The Old Man & The Gun

The concept of TALKING WITH THE BLUES is based on a view of the various US states as blues regions. Even casual blues listeners are familiar with the fact that there is Chicago Blues or Mississippi Blues and the gripping social history of the music is very much marked by its geography. But there is much more that just those two places and to this day blues music stays committed to local styles. Moreover, many US states are endowed with a unique cultural identity grown out of the prevailing social, historical and ethnic realities. Reflections of these specific identities are also expressed in the blues.

Brian de Palma’s The Untouchables was released to considerable acclaim in 1987 and is probably his most well-regarded film. With rising star Kevin Costner perfect as Eliot Ness, Robert de Niro hamming it up to high heaven as Al Capone and an Oscar-winning Sean Connery providing brilliant support as Jim Malone, the film is a great piece of entertainment. De Palma has always believed that music has a very important role to play in a film and as such, the scores for his films tend to be striking and very much at the forefront; and he’s worked with some wonderful composers including Bernard Herrmann, Pino Donaggio, John Williams, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Danny Elfman and others. On three occasions, he worked with the great Ennio Morricone.