Writer-director Peter Bogdanovich (1939-2022) rose to fame as part of the "New Hollywood" movement of cinematic auteurs.  While these maverick filmmakers shattered conventions and reshaped film to modern sensibilities, many had a deep and abiding love of the medium - and perhaps none more so than Bogdanovich.  The onetime film critic and Museum of Modern Art programmer wrote extensively about Alfred Hitchcock, Orson Welles, and Howard Hawks; shot The Last Picture Show in black-and-white; and almost singlehandedly resuscitated the screwball comedy genre.  One constant in his filmmaking was his inventive use of music.  Cherry Red's El imprint has just celebrated his legacy with a new 4-CD collection.  The Golden Age of Peter Bogdanovich: Music from His Films of the Hollywood Renaissance and His Influences offers two discs of music from his films, and two more from the works of Orson Welles and John Ford.

El's box opens with a disc of music from 1971's The Last Picture Show.  Bogdanovich's third film (including the low-budget Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women, for which he took no credit under his real name) proved to be his breakthrough.  Adapted from Larry McMurtry's coming-of-age novel and co-written with McMurtry, the drama set in a 1950s Texas town starred Timothy Bottoms, Cybill Shepherd, Academy Award nominees Jeff Bridges and Ellen Burstyn, and winners Cloris Leachman and Ben Johnson.  The stark, subtle film created a mood that haunted and enchanted audiences; it grossed an impressive $29 million on a $1.3 million budget and was nominated for eight Oscars.  Bogdanovich eschewed a traditional score, instead setting the film entirely to pre-existing pop and country-and-western songs that might have been heard on the radio in 1951-1952 Texas.  The songs were presented as diegetic, or source, music, i.e. the characters as well as the audience were hearing them.

Two soundtrack albums were released in 1971.  Hank Williams' prominent songs received their own album on MGM Records, with nine Williams selections bolstered by one from Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys ("Faded Love").  Columbia Records issued a second LP with tunes from Tony Bennett, Jo Stafford, Frankie Laine, Johnnie Ray, Eddie Fisher, and others.  The presentation here replicates El's 2012 standalone release, featuring all of the songs from both soundtracks plus a handful of others, for a total of 28 period tracks.

Bogdanovich followed up The Last Picture Show with the stylish and side-splitting Barbra Streisand/Ryan O'Neal vehicle What's Up, Doc? (1972).  The following year came the touching Depression-era comedy-drama Paper Moon.  Like The Last Picture Show, it was shot in black-and-white and featured a score of period songs.  The "road picture" starred Ryan O'Neal as a con man and his real-life daughter Tatum as an orphaned girl who just might be his daughter - and proves herself adept at the "family business."  Paper Moon was nominated for four Oscars, winning one for ten-year-old Tatum O'Neal; she became the youngest-ever winner of a competitive Oscar.  Paramount Records issued the soundtrack.  The 15-song album included period American standards performed by Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra ("It's Only a Paper Moon"), Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra ("About a Quarter to Nine"), Bing Crosby ("Just One More Chance"), Hoagy Carmichael ("Georgia on My Mind"), and Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra ("After You've Gone").

El reissued the original album in 2009, adding an album's worth of music from jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt.  Those tracks are dropped here in favor of eleven classic Cole Porter tunes as heard in Bogdanovich's 1975 musical At Long Last Love.  While the cast of At Long Last Love (including Cybill Shepherd, Madeline Kahn, and Burt Reynolds) performed their own vocals, this release features an array of 78 RPM-era recordings by Judy Garland and Johnny Mercer ("Friendship"), Ozzie Nelson ("At Long Last Love"), Lee Wiley ("Find Me a Primitive Man"), and more.

Disc Three of this new package focuses on Bogdanovich's friend, mentor, and influence Orson Welles.  It opens with a suite composed and conducted by Bernard Herrmann of his music for 1941's Citizen Kane as originally broadcast on CBS Radio in 1949.  It continues with a 1960 interview of Welles discussing Kane, the film often recognized as the greatest of all time, and then presents a truncated version of Henry Mancini's score to 1958's Touch of Evil.  The noir starring Charlton Heston, Janet Leigh, and Marlene Dietrich inspired a typically delicious score from the prolific and versatile Mancini.  Unfortunately, this 15-track presentation is five tracks shorter than El's 2008 release.  The disc is rounded out with two Erik Satie compositions from Welles' 1968 French film The Immortal Story and a clip of Welles as an actor in Richard Fleischer's 1959 drama Compulsion.

The final disc looks back at the movies of western legend John Ford.  The main portion of the disc is dedicated to Max Steiner's score to the John Wayne/Natalie Wood-starring epic The Searchers (1956).  Steiner's expansive, sweeping music matched the stunning VistaVision widescreen picture.  El previously issued The Searchers on CD in 2007 and anthologized music from Wayne and Ford's collaborations on Music from the Westerns of John Wayne and John Ford (2009) and John Ford/John Wayne: Classic Westerns (2015).  Stray pop tracks from two more Wayne/Ford classics, Three Godfathers (1948) and Rio Grande (1950), conclude the musical journey.

The individual discs are housed in a slipcase, and a thick 36-page booklet has numerous photos from the movies as well as uncredited liner notes that are choppy but generally informative.  Although mostly a repackaging of previous El titles, The Golden Age of Peter Bogdanovich: Music from His Films of the Hollywood Renaissance and His Influences is a worthwhile listen for fans of the late director and his purple patch of memorable filmmaking.

Various Artists, The Golden Age of Peter Bogdanovich: Music from His Films of the Hollywood Renaissance and His Influences (Cherry Red/El ACME365CDX, 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

CD 1: The Last Picture Show (1971)

1. Why Don't You Love Me Like You Used to Do - Hank Williams
2. Cold, Cold Heart - Hank Williams
3. Bouquet of Roses - Eddy Arnold and His Tennessee Plowboys
4. Hey, Good Lookin' - Hank Williams
5. Rose, Rose, I Love You - Frankie Laine
6. Slow Poke - Pee Wee King
7. Anything That's Part of You - Eddy Arnold
8. A Fool Such As I - Hank Snow
9. Shrimp Boats - Jo Stafford with Paul Weston and His Orchestra
10. Cold, Cold Heart - Tony Bennett
11. The Thing - Phil Harris
12. Lovesick Blues - Hank Williams
13. The Wild Side of Life - Hank Thompson
14. Kaw-Liga - Hank Williams
15. Please Mr. Sun - Johnnie Ray
16. Give Me More, More, More (Of Your Kisses) - Lefty Frizzell
17. Half as Much - Hank Williams
18. Wish You Were Here - Eddie Fisher
19. Solitaire - Tony Bennett
20. Wheel of Fortune - Kay Starr
21. Blue Velvet - Tony Bennett
22. You Belong to Me - Jo Stafford
23. My Son Calls Another Man Daddy - Hank Williams
24. I Can't Help It (If I'm Still in Love with You) - Hank Williams
25. Back Street Affair - Webb Pierce
26. Faded Love - Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
27. Jambalaya (On the Bayou) - Hank Williams
28. It's in the Book (Part One) - Johnny Standley

CD 2: Paper Moon (1973)

1. It's Only a Paper Moon - Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra feat. Peggy Healy
2. About a Quarter to Nine - Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra
3. Until the Real Thing Comes Along - Leo Reisman and His Orchestra feat. Larry Stewart
4. Flirtation Walk - Dick Powell
5. Just One More Chance - Bing Crosby
6. One Hour with You - Jimmie Grier and His Cocoanut Grove Orchestra feat. Donald Novis
7. I Found a Million Dollar Baby - Victor Young and His Orchestra with The Boswell Sisters
8. The Object of My Affection - Jimmie Grier and His Orchestra feat. Pinky Tomlin
9. Georgia on My Mind - Hoagy Carmichael and His Orchestra
10. A Picture of Me Without You - Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra feat. Ramona Davies and Ken Darby
11. On the Banks of the Ohio - The Blue Sky Boys
12. My Mary - Jimmie Davis
13. After You've Gone - Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra
14. Let's Have Another Cup of Coffee - Enric Madriguera and His Hotel Biltmore Orchestra feat. Richard Berry
15. Sunny Side Up - Johnny Hamps' Kentucky Serenaders feat. Frank Luther

At Long Last Love (1975)

16. Let's Misbehave - Irving Aaronson and His Commanders feat. Phil Saxe and Chorus
17. I Get a Kick Out of You - Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra feat. Ramona Davies
18. Just One of Those Things - Richard Himber and His Ritz-Carlton Orchestra feat. Stuart Allen
19. Most Gentlemen Don't Like Love - Bea Wain with Larry Clinton and His Orchestra
20. It's De-Lovely - Eddy Duchin and His Orchestra feat. Jerry Cooper
21. Find Me a Primitive Man - Lee Wiley with Bunny Berigan's Music
22. From Alpha to Omega - Joseph Rines and His Hotel St. Regis Orchestra
23. Down In the Depths (On the 90th Floor) - Ruby Newman and His Orchestra feat. Florence Case
24. Friendship - Judy Garland and Johnny Mercer with Victor Young and His Orchestra
25. At Long Last Love - Ozzie Nelson and His Orchestra
26. You're the Top - Paul Whiteman and His Orchestra feat. Peggy Healy and John Hauser

CD 3: Orson Welles

Welles Raises Kane (Suite) (Bernard Herrmann) (July 3, 1949 CBS Radio)

1. Introduction
2. Overture
3. Theme and Variations
4. Ragtime
5. Antimacassar
6. Pursuit and Happiness

Orson Welles in Conversation with Huw Wheldon (March 13, 1960 Monitor Arts program)

7. Orson Welles on Citizen Kane

Henry Mancini, Touch of Evil (1958)

8. Main Title
9. Orson Around
10. Tana's Theme
11. Son of Raunchy
12. Strollin' Blues
13. Borderline Montuna
14. Lease Breaker
15. Background for Murder
16. Rock Me to Sleep
17. Ku-Ku
18. Reflection
19. The Big Drag
20. Susan
21. The Boss
22. Bar Room Rock

The Immortal Story (1968)

23. Gnossiennes No. 3
24. En plus from Trois morceaux en forme de poire (Three Pieces in the Shape of a Pear)

Compulsion (1959)

25. Orson Welles in the Courtroom Scene

CD 4: John Ford

The Searchers (1956)

1. Main Title/The Searchers
2. Ethan Returns
3. Meet Martin
4. Locket for Debbie
5. Ethan and Aaron/The Searchers
6. Goodbye, Ethan
7. Posse Rides
8. Comanches/Edwards' Ranch at Sundown
9. Debbie at the Tombstone
10. Martin Dragging His Saddle/Burning Ranch
11. The Searchers/Indian's Grave
12. Ethan Joins the Posse
13. The Searchers/Indians Surround the Posse/Death Chant/Indians Charge Into the River
14. Saddle Up/The Searchers
15. No Bonfires
16. Ethan Returns from Scouting
17. Brad Dies/The Searchers
18. Laurie and Martin
19. Laurie and Martin Argue
20. Ethan's Dummy Ruse
21. News of Debbie
22. Camp by the Lake
23. Buffalo Herd/Buffalo Drums
24. Assembly
25. The Searchers/Cavalry Crosses the Snowfield
26. Mose
27. Cicatriz
28. Scar's Teepee
29. Debbie Refuses to Leave
30. Aarow Hits Ethan/The Searchers
31. Laurie Warns Martin
32. Martin to the Rescue
33. The Searchers/Martin Shoots Scar
34. Attack on the Indian Village
35. Reunion of Ethan and Debbie
36. End Title/The Searchers (Ride Away)
37. The Searchers (Ride Away) - The Sons of the Pioneers
38. The Searchers (Ride Away) - Danny Knight
39. Sweet Lorena - The Norman Luboff Choir
40. Lorena - Johnny Cash

Three Godfathers (1948)

41. The Last Round-Up - The Norman Luboff Choir

Rio Grande (1950)

42. Down by the Glenside (the Bold Fenian Men) - The Sons of the Pioneers
43. I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen - The Sons of the Pioneers