Marvin Hamlisch, composer (1944-2012)

I was saddened to hear that one of the great composers of our time, Marvin Hamlisch, has died. He has left behind so many memorable scores and songs. 12 Academy Award nominations, total.

Filmography, as Composer

1968 The Swimmer
1969 The April Fools
1969 Take the Money and Run
1970 The Last Warrior
1970 Move
1971 Bananas
1971 Something Big
1971 Kotch (Oscar nomination "Life Is What You Make It")
1973 The Sting (Won Oscar for Score)
1973 Save The Tiger
1973 The World's Greatest Athlete
1973 The Way We Were (Won Oscar for Score and Song "The Way We Were")
1975 The Prisoner of Second Avenue
1977 The Spy Who Loved Me (Oscar nomination for Score and Song "Nobody Does It Better")
1978 Same Time Next Year (Oscar nomination for "The Last Time I Felt Like This")
1978 Ice Castles (Oscar nomination, "Theme from Ice Castles/Through the Eyes of Love")
1979 Chapter Two
1979 Starting Over
1980 Ordinary People
1980 Seems Like Old Times
1982 Sophie's Choice (Oscar nomination for Score)
1982 I Ought To Be In Pictures
1983 Romantic Comedy
1985 D.A.R.Y.L.
1985 A Chorus Line (Oscar nomination, "Surprise Surprise")
1987 Three Men and A Baby
1988 Little Nikita
1989 The Experts
1989 The January Man
1989 Shirley Valentine (Oscar nomination, "The Girl Who Used To Be Me")
1991 Frankie and Johnny
1996 The Mirror Has Two Faces  (Oscar nomination, "I Finally Found Someone")
2009 The Informant!


Related articles:
3 Unforgettable Marvin Hamlisch Songs (and the stories behind them) - Hollywood Reporter

Neil Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue (1975)

Neil Simon's funny and sweet 70s urban-living comedy stars Jack Lemmon, Anne Bancroft, and.... New York City! A must see for fans of all of them. Empty-nesters Mel and Edna (Lemmon and Bancroft) learn to live with some major life crises - all in a matter of days: Lemmon loses his job, their apartment in the Upper East Side (The Mayflower Apartments on Second and 88th Street) gets burglarized, Lemmon looks for a job, Bancroft goes back to work full time, Lemmon gets robbed by pickpocket on the street (played by Sylvester Stallone - 1 year before "Rocky"), Bancroft loses her job, and Lemmon seeps into a manic depression, and comically lashes out any chance he can get at anyone and everyone. Throughout the entire film he pretty much plays Felix Unger after the meat loaf burns. Ms Bancroft is both very sweet and very manic in this movie - and Lemmon is a perfect neurotic, as always. There is a hilarious scene with Lemmon going completely nuts in the living room, spewing out the most outrageous conspiracy theory about unemployment you've ever heard. Bancroft also has a scene at the end where she flips out. And their banter is quite "Bickersons"-esque. Also starring Gene Saks (from "A Thousand Clowns" - ironically, his role here in "Prisoner" is much like Martin Balsam's in "Clowns") as Lemmon's brother who tries to help him out of his neurosis. Was originally a Broadway hit with Mike Nichols directing (and winning a Tony for Best Director). More Trivia: On the stage, Peter Falk and Lee Grant played the leads, and Vincent Gardenia won a Tony for Best supporting Actor as the brother. Other than the plentiful New York exterior shots, the rest of the movie - mostly apartment scenes - was filmed at the Warner Brothers Studios in Burbank, CA.