Movie Pianos

[squiggly_girl]

Hey, I just started learning to play the piano. Now that I'm interested, I can't help noticing pianos everywhere. And especially in movies! I wonder if anyone else has seen any of these films (they are recently watched ones and older ones that spring to mind) -

Ripley's Game, Igby Goes Down, Pride and Prejudice (BBC 1995)(and yep, I know there's more than 1 pianoforte in it), The Piano, Running on Empty, Top Gun (yes I am serious), Amadeus and ... (any others?)

If you could you tell me what make/model/type of pianos they are I'd be really interested. Ta  

[Tash]

one i specifically remember is i think it's called entrapment, with catherine zeta jones and sean connery? she's playing on the piano Bach's prelude in C major (i got really excited cos i was playing it at the time). pianos are always in jane austen movies (can't say i like jane austen very much though). ummmm i know there's heaps more but can't think of any. does anyone know of any movies about a pianist or to do with classical music? like they've got ones about ballet eg. centre stage, and stuff, but where's the musicians? hmmm dunno what the plot'd be about, but it'd be good. maybe a piano competition and behind the scenes blah oh it could follow the whole story of modest main character vs jealous competitor who tries to break main character's hands and then gets a hand injury him/her self. oh and members of the pianoforum get to be the doubles for the actors when they're playing cos chances are the actors won't be able to play anything of great decency (no offence to them, i'm sure there are some who can)!

[bernhard]

Yes, I am always interested in movies that relate to the piano. Have a look at this thread I started ages ago:

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=misc;action=display;num=1071358031

I am also interested in novels and short stories that relate to the piano.

Have a look at this thread and add to it!

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=misc;action=display;num=1071168982


Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[faulty_damper]

There is an episode of the Simpson's when Marge lifts weights and competes in a competition.  One of the other women  lifts up this 7 foot concert grand and smashes it to bits saying, "Support the arts!"

Also, in the Simpson house, they have an upright piano.  I think it's bluish in color.

I have no idea what models they are though.

[squiggly_girl]

Hey that's a really interesting and comprehensive movie list over at your previous thread Bernhard. And next time I watch the Simpsons I'll have to look out for that blue upright  

I'm very curious about the instrument featured in Ripley's Game. Has anyone else seen this movie. It's some sort of rare harpsichord (I think) that is introduced in a delapidated and unrestored state. We hear John Malkovich play "Abide With Me" on it, but the "real" pianist, his wife/girlfriend plays...some nice classical pieces on it, I would have no idea what. It is also played on in a concert recital near the end of the movie.  

Also, those Jane Austen pianoforte's are generally actually harpsichords as well, am I right? Help me I'm a beginner and my spotting at the moment is something like "ahh yes. Now that's definitely a van. I recognise that one too - it's a stationwagon. Ford? Toyota? Jaguar? Huh?"

[faulty_damper]

You know what bugs me about pianos on TV?  The fact they are never played.  Like in that TV show about those British people with funky accents.  The lid is open, the fallboard is up and it stays that way for the entire series.  Or in that show with Doug and Carrie, The King of Queens.  That upright has only been played once when Arthur was teaching it.  It's used only as a status symbol which annoys the heck out of me.

[Antnee]

What about Hannibal??

Anthony hopkins is at the piano and he's playing the Aria from Bach's goldberg variations. That piece is in the first one too...

-Tony-

[bernhard]

And let us not forget Frasier.

[Tash]

LOL frasier i love that show!

Also, yeah i get annoyed when they're not actually playing the piano- reminds me of the song clip thing for vannessa whatshername with a thousand miles (i hate that song) and they had closeups of her hands 'playing' but i swear she wasn't even pushing the notes.

ooh remembered another film- cruel intentions 2 (i really HATE that movie it's so incredibly bad you should only watch the first bit of it if you wanna see the piano) he plays flight of the bumblebee, no idea what type of piano though

[Axtremus]

The Family Guy.

Lois, the wife in "The Family Guy," is a stay-at-home mom who also gives piano lessons at home. Naturally there is an upright piano in the family. She sometimes day-dream about breaking out of her house-wife routine and performing on a concert stage.

There's an episode where she discovers that her clumsy husband, Peter, can turn into a piano virtuoso as soon as he is drunk -- she enters Peter into a local piano competition for students to spike her rival piano teacher -- comedy ensues as she tries to keep Peter drunk enough to play well but not too drunk as to pass out.

Also, who can forget the Looney Tunes cartoons featuring pianos? Woody Woodpecker, Tom and Jerry, all have memorable episode that involves the characters producing great music on the piano and destroying the piano at the same time as they try to eat or hurt one another.

[Antnee]

How about everybody loves Raymond??

One episode Raymond regrets not taking lessons as a kid from his mom, just because his dad thought it was un-manly... So he gets frustrated and what not and re takes a few lessons over from his mom, and at the end, he plays a pretty good piece. It's a more modern song actually. My dad knew what it was but I haven't a clue... anyway I don't know what piano it was...

-Tony-

[squiggly_girl]

I've seen that epssode of Raymond!

I saw a beautiful movie last night called Yi Yi (A One and a Two). It's about 5 years old. The music in it is lovely. 2 or 3 of the principal characters play piano and 1 plays cello in a concert accompanied by a grand pianist. It features an upright of some sort and a grand in a karaoke bar, both getting workouts during the movie.

[squiggly_girl]

Here's another: The Score featuring Ed Norton, and Robert De Niro as a Jazz Club owner - cum - high end thief. He has some sort of grand piano at his club, which gets a bit of a workout.

The real horror of this film is this. (Don't read on if you get upset by horses being injured in movies.) The Score's central prop is only revealed when an antique European grand piano is destroyed by burning. Due to biosecurity countermeasures. There was some talk of it being ridden by some bug. I don't know what sort of piano it was, but the scenes of it being broken up and burnt for firewood were pretty shocking!!!

[Tash]

oh a new one i've just seen- shrek 2 with captian hook playing the piano that's the funniest!

[alvaro_galvez]

The Nanny has a walnut colored Steinway which Ive only seen being played in one episode when Yetta´s old lover plays some jazz in it. (Saw it ages ago, dont know what model).

Also that series "Its All Relative" has a piano but I dont know that brand.

[newsgroupeuan]

Also, those Jane Austen pianoforte's are generally actually harpsichords as well, am I right? Help me I'm a beginner and my spotting at the moment is something like "ahh yes. Now that's definitely a van. I recognise that one too - it's a stationwagon. Ford? Toyota? Jaguar? Huh?"

I don't think they're harpsichords,  probably a weird early version of the piano - harpsichords sound closer to a guitar than to a modern piano

[squiggly_girl]

Tash - Shrek 2 you're right. What a hoot! Imagine doing arpeggios with a hook for a hand.

alvaro_galvez - what a waste! Surely Mr Sheffield can play!

newsgroupeuan - no you're right. I've been watching Pride and Prejudice through again. Many of the pianoforte's featured are very small and box-like. And they do all sound hammer-ish rather than pluck-ish. They play lots of Clementi's Op. 36 sonatina too, btw! It was probably hot-off-the-press and quite fashionable in that period.

[bernhard]

And let us not forget the Seinfeld episode where George finds himself with a classical pianist girlfriend.

(with some good observations on concert etiquette )

[squiggly_girl]

Ah yes, the ol' Pez dispenser on the knee trick during a solemnly hushed concert performance .

[DarkWind]

Amadeus

If there wasn't a piano in Amadeus, I would have freaked out of my mind... Anyways, I always go wild when I see a piano, real life or tv. I go "look a piano!" Dunno, just an instinct/reflex.

[bernhard]

Stanley Kubrick’s last movie: “Eyes Wide Shut” features prominently a pianist, a piano and some weird music to accompany the rituals of the sex cult to which the pianist introduces Tom Cruise’s character (and gets murdered for it).

[Spatula]

Any pianos in rap music?...probably, but not very musically  

be rapping to my liszt!  

[jferguson]

In My Big Fat Greek Wedding, when Tula and Ian go to his parents house to break the news of the wedding, His parents have a Steinway

[bernhard]

In “Betty Blue” (dir.: Jean Jacques Beineix) the characters played by Jean Hughes Anglade and Beatrice Dalle go to live in a small town to manage a piano shop. Besides a lot of pianos, there is a suspenseful event involving the transport of a concert grand.

In several of Gerard Depardieu’s movies there is a piano around which he plays (badly), e.g. “Green Card” (with Andy Macdowell), “Trop Belle pour toi” (with Carole Bouquet – the sound track is Schubert’s impromptus played by Radu Lupu), “My Father the Hero” (he gets to play Chopin on the hotel lobby).

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[goalevan]

in Curb your Enthusiasm they have a grand piano in a room next to the living room, but of course it never gets played

[DarkWind]

Any pianos in rap music?...probably, but not very musically  

be rapping to my liszt!  

Yep, the guy was mainly just playing a riff .

[Tash]

Yep, the guy was mainly just playing a riff .

yeah and he was probably just playing it to show off to an uneducated audience that he can 'play' a piano- i have friends who try to get my to like 'normal' music as much as them by telling me that so-and-so song has a piano or strings or something in it, i'm like woohoo so does a concerto

[Snappy Joe]

Tom & Jerry - Cat Concerto!
It is definetely one of my favorites  

(btw Tom plays Hungarian Rhapsody 2, and Jerry makes his life a living hell)

It's too funny  

[Axtremus]

Tom & Jerry - Cat Concerto!
It is definetely one of my favorites  

Ditto!

There's also an episode of Woody Woodpecker with Chopin's Polonaise in A-flat, Op. 53. The concert grand, of course, gets destroyed at the end.

[espresso]

Anyone seen The Legend of 1900?

[Appenato]

In several of Gerard Depardieu’s movies there is a piano around which he plays (badly), e.g. “Green Card” (with Andy Macdowell),

haha, that's a hilarious scene when he smashes away unexpectedly!! but then he plays such a beautiful improvised piece afterwards. best scene in the whole movie. 

[xvimbi]

Nobody yet mentioned Austin Powers "The Spy Who Shagged Me", where Dr. Evil is playing on a Boesendorfer (looks to be an Imperial), while Mini-Me is playing on a Mini-Boesie on top the lid of the big one

[jeremyjchilds]

There's the piano in Fresh Prince, and the piano in the movie "the others"

The Fresh prince one is funny cause will smith tries to play Fur elise, but really sucks.

[zlh]

1. The movie "Shine"

2. "Chicago Hope". On a few episodes, you can see Mandy Patinkin playing and singing. Stephen Sondheim fans would be pleased.

LH

[chrysalis_]

and don't forget about the pianos in the films

the piano and the pianist

[zlh]

.... Not forgetting "Pretty Women".

Yes, Richard Gere composed and played the piece in the hotel lounge.

[leahcim]

Also, yeah i get annoyed when they're not actually playing the piano- reminds me of the song clip thing for vannessa whatshername with a thousand miles (i hate that song) and they had closeups of her hands 'playing' but i swear she wasn't even pushing the notes.

I don't think it would fit for Frasier to be able to play - I'd expect him to own a fancy chess set too.

I wonder how many of the movie / TV pianos are real? Or just the "outside" to make it look like one, yet leave it practical for prop cupboards and budgets and allow an actor to silently thump away, talk to the other actors, and a decent recording of a piano mixed in afterwards?

TV / Movies are fake after all - Even someone walking across a gravel path, the sound you might hear could be the foley guy with a pair of old shoes and box of cat litter.

[rich_galassini]

TV pianos? We (Cunningham Piano) are in Philly and have provided pianos for Hack (Tv Show), 12 Monkeys, 6th Sense (look in deleted scenes), Jersey Girl, The Village, and lots of others that I can't remember right now.

[iumonito]

Truly, Madly, Deeply.  Bechstein grand, pre-1940 for the look, probably a model B.  The heroine plays the accompaniment of a Bach cello sonata, her late husband (a ghost, played by the same guy that plays Snape in the Potter movies).  Great movie.

[yoda_moppet]

There is a piano in the movie Blade Runner that both Deckerd and one of the Replicants play at one point or another.  The best sci-fi ever.

[allthumbs]

Greetings

There was a piano scene in one of the episodes of "Taxi". It was one of the most hilarious scenes in the series.

The scene went something like this...

Elaine Nardo had a "by invitation only" to a high brow soiree of the local music elite. 8)Her date who had planned to bring her had to cancel at the last moment, but insisted that she go anyway and use the invitation to go with someone else.

Well, no one in the garage would be caught dead at such a party.   Jim Ignatowsky (the drug addled burn out from the 60's) however, volunteered to be Elaine's escort.

Horrified at first, Elaine vehemently refused Jim's offer, but reluctantly acquiesced when Jim assured her that he was used to dealing with the upper crust.

Elaine begged Jim to be on his best behavior and not get involved in any meaningful converstions of note with the other guests. Jim agreed and off they went, she in a ball gown and Jim in tails.

The scene was funny enough watching Elaine squirm everytime someone came to talk to Jim.

When the concert pianist who was supposed to entertain the guests cancelled because of illness, the host appeared to be in a terrible quandry as to what to do.

That is, until Jim piped up and stated he would be glad to step in and take over. Elaine was mortified.

Jim sat down at the piano, looking up and down the keys with a puzzled look wondering where to start.

She sank lower and lower in her seat as Jim cracked his knuckles and started to play "London Bridge" at a Grade 1 level rather badly and out of rhythm to boot.

When he got to the end of the verse and went to hit the note on the word "fair" (as in my fair lady), he overshot the note by a minor 3rd and mayby an +4th on the next try.

By now, even the guests are fidgeting and the hostess has a ghastly look on her face.

After several more attempts, Jim finally gives up trying to hit the correct note and says something to the effect like "Oh the hell with it!" and starts in playing Fantasie Impromptu at breakneck speed perfectly.

As he is playing, and with a shocked look on his face , he says to his audience, "I must have had lessons!"

The next scene he has become the hit of the party as everyone is standing around the piano as he plays one sing-along after another. 


Cheers
 

Well it was funny to me!