A Certain Autonomy: Music in the Films of John Huston

Abstract

While David Bordwell and others have used the films of John Huston as textbook examples of what is considered the classical visual style of Hollywood cinema, few have noted that, by contrast, Huston's approach to music often defies conventions of film scoring. This becomes evident when examining several aspects of Huston’s use of music and sound, including his choices of composers, the application of the leitmotif technique, the use of music to establish conflicts of cultures, the interaction of sound and silence, treatment and placement of diegetic and non-diegetic aural elements, the incorporation of songs, and his use of music to emphasize the psychological dimensions of his characters. Citing examples from more than two dozen of the director’s films, a consideration of these concepts in this essay demonstrates Huston’s deliberate deviations from conventional scoring methods and contradicts the charge of some critics that the director often was indifferent to the technical aspects of his films, such as music.