Gary Cogill, the longtime film critic for Dallas television station WFAA, knows good movie music when he hears it and with more than 10,000 films reviewed in his career, he’s heard the spectrum of film soundtracks, from painful to sublime.
He brings his insights and that rich background to the Waco Symphony Orchestra’s final concert of the season Thursday night as guest commenter to the symphony’s “Sounds of the Cinema” program. Sharing the stage with him is actor Sean Astin (“The Lord of the Rings,” “Rudy,” “The Goonies”) with Cogill interviewing him on those movies between orchestral sets.
The symphony program, conducted by music director Stephen Heyde, samples film scores from some of the best known film composers of the late 20th century: James Horner (“Titanic”), Ennio Morricone (“The Mission”), Howard Shore (“The Lord of the Rings”), Dave Grusin (“The Goonies”), Michael Kamen (“Robin Hood: The Prince of Thieves”), Ralph Vaughan Williams (1941’s “49th Parallel”) and the incomparable John Williams (“Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” “Schindler’s List”).
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Cogill will interview the multitalented Astin, whose four-decade career includes some 150 film and television credits, about his experiences in three movies: “The Goonies,” Astin’s first film role, when he was 13; “Rudy,” which Cogill considers “one of the great sports movies ever made,” with Astin in the lead role of Daniel “Rudy” Ruettiger; and “The Lord of the Rings,” the megahit adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy and the film that brought global recognition to Astin as Samwise Gamgee.
In his career as film critic for WFAA-TV, Cogill interviewed many of the directors and actors involved in the films whose music is on the program and those stories, plus personal anecdotes, will inform his concert comments. The evening touches on some favorites: Morricone, whose score for “Cinema Paradiso” remains one of Cogill’s favorites; Williams, whose music for movies like “Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial” trigger memories of where he was when he saw those films; and “Schindler’s List,” one of the greatest films Cogill has seen.
Music is a crucial part of a movie, drawing emotional responses in a way that images and dialogue don’t, and hearing film scores performed live only amplifies that experience. “When you hear it (a film score) with a symphony, live, it’s magic,” he said in a recent phone interview from Corona Del Mar, near Newport Beach, California, where he and his wife Hayley Hamilton Cogill now live.
The WSO originally had planned to have film actor Billy Dee Williams as guest artist on a movie music concert for its 2020-21 season finale, but Williams’ managers notified symphony officials earlier this spring that he would not be able to make an appearance.
Cogill has provided film insights for other symphony orchestras performing movie music concerts and sometimes they provided memorable moments of their own. It was at a Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra concert of John Williams’ film music, one attended by legendary Texas pianist Van Cliburn, that Cogill learned Williams and Cliburn had attended The Juilliard School together. And the Waco Symphony concert will provide a first for Cogill: the first time he will hear the music from “Schindler’s List” performed live.
The film critic provided reviews, film commentary and an estimated 20,000 interviews during his 24 years with WFAA, with Dallas an international stop for film screenings, celebrities and film industry leaders. After leaving the station in 2010, he formed Lascaux Films, a Dallas-based production company that made the movies “Words and Pictures,” “Believe Me,” “Refuge” and the documentary “The Starck Club.” “We spent millions (of dollars) and made thousands,” he laughed.
Five years ago, he and his wife moved to Hawaii, where he ran an art gallery. COVID-19 disruptions caused the gallery to close and the Cogills moved to California a year ago. She’s a sommelier and after 15 years in the television industry, including a time as a vice president for The Nielsen Company, is an established writer and editor of wine, spirits and travel. The two collaborate on the podcast “Cogill Wine & Film: A Perfect Pairing.”
Friends and family bring them back to Texas regularly and Cogill expects visits back to the Lone Star State to increase after their eldest daughter gave birth to twins.
The Thursday concert closes the 2021-22 season for the Waco Symphony Orchestra. In keeping with the concert theme, those attending are invited to come dressed either formally for a pose on a red carpet in the Waco Hall foyer or as a character from a movie.