Welcome back to another edition of At The Movies. The show is about to start so I won’t talk long.
“The Windmills of Your Mind” was written by French composer Michel Legrand with English lyrics written by Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The song was introduced in the 1968 film “The Thomas Crown Affair” and won the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
Here is English singer and actor Noel Harrison singing “The Windmills of Your Mind”. Enjoy this one.
What a hauntingly beautiful song with absolutely amazing scenes from the movie. Steve McQueen was an extremely versatile actor portraying a suave jewel thief, a cowboy or a WWII POW In addition, he was an accomplished race car driver and motorcycle enthusiast who insisted on doing most of his own stunts.
Now it’s time for the question of the day:
Noel Harrison’s father was a very famous actor who starred in many different types of movies. Can you name this famous Englishman and a couple of the musical movies he made? (Answers will be given next Thursday.)
Here’s the question from last week; did you get it right?
“Which dynamic duo from England wrote the music and lyrics for “Circle Of Life”?
And the answer is an easy one ….. Elton John and Tim Rice.
Thanks for hanging out with me here At The Movies. Have a great weekend! Let’s meet up again next Thursday.
I wonder what Mr. Bump’s got coming up next in The Culture Club.
See you on the flip side.
I’m The Sicilian Storyteller
NAR © 2023
The Elephant's Trunk 
Rex Harrison, who was in “My Fair Lady” and “Dr. Doolittle.” What do I win?
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Yes! You got it, John, and you win front row seats to next week’s edition of At The Movies. I’ll even make sure you get the extra large popcorn!
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I would go with Rex Harrison as his father, most known in my opinion, for the role of Henry Higgins in “My Fair Lady.”
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And you would be right! What a great movie that was!
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Since it’s obviously not George, I’ll go with Rex. That’s the only ones that I can think of with that surname. By the way, The Thomas Crown Affair is a brilliant movie.
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Correct you are on both counts. It’s funny; Harrison is a fairly common name but at the mo I can’t think of another personality with that last name!
I loved The Thomas Crown Affair and adored Steve McQueen in everything he did.
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The first famous Harrison I can think of is Rex. Could be, I sippose, total guess.
But uyes, I enjoyed Thomas Crown, the original one.
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The first famous Harrison I think of is George but that should come as no surprise to anyone! Your answer of Rex is correct, of course – such a delightful actor!
You enjoyed the movie; did you enjoy the song?
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I automatically discounted Georgie cos you said he was an actor, didn’t you?
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I did. George was an actor, also – A Hard Day’s Night, Help!, Shanghai Surprise and a bunch of Monty Python flicks.
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Oh, come on…. in today’s parlance we’d cll that a “music video”. That’s all any of them were! 🙂
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That’s an awful long music video! 😂 BTW, if you read up on HDN you might be surprised at the critical acclaim it received. I was! It was rated as one of the greatest movies of all time.
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I would def be surprised!
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Haunting is a good description of this, especially looking at it decades later.
Loved his father’s movies! All classics.
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I couldn’t agree with you more, D! Michel Legrand was a marvelous composer and this piece is so very him (and so very French).
As for his father, ditto! Such a charming man!
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You have reminded me that some time ago I was thinking about a hard rock version of this song, with heavy guitars riffing at the middle section, accompanied by a vocal crescendo and possibly after the bridge a change from Em to Am.. I don’t know why but this song always whispered to me that it needed a burst of emotion/energy.
Buongiorno, cara🌺
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That would be extremely interesting to hear, Nick, simply from a musical perspective. In truth, I believe this song to be perfect just as it is – ethereal and bewitching.
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Am I the only one who found that slightly creepy?
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Well, that’s an interesting take!
I’d say the song is hauntingly beautiful but not creepy. It would be interesting to know how it creeped you out.
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The lyrics in truth. You got to remember I’m seeing this out of context.
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Hmm. I’m not quite sure what that means … out of context.
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I’ve not seen the movie, just seen this video, so perhaps I’m missing something
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Don’t think the movie clip should have any bearing on song; I couldn’t find a decent vid of Noel Harrison singing the song so I went with this clip.
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Deserved Oscar award. Such a wonderful melody
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I’m glad you enjoyed this one, Sanjeet. It’s a beauty!
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“The Windmills of Your Mind”. What a beautiful song. Maybe it was just my age and life at that time, but it seems that there was once an era when movies and beautiful songs, signature songs, went together. Does anyone else remember that time?
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Indeed, I do!! There are so many marvelous signature songs from movies; I tried my best to present some of them here. Hopefully there will be others you will relate to.
I agree – this is a lovely tune and I couldn’t leave it out. It will be interesting to see how many people are familiar with this enchanting melody.
Thanks for your insightful comments.
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Another rendition: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfNhe63S798.
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Well that was quite lovely, wasn’t it? Thank you for sharing!
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