Mandos in the Movies

[Jim Garber]

Captain Correli's Mandolin springs to everyone's mind, of course, but how many other movies of mandolin note (pun) can we name.

I can't believe I got to the end of the list without seeing
Captain Corelli's Mandolin He was not a cook but an Italian Army Officer enchanting the ladies with his playing.

Try THIS one...
'Captain Correli's Mandolin'
(Nicholas Cage WWII movie).

Sorry, mentioned many times here in this 9 year old thread.

[Cary Fagan]

I don't know if this has been posted yet, but there's a scene in the new film "Boyhood" with a bluegrass band playing in a bar in Austin. Anybody recognize them? I saw it only once, with a quick and partial view of the headstock, but I'm pretty sure the guy is playing an Ellis mandolin. Since Tom Ellis lives in Austin, that makes sense. This much-lauded film is made up of very ordinary events for the most part over a 12 year period, and I was quite enchanted by it.

[bohemianbiker]

Missouri Breaks, a movies staring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, has a short scene with Brando's character playing mando under a tree (I think with a second character, Little Todd, who Brando's character kills the next day; at least that's the way I remember it ...
). bb

[JeffD]

Great old thread.

Flight of the Phoenix, the 1965 original, had some great bouzouki.

I haven't seen the remake.

[barney 59]

"Meet Me in St. Louis" with Judy Garland. Someone plays a Washburn bowlback . A few years ago that same mandolin came up on ebay with all the proper documentation that it was in fact the movie prop and sold for something like $200 which is about what it was worth.

[Peter Coronado]

Regarding the band in Boyhood, they're the Austin Steamers.

http://www.theaustinsteamers.com

[Dave Hicks]

d.h.

[journeybear]

This just got posted on another thread honoring the great actress on the event of her passing. A bit surprised to see it hadn't been included here yet. One of my favorite mandolin movie moments.



I'd also add that in the opening scene of "The Hangover" the audio is "Amore" by Dean Martin, with its cloud of mandolins. So any time that song is used in a soundtrack, there are mandolins.

There was a mando being played by the hillbilly musicians in Cold Mountain. ( I think.)

Yes, played by an obscure musician named Jack White. Plays guitar mostly, I think.

Sorry, mentioned many times here in this 9 year old thread.

Yes, it's true. It's always good form to search a thread before adding to it so as to avoid repetition (and tweaking ). It might even take less time than composing a post.

[Jim Garber]

This just got posted on another thread honoring the great actress on the event of her passing. A bit surprised to see it hadn't been included here yet. One of my favorite mandolin movie moments.

I didn't want to get into molecular-level analyzing but I watched that mandolin player a few times and initially it looks like he is playing a 2-point Vega cylinder back. Then when the music starts it looks like he is playing a different mandolin. Maybe the scene was shot over a few days and he was playing a rented mandolin?

[LongBlackVeil]

d.h.

Thats Gaelic Storm there. Pretty good group

[jaycat]

I didn't want to get into molecular-level analyzing but I watched that mandolin player a few times and initially it looks like he is playing a 2-point Vega cylinder back. Then when the music starts it looks like he is playing a different mandolin. Maybe the scene was shot over a few days and he was playing a rented mandolin?

I think this all got hashed out on another thread a while ago. Don't have time to look for it at the moment.

[Jim Garber]

I think this all got hashed out on another thread a while ago. Don't have time to look for it at the moment.

Ah, yes, this one... Backing Up Bacall

[bohemianbiker]

Gun Fury. The dinner scene near the beginning where Rock Hudson and Donna Reed are unknowingly with the bad guys. There's a mando and guitar providing dinner music. bb

[M.Marmot]

Death in Venice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...&v=W-hSFDIHvKs

[Paul Kotapish]

There's a brief square dance scene with Mia Wasikawski holding a mandolin and pretending to play it in the film Lawless, now streaming on Netflix. The film is a reasonably good adaptation of the The Wettest County in the World, a really interesting novel based on the real-life Bondurant Boys--legendary moonshiners in Franklin County back in prohibition days. The film is pretty violent and the script is stilted, but it's a good yarn with some beautiful cinematography, and the music has its heart in the right place. There are some images in this video as well as some info about the soundtrack.

[Emmett Marshall]

"Kung Fu" Season #1 Episode #10 "Alethea". This show is from 1972. Actor David Carradine takes on the role of mandolin luthier. While in jail, he repairs the young girl's mandolin. Looks like Jody Foster doesn't she?

[jefflester]

"Kung Fu" Season #1 Episode #10 "Alethea". This show is from 1972. Actor David Carradine takes on the role of mandolin luthier. While in jail, he repairs the young girl's mandolin. Looks like Jody Foster doesn't she?

It is Jodie Foster.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0623147/...nm_flmg_act_53
(and mentioned in the 2nd post of the topic)

[kurth83]

Do Disney musical series count (for this really old thread)?

Here is the recent song "All You Need" from the Disney series Sophia the First, the episode was "The Shy Princess" where the "shy" princess turns out to secretly be a studio musician mandolin player. :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mv-ywQQDw58

[journeybear]

I kind of forgot about this thread in the year since anyone posted to it; thanks for the bump.

I posted a recent observation over where I usually do, in the "Random mandolin sightings" thread. I'll reprise it over here, as well as another post I passed by on the way. Indeed, there are bound to be plenty of other mentions over there that could be collected and posted over here, for the sake of consolidation. If anyone feels like doing this bit of grunt work, and beats me to it, go right ahead!

From 5/11/15:

Got dragged to the movies this evening by my dear young lass Clementine - the Disney documentary "Monkey Kingdom." As is often the case with Disney docs, there was a lot of anthropomorphic commentary and a bit of staged activity, along with some fine videography. But what made this cinematic excursion noteworthy was the music that rolled during the credits - a mandolin driving the song! Nothing too outstanding, and certainly within the capabilities of many members here, but pleasant enough, and pleasant to hear in this context. The song is a typical current pop trifle, formulaic and predictable, even cloying in its earnestness, but still - mandolin in a Disney movie. Nice to hear that.



And:

In the movie"wild bill" with Jeff bridges,,there's a guy in a saloon playing a bowlback.also in the movie "hot shots part deux" with Charlie sheen,Charlies In a diner when a mandolin player and an accordion player walk in and start playing...he's got a bowlback for sure..

[Steve VandeWater]

Patton. In the scene where the Russians and Americans are at the party together, there is an orchestra with several mandolins playing for them

[Mark Gunter]

A nice, clear shot of an F style mandolin pops up at around the 9:06 mark in this 1961 film, Sunday. It's a 17 minute documentary on "The Beatnik Riot" of that same year ...

[DavidKOS]

I seem to remember a F-5 type being used as a prop in an old Marx brother film, but I can't remember which one. Anybody know if this is correct, and if so which one? I think there was some gangster gang involved and a lot of running in and out of hotel rooms. That's probably about as helpful as saying there are banjos in bluegrass.

Spencer

I know Groucho's daughter. She owns and plays a Gibson F mandolin...I wonder?

[T.D.Nydn]

Paul Schaffer makes a grab for his "main instrument" in Sharknado #4...

[Seter]

I mentioned it in another Mandolin in film thread, but there is a very nice mandolin performance in Hostiles, with Americana artist Ryan Bingham playing a character who actually is playing mandolin and singing in the film. The song is also on the soundtrack.

[Spencer]

I know Groucho's daughter. She owns and plays a Gibson F mandolin...I wonder?

Curious minds want to know!

Spencer