Augie Farks: Naysayers tell me "You should be embarrassed", "You should not be fighting", "You look like a young Marvin Hamlisch". I say "Nay, I am not embarrassed", "I will fight", "Who the fuck is Marvin Hamlisch?"
Danny: He wrote the music for The Sting.
Wheeler: That's a good movie.
While "Role Models" might be the unlikeliest place to find a reference to the late Marvin Hamlisch, it speaks to the songwriter/composer/arranger's reach and admirability that his name could be dropped into a bawdy R-rated comedy. And while that reference likely flew over the heads of most who were watching that movie, cinephiles know that Hamlisch's passing this week is a great loss. The man was behind the music for some of the most important films of the last few decades, including, yes, "The Sting," but also "Sophie's Choice," "Ordinary People," "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Same Time Next Year" and more. But it seems Hamlisch has one more gift for movie fans, and it's arriving in a unique package.
Showbiz 411 has confirmed with producer Jerry Weintraub that Hamlisch completed work on the score for Steven Soderbergh's currently shooting Liberace biopic "Behind The Candelabra," starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. “He finished it all,” Weintraub said. “I can’t believe what happened. He was a great guy.” As some folks may know, this isn't the first pairing between the composer and director, as Hamlisch also provided the music for "The Informant!," and we wonder if that's a clue for the tone Soderbergh is taking with this film. Either way, it's a fitting project for Hamlisch to have as his swan song, and it's just another reason 'Candelabra' is a movie we'll be keeping a firm eye on in 2013.
Until then, take a listen to some of Hamlisch's iconic works below, all of which earned him Academy Award nominations (he won three).