Mandolins in the Movies

[Jim Garber]

I took my daughters to see Ella Enchanted, a sort of tongue-in-cheek fairy tale based loosely on Cinderella. In passing there was a scene where Ella is asked by her mother to go practice her mandolin. She runs downstairs and picks up a bowlback and then proceeds to bow it.

I am not sure if this was meant as a joke or just the ignorance of the movie makers. I can't imagine that there are many folks except mandolin players who would even care, let alone get the joke.

Perhaps we can have a place here in this thread for movie and tv sightings of mandolins.

Jim

[sandcastlefaith]

Bowing a mandolin, very interesting . . . I actually tried it once with my fiddle bow. You get a very weird, resonating sound, almost like a dobro/mandolin. Anyways, the only sighting I've ever really noticed is in the most obvious movie, Captain Correlli's Mandolin.

[Jaded]

There's a modern A style mando in the movie "A Mighty Wind"

Can't think of any other movies off hand, I do remember seeing an episode of Cheers where they had an "irish band" playin f-style mandolins.

[Yonkle]

There is a brief Mandolin Sighting in the Movie "Titanic" it's during the Celtic dancing and drinking scene,it's a bowlback! (A noteworthy sighting)

[mandocrucian]

"Stonehenge" sequence in This Is Spinal Tap. (The manager, Ian, also mentions having to go find mandolin strings while in Austin, during the big post-Stonehenge argument, which he concludes by quitting rather than accepting co-manager status with David St. Hubbins' flakey girlfriend.)

I believe there was also a shot of a mando being played on the bus in the film Almost Famous

Finnish soldier in Karelia plunking a mandolin in the WWII film Talvisota (Winter War).

NH

[Scott Tichenor]

King of the Gypsies (1978) is an enjoyable movie to rent from the budget rack. Soundtrack contributions by Grisman and Stephane Grappelli appears in a scene with the Dawg playing music.

Captain Corelli's Mandolin was interesting but mainly because of the scenery, the history behind the story and (most of all--heart beating fast) Penelope Cruz. The mandolin parts where he's playing look phonier than that million dollar bill some lady tried to pass in a Wal-Mart recently.

[John Rosett]

i saw an old(1940's?) movie years ago where one of the characters plays mandolin. there's a scene where he takes his gibson f-5, throws it into a drawer, and slams the drawer shut! i don't remember the title, but i sure remember that scene.
john

[MANDOLINMYSTER]

My daughters were just watching a move called "Little secrets", there was a sceen in a music store where a display case was filled with vintage goodies, ie, F4,A4,F5, and a mixed bag of bowlbacks etc, gotta love DVD I stopped it and took a close look http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Jim Garber]

King of the Gypsies (1978) is an enjoyable movie to rent from the budget rack. Soundtrack contributions by Grisman and Stephane Grappelli appears in a scene with the Dawg playing music.
I believe that Andy Statman also played on that soundtrack.

Jim

[mandocrustacean]

I caught part of the preview for "The Alamo" and it looked like there was a mandolin in one scene.

[Amanda Lynn]

I just rented a DVD "Confessions of Robert Crumb," in which R Crumb (70s guru of underground comics) was filmed playing mandolin in one of the early scenes. Even though he was an icon of the psychedelic era and lived in Haight-Ashbury, he couldn't stand rock and roll and even refused an offer to do a cover for The Rolling Stones because he hated their music! He collects old timey music and has some CDs out, some with his band "The Cheap Suit Serenaders," on which I think he sometimes plays mandolin.

[roland]

In the movie "Mrs Parker" about the New Yorker writer Dorothy Parker there is a brief scene where the Robert Benchley character and his wife are playing a duet (in their living room) on bowlback mandolins. This would be set in about 1930.

[AlanN]

A related question: my daughter has the Dixie Chicks' Home CD/DVD pkg. On the video, Landslide is featured and the during the mando break (very pretty), one of the Chicks is shown playing that break, in the music video style - very brief video clips of playing. My question - did she actually play that break on the recording, or was it Thile or Steffey?

[AlanN]

And there is the video compilation of Dave Apollon's movies, just the parts where he actually plays - very cool stuff.

[sandcastlefaith]

AlanN - I don't know if any of the Dixie Chicks even plays mandolin, but I do know that on the recording on the Cd of Landslide, Thile played the mandolin part. It may be different live, but I doubt it. It was probably just a recording that was faked by one of the girls, but you never know.

[AlanN]

Thanks, Nathaniel. That's what I thought, although it looks like she is playing the right strings/things.

[jlb]

There is either an OM or a Bouzouki in My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

[Brian Aldridge]

Back in the early 80s I was watching this tv show that was done featureing a poor Mexican Catholic Parish. One of the scenes showed the villagers all paradeing along this dusty dirt road, all dressed up and singing. There was this old dude marching along playing a Loar H5 mandola. He was the only one who had an instrument.

[Scotti Adams]

..Brother Where Art Thou..

[joshro78]

Did you all forget about 'Cold Mountain'?

[joshro78]

Alan, Nathaniel,
Martie does play the Mando and I think she does play the part in Landslide. Thile plays on Lil Jack Slade and Steffey also plays on the album. Probably Travelin Soldier, if not others.

[futrconslr]

Saw The Alamo sat. There is a Mexican playing a mandolin...the instrument doenst look period correct though...with Billy Bob Thorton who is playing the fiddle. BB plays Crockett. I am also not sure is Crockett played fiddle.

[Jim Garber]

I am also not sure is Crockett played fiddle.
I found this Web page about Crockett (http://users.ev1.net/~gpmoran/RvTx4.htm).

It says:
"At the Alamo, Davey Crockett entertained the troops with his fiddle. #The men of the Alamo are exhausted, resisting probes day and night."

Also: about the film (http://www.stankygroove.com/albums/alamo.html):

"As for traditional music that might have been played at the Alamo before the battle, we are presented with “Billy in the Low Ground” and “Deguello.” Davy Crockett was a fiddle player and probably knew how to play “The Eight of January,” “Soldier’s Joy,” and “Billy in the Low Ground.” #

Jim

[Eugene]

The mandolin in Cold Mountain definitely looked to be an early 20th-c. German instrument...and even more anachornistic in that the mandolin was almost entirely unknown in the US until ca. 1880. A mandolin in The Alamo would almost certainly not be "period correct."

[Paul Kotapish]

Dave Apollon appeared in a half-dozen short music featurettes with his Phillipine Orchestra including Hot From Petrograd and Club Cassanova. He also appeared in one full-length film called Merry Go 'Round. Pretty hard to find, but well worth watching to see the maestro in action.

There was a Fred Astaire movie called Second Chorus that featured an elaborate subplot with Charles Butterworth as Mr. Chisolm, a frustrated amateur mandolinist trying to break into the entertainment business. The mandolin functions as a kind of symbol of stuffy, square old music in the swinging world of big-band jazz. Lots of shots of Butterworth trying to make music on his Gibson F-5. There are some pretty fun big-band scenes with music by Artie Shaw, a ridiculous song about Mr. Chisolm and his mandolin, and the usual Fred Astaire song-and-dance routines.

For Grisman completists, there's a ridiculous hot-rod movie called Eat My Dust with Grisman's "EMD" as the title track. Good music, atrocious movie.

There are some mandolin bits in the Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory, and there's a nice scene in John Sayle's excellent Matewan where a bunch of the miners from different parts of the world are all camped out in the same place and the different strains of music--including an Italian mandolin--all come together for a brief musical meeting of the minds.

[SteveH]

There is a mandolin player in 'The Royal Tenebaums'. I think he was part of a classical quartet that played during the wedding.

[Kelly_guy]

Regarding the bowl-back mandolin being bowed, as the OP mentioned--this isn't so odd as might sound. I gather the violin was developed in the 15th century when lute players started playing their instruments with a bow.

Since the movie you mentioned is a fairy-tale medieval setting (isn't it?) that might not be too far off the mark. A bowl-back mandolin isn't a lute, sure--but it's a lot closer to a fiddle than a lute is.

[8ch(pl)]

Tommy Lee jones made a film about 5 years ago called "The Good Old Boys", after the book by Elmer keltn. It is about the end of the cowboy era in texas. it featured a musical number with period Gibson A and F4 ina duet. Good film by the way.

[rixter]

My favorite mandolin sighting is the classic Humphrey Bogart movie "To Have And Have Not". Makes me wish they'd made records of movie soundtracks back in those days, the swing that pops up in various scenes is pretty tantalizing. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Eugene]

...in the 15th century when lute players started playing their instruments with a bow.
Bowed lute?! This doesn't sound like any standard technique of which I've heard. Where did you come by this info, Kelly_guy?

[Kelly_guy]

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Violin#History

"The violin apparently emerged in Italy in the early 16th century, when musicians began to play the lute with the bow used by the Arab rebab."

Looking around at other "history of the violin" sites, I suspect that wikipedia is summarizing a rather complicated history in a slightly incorrect way.

[Eugene]

Hmmm...they must be generalizing things not often called "lute" as lutes: e.g., the rebec, a small lute-like fiddle.

[PCypert]

Hey all,
Was watching Back to the Future 3 the other day. The ZZ top bluegrass band had someone with an oval hole in the background.
Paul

[mandodude]

There's this old 1987 flick called Mannequin that starred Andrew McCarthy and featured Kim Cattrall as this hot, department store mannequin that comes to life. #Anyway, in this one scene, this mannequin, y'see, she takes off her.......


...What??...

...What's that??...

...Not mannequin, but mandolin??


Oops...

...never mind...

[OdnamNool]

mandismantle! #Cool! #Oh boy! #Are we gunna start havin' fun again?

[Paul Kotapish]

My favorite mandolin sighting is the classic Humphrey Bogart movie "To Have And Have Not". Makes me wish they'd made records of movie soundtracks back in those days, the swing that pops up in various scenes is pretty tantalizing. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif


There actually was a soundtrack release for To Have and to Have Not," but it's been out of print for over 50 years.

Hoagy Carmichael and a small jazz combo provided most of the on-screen music for Howard Hawks's To Have and to Have Not, an adaptation of a Hemingway story. Carmichael, one of the all-time great American songwriters, played the role of Cricket and performed on the piano with a small jazz combo in the movie. But as I recall, Carmichael also played mandolin on occasion. I think he was the one who intoned "soybean, soybean" in fifths as he tuned. I don't recall whether it was Carmichael who played mandolin in this movie, but his tunes are a staple of the jazz-mandolin repertoire. It's a great flick, in any case, and well worth watching, for Bogie and for Lauren Bacall, who made her breakthrough appearance in that film.

"You know how to whistle, don't you, Steve? You just put your lips together and blow."

Great supporting actors too, including Walter Brennan and Carmichael, and the music is tops.

"Was you ever bit by a dead bee?"

[Jim Garber]

I can't recall what this photo is from but I know it is Hoagy. he is playing a uke, tho.

[futrconslr]

Jim,
\Thanks for the info on crockett.....I never knew he was a fiddle player.....
I spotted another mando....in a dance scene in the movie "Wild Bill" starring Jeff Bridges there is a guy playing a snake head. I didnt realize gibson made snake heads in the 1860s http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[Paul Kotapish]

Had another mando-in-the-movies sighting over the weekend while watching John Ford's classic film adaptation of Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath.

There's a great scene set at a community dance in one of the government-sponsored migrant-worker camps. There is a little stringband playing, and there's a brief shot of a very young lad strumming a blonde Gibson A for all he's worth. Too brief to discern more specifics, but it looked appropriate for the time and place.

Great movie, BTW. Hadn't seen it in years and I really enjoyed viewing it again.

Those dances were for real, too. I've heard field recordings made at those camps, and there was some great playing and singing. For the curious, here's a link to a cool site about the cultural experience of the dust-bowl migrants, including a fair amount of info about music in the camps.

http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/afctshtml/tsme.html

PK

[Brookside]

Was just watching Kramer vs. Kramer. The opening song is a classical guitar and mandolin duet. Within the first few minutes Dustin Hoffman is walking down a New York City street and he walks right by the guitar and mandolin players performing on the sidewalk. A nice surprise sighting.

[Jon Hall]

Re: David Crockett...I saw a photo recently of a violin that was documented as being his. I'm sure it was pre - Alamo for it to have survived. I also heard that it was recorded that he knew the Temperance (Teetotaler's)Reel. That's a fairly challenging tune. He must have been a better than average player.

Since I'm a very native Texan,(my ancestor was a major in Sam Houston's army) I've heard some stories about Colonel Crockett's musicianship. He reportedly jammed, at the Alamo, with a Scotsman that played the pipes. The diaries kept by Mexican soldiers said that Crockett would play Mexican songs at night in an effort to make the Mexicans homesick.

[Plamen Ivanov]

Hello,

I appear with my mandolin in a movie called "Grey Zone" with Harvey Keitel, Mira Sorvino and Steve Buscemi. It`s a movie about the concetration camps during WW II and is very painful to be watched. The scene in that I appear is also hard. A classical orchestra plays Strauss` "Roses From the South", while the newcomers in the camp are entering the desinfection premises and the chimneys of the burning chambers are smoking in the back. Terrible... In fact we are two mandolin players in the front of the orchestra. The camera starts from me, so you will be able to see even my pick and the mother-of pearl inlay of my mandolin. The colleague plays a flatback mandolin.

Good luck!

[Paul Kotapish]

Saw Get Low over the weekend, a great little movie with splendid performances from the Robert Duvall, Sissy Spacek, Luke Black, and Bill Murray. Lovely soundtrack featuring lots of solo Dobro work by Jerry Douglas plus some dandy mandolin and fiddle work by Stuart Duncan, vocals by Alison Krauss, and some stringband segments by the Steeldrivers--who also appear in the film playing vintage instruments (a Gibson A of some sort--I couldn't verify the model).

The music is used sparsely throughout--in a style reminiscent of some Ry Cooder soundtracks--and there are some period pop and jazz numbers on tap, too, including pieces from Bix Beiderbecke, Paul Whiteman, the Inkspots, et al. There are some overtly schmaltzy string arrangements in a few spots, but overall the soundtrack is first rate.

The movie is well worth seeing for many reasons, and the great music just adds to the pleasure. Check it out.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/get-low-original-motion-picture/id382515883?ign-mpt=uo%3D4

[pglasse]

...there's a nice scene in John Sayle's excellent Matewan where a bunch of the miners from different parts of the world are all camped out in the same place and the different strains of music--including an Italian mandolin--all come together for a brief musical meeting of the minds.

Mandolins aside, Matewan is a great film. Bluegrass trivia buffs might want to know that the mother of Sirius radio DJ and wonderful bluegrass singer Chris Jones acts in that film as well. You'll see her in the outdoor camp scenes.

[Matt DeBlass]

Don't forget in TV land (or on "TV Land") the Andy Griffith Show, which featured periodic performances by "The Darling Family," who in real life were the Dillards bluegrass band, including Dean Webb on mando.

[barney 59]

All The Pretty Horses ----Marty Stuart did the sound track after they scraped a sound track by Daniel Lanois --Lanois got mad and would never license his version for release so we may never know what that would have been but Marty's is pretty darn good. The movie " Meet Me in St.Louis " with Judy Garland has a scene with a Lyon and Healey bowlback that is prominent as a prop in a scene. That mandolin came up for sale a couple of years ago with all the provenance intact. Went cheap too---$250 about.

[Santiago]

There's a Woody Allen movie where he walks into a room full of exotic musical instruments and there are a number of mandolins on the wall. Not sure which movie.

[Jim]

The original "Flight of the phoenix" has a scene on the plane before it crashes with one of the roughnecks playing an OM.

[bones12]

"Get Low", the new film with Robert Duvall and Bill Murray, has a scene with a nice little rural combo playing Whiskey Before Breakfast with a nice 30's Gibson A playing along (? the Steeldrivers) in the band. Jerry Douglas does much of the soundtrack. Doug in Vermont

[journeybear]

Also, in "Winter's Bone," there is a scene in which someone's birthday is being celebrated by having a few folks over and enjoying some living room pickin'. Someone is playing a nice non-Gibson F style, which seemed a bit incongruous in the dirt-poor rural Ozark community depicted - but that's OK. Worse was the lead chores were handled by fiddle and banjo; the mandolin didn't get a break. :crying:

[Scott Tichenor]

Since this thread started back in 2004 the resource called This Day in History (http://www.mandolincafe.com/archives/thisday/) was created. I just did a search of all occurrences of Movie and movie and came up with some interesting ones. Some of these have already been mentioned, and the list here often references mandolin recordings used in the soundtrack vs. an actual sighting. Recalling that in the Alison Stephens interview (http://www.mandolincafe.com/news/publish/mandolins_001169.shtml) she mentioned quite a few soundtracks she has played on that are not listed here.

April 16, 1975 - Movie "Capone (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0017MVDCO?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B0017MVDCO)" released, featuring music by David Grisman.
May 8, 1937 - Dave Apollon starred in the movie "Movie-Mania" as himself.
July 13, 1979 - Movie "King Of The Gypsies (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0016LFG3S?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B0016LFG3S)" released that included David Grisman penned soundtrack and cameo.
September 19, 1974 - Movie "Big Bad Mama (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000060MVW?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B000060MVW)" released that includes music by David Grisman.
December 19, 1979 - Movie "Kramer vs. Kramer (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005MEOU?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B00005MEOU)" released, the sountrack including Vivaldi's Concerto in C Major for Mandolin & Strings 1. Allegro.
December 22, 2000 - Movie "O Brother, Where Art Thou? (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CXRM?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B00003CXRM)" released.
December 25, 2000 - Movie "All The Pretty Horses (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000059XTH?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B000059XTH)" released, containing Bill Monroe's recording of My Last Days on Earth."
January 1, 1935 - Dave Apollon and his Romantic Serenaders appeared as themselves in the movie "In Town Tonight (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0420689/)."
January 13, 1972 - Second movement of Vivaldi's Mandolin Concerto in C major used in the movie "The Cowboys (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000O599WQ?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B000O599WQ)," released on this date.
March 24, 1972 - "The Godfather (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00003CXAA?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B00003CXAA)" movie released with a now famous mandolin track entitled "Speak Softly Love."
May 8, 1937 - Dave Apollon starred in the movie "Movie-Mania" as himself.
June 29, 1999 - David Grisman appeared as himself in history of jugband movie "Chasin' Gus' Ghost (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00000JHCB?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B00000JHCB)."
August 17, 2001 - The movie "Corelli's Mandolin (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000059QAR?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B000059QAR)" is released starring Nicholas Cage and Penelope Cruz.
August 19, 1914 - The movie "The Fable of the Two Mandolin Players and the Willing Performer" released.
September 11, 2001 - Director Gillian Grisman released the movie "Grateful Dawg (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00005UER0?ie=UTF8&tag=mandcafe-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeAS IN=B00005UER0)" about David Grisman and Jerry Garcia.
November 14, 1937 - Dave Apollon appeared as bandleader in the movie "Merry Go Round of 1938."

[journeybear]

Notably Alison Stephens played on the soundtrack of last year's "Fantastic Mr. Fox," even topped the list of musicians in the credits (even though banjo was featured more prominently).

[journeybear]

Has anyone seen "The Extra Man," starring Kevin Kline? There is a lot of mandolin on the soundtrack, played by Mark Anthony Yaeger. Haven't heard of him before. Some Italian tunes, some Russian, I think. Not a reason to rush out and see the movie - that would be Kline's performance - but a nice plus.

[Stamper]

Well, it's not a movie, but it's really remarkable: Mad Men.

In Season 1, episode 6 — the title of the episode is "Babylon."

The final scene takes place at a hip anti-establishment counter-culture cafe, and two men (cool sixties guys) come out and perform "By the Waters of Babylon." The mandolin especially is beautiful and haunting.

[journeybear]

No kidding! I just happen to have Season 1 on DVD (yard sale find. Got to dig that out. I know that song from "The Harder They Come" (one of my favorite soundtrack albums), which of course is from much later, early 1970s. Didn't know it was that much older.

[mandopixie]

How about this short? Mandolin-dominant (and driven) soundtrack.
http://www.lavinias-heist.com/shorthigh.html

[keef]

I can top that guys.

In the Missouri Breaks movie there is a scene where Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson are sitting next to a campfire, with a bowlback mandolin (possibly an 1890s Washburn with alternating maple/rosewood ribs) lying near them. I even recall that Brando played it a little, but that may be wishful thinking). There is mandolin playing on the soundtrack, so it might be actually true.

[Martian]

Acouple of near related subjects, in the movie "Men of Honor", Deniro, cuba Jr., there is a scene where Deniro is driving an older car, (huge steering wheel), and in the background Jimmy Martin is on the radio, also in his office on ship ,he is talking to someone, and Monroe's Blue yodel is in the background. We have just lost a real gentleman of thoses who knew him. Davy crockett's great grand son just past away. I was told he needed intense therapy to stay alive, and his response was that it would take away his last year of bluegrassing. I also made it a point to introduce my 17 year old step-daughter to him. She was polite, but she didn't recognize the name. oh, his name was Davy Crockett. RIP my friend, it was an honor

[journeybear]

Wonder why there are two threads by this title? (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?28204) Wonder if there are more? Wonder if it's possible to combine them? Wonder whether it is necessary to post to both of them? Wonder why I can't find the thread where I mentioned that there is mandolin right at the start of "The Hangover?"

[Plamen Ivanov]

There's a ball scene in the movie "The Tourist" (2010) where a chamber classical orchestra (including mandolin) plays some nice piece of music. One can clearly hear the sound of a mandolin and also see a bowlback for a second or two.

Plamen

[Randi Gormley]

Just finished watching "Return to Oz," a Disney movie that didn't make many waves when it was in the theaters. There's a scene where Dorothy, Belina and Tick Tock first walk into Momby's castle where she's sitting in the center of a mirrored room playing a bowlback, although the sound track makes it sound more like she's plinking on an electrified harpsichord. Very interesting.

[journeybear]

This is a TV usage, but since the Mandolins On TV thread is devoted to live performance, I thought it better to post here. Last week's episode of "Harry's Law," the new quasi-legal offering from David E. Kelley ("Ally McBeal," "The Practice"), ended with a guitar-mandolin duet in the soundtrack. Nothing I could recognize, but it's really nice. The credit for music goes to something called "Transcenders", but I think that refers to the standard fare incidental music. Anyway, if you have On Demand or some such, it's the second episode, about the elderly armed robber. Also available at imdb.com (http://www.imdb.com/video/hulu/vi2026543641/)

[n0ukf]

Also not a movie, Paul McCartney's Dance Tonight video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NEQyJm87LY) features an A style with all sorts of cables and other doodads pasted onto it. It didn't take me long to figure out the chords for it and that he detunes a step down to play F at a G fingering.

[statelax]

'There is a brief Mandolin Sighting in the Movie "Titanic" it's during the Celtic dancing and drinking scene,it's a bowlback! (A noteworthy sighting) '

The band that played in that movie is called Gaelic Storm. They played the late set at Telluride Bluegrass Festival back in 08 (Maybe it was 09)

Good times, they throw down live as well!

[Golman8]

I came in late on a tv episode of Memphis Beat recently and there had been a murder committed by some one weilding a 37 Gibson F-5 no less. The mandolin was smashed and the guy in the story who owned the instrument did not seem nearly as distraught as would I have been. I fell asleep and when I woke the news was on. Darn! G.B.

["Umm, fish?"]

They do show up in Bollywood movies all the time. This is probably the most famous of the last 20 years.

http://cache.virtualtourist.com/2110065-Travel_Picture-Mumbai.jpg

[Ed Goist]

Yet another reason to love Bollywood movies!

[journeybear]

Hmmm ... Can't see the headstock - is that an authentic Givson? :confused:

G.B. - That got a little notice (http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?64139) when the episode first ran last summer. No longer on On Demand, BTW.

[music_lover]

Hello. I'm new here. I caught up this thread from Google because I was searching a mandolin theme from a Greek comedy drama. This show contains many themes from foreign movies and some other from respectful artists. I hope you like the sound. I really don't know who is the composer of this one. Any that knows is welcome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wx2itviXwT0 here is the sample.

[Treblemaker]

Don't forget "A Mighty Wind." Parker Posey plays a mean Paddlehead A5.
I think Christopher Guest also plays his Collings A within this Hilarious flick....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoCu5w59eiE&feature=related
(Potatoes in the Paddy Wagon).

[journeybear]

Welcome to the Café, music_lover. Thank you for offering the entry for the Mystery Of The Day. ;) I am drawing a blank on that, but it does sound like the language being spoken is Russian. Do you know the name of the movie?

And don't be a troublemaker, Treblemaker! :) Someone did indeed mention "A Mighty Wind" (how could they not?) though it was waaay back in post #3 ... seven years ago ... :whistling: Personally, I think it's a rather nice paddlehead she's pounding on "Potatoes In The Paddy Wagon," :grin: even though she's using a capo.

[music_lover]

Thank you very much. The language is Greek. The music in this show takes soundtracks from foreign movies and famous themes from Ennio Morricone, Henry Mancini, Luis Bacalov and more so it is not made from the production of the show. This theme played on the last season many times and I'm stuck to its sound because I love mandolin. I hope someone knows it

[Mandoviol]

Don't forget Jack White playing a bowlback in Cold Mountain, though I do believe that's a little early for the mandolin to be appearing in folk music....

[FrDNicholas]

One of my favorite movies with lots of classical mandolin is "A Little Romance" with Laurence Olivier. There is some Vivaldi mandolin music and some original music I believe done in Vivaldi style.

[mrmando]

My favorite mandolin sighting is the classic Humphrey Bogart movie "To Have And Have Not". Makes me wish they'd made records of movie soundtracks back in those days, the swing that pops up in various scenes is pretty tantalizing. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif
Well, that's Hoagy Carmichael's band, and there are certainly recordings of Hoagy Carmichael to be had.

A friend of mine from D.C. who's an actress/playwright was in Seattle last October to help put together a local production of a musical revue that she conceived. For some reason, no less a personage than Hoagy Carmichael Jr. also came out to see her show. She invited him along to attend one of the concerts at the CMSA convention, which was the same weekend, but he declined. Apparently, mandolins aren't his thing, even though his dad's band contained one.

[mrmando]

Has anyone mentioned the bowlback octave mandolin that appears quite prominently in several scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides?

Early in Eight Men Out there's a scene where David Strathairn, as White Sox pitcher Eddie Cicotte, leaves Charles Comiskey's office and walks back to his apartment. He goes past a pawnshop window with a mandolin hanging in it.

[PJ Doland]

As weird as this sounds, there's a scene with a **forklift** playing a mandolin in Cars 2.

[Cary Fagan]

There's quite a bit of music, naturally, in "Bound For Glory," the Woody Guthrie bio-pic. It's a meandering but enjoyable film and mandolin in a number of scenes. Worth watching, I think.

[bluegrasser78]

Anyone in mandoland remember Rocky III,,when clubbers trainin hard and rockys' just playin around,,check out the band,,some guy is pickin an F-5,,don't remember what kind?

[Paul Kotapish]

There's quite a bit of music, naturally, in "Bound For Glory," the Woody Guthrie bio-pic. It's a meandering but enjoyable film and mandolin in a number of scenes. Worth watching, I think.

That's Tom Sauber on the mandolin in the scenes with Woody. Tom has done a lot of music of all sorts--old-time, bluegrass, cajun, country--on many recordings and he's appeared (as a musician) in several movies and on TV, He's part of my favorite old-time trio, Tom, Brad & Alice, with Brad Leftwich, and Alice Gerrard. Great player and great guy. More likely to be heard playing fiddle or banjo, but he can make anything with strings quake right smart.

[Ed Goist]

Pursuant to Paul's comment, I'll just add, completely off-topic, that the collective knowledge displayed on the Cafe forums never ceases to amaze me!