying to believe that he had written a work of significant length over the course of that time rather than just this trifle that is shown at the end. It still maintains the emotional impact.

[–] califor123 14 years ago

For a movie...I thought the symphony was very decent. I have actually enjoyed listening to it time and again. Something rousing about it.

[–] bradford-1 13 years ago

I loved the idea an earlier poster wrote. To have Holland take the baton, give the downbeat and the movie ends. Therefore, each viewer can imagine anything from Gregorian chants to John Cage. Oh, if you watch the 1940 film CITY FOR CONQUEST, about 12 of the last 15 minutes are occupied by the performance of a character's Gershwin-like movement.

"We're fighting for this woman's honor, which is more than she ever did."

[–] tonymalone72 12 years ago

I feel the same way, the opus is a huge let down.

Here is this man of music, who loves it so much he wants the world to feel it the same way he does but what do we discover upon hearing his masterful composition?

Turns out his "lifes" work was nothing but the background music that plays during the COMING ATTRACTIONS at a movie theater.

I was waiting to hear something special which represented many different variations of music through the years, but all it sounded like to me was a joke like DVD menu music.