With the film pending release early 2025, we are finalising the remaining music clearances. One of the highlights in our music soundtrack is John Barry’s ‘Midnight Cowboy’ and this plays a key role in one of the scenes in ‘The Last Trip’ film.
York-born British film music composer John Barry played an important part in the arrangement and performance of the now-familiar ‘James Bond’ theme music in ‘Dr No’ (1962). He went on to compose a further eleven film scores for the Bond franchise, together with many other iconic film scores like ‘Walkabout’ (1971), ‘Out of Africa’ (1985), ‘The Ipcress File’ (1965), ‘Zulu’ (1964) and many more. It is therefore humbling and a privilege to have his ‘Midnight Cowboy’ theme featured within our film ‘The Last Trip’.
Andrew Fenton, writer and director of ‘The Last Trip’, tells us why this music was chosen for the film.
“My father was a cook on deep sea trawlers for over 25 years and he actually features in the film, playing the role of Stan the Cook, together with four other fishermen all of whom worked in Hull’s fishing industry. It was a risk for Northern Films not to use actors, but it was recognised from the start that these stories would be far better told by the actual men who worked in this industry.
“As a young boy growing up in the late 60’s and early 70’s in Hull, I remember that when dad went away to sea for a month at a time, it was hard – especially at Christmas – and I wasn’t aware where he went. Dad’s time back at home between fishing trips was often less than 48 hours. Sometimes I would remember being in bed and hearing a taxi pulling up outside in the early hours of the morning, so then I knew he was going away again. And I also knew that if I ran downstairs to say ‘goodbye’, I would sharpish get a clout round the ear.
“And when listening in bed, one thing I remembered hearing was the taxi radio screeching out in the street: ‘…One midnight cowboy picked up…’ As a 7-year-old I imagined he was some sort of a cowboy – and this kind of made sense to me, what with all the westerns being shown on the telly at that time. But the actual truth was, with so many men being lost, mum never told me that he went to sea. And so, this midnight cowboy myth seemed to help to avoid her answering any of my awkward questions. When dad was home, he had one regular taxi driver, Ken. When dad was home, Ken would take us out for the day, but he always said to my dad, ‘Can’t be back late Stan, lot of cowboys to pick up tonight’. This just made me think, “Wow, dad really is a cowboy!” Thinking back, I cannot ever remember saying goodbye to dad, all those times that he went away. I would either wake up in a morning or get home from school – and he would be gone. Mum was so superstitious. She would NEVER let me say goodbye to him; it was supposed to be far too unlucky.
“It just seemed to me that these men who sailed out of Hull on an early morning tide were given the name ‘Midnight Cowboys’ by the taxi firms. And John Barry’s soundtrack from the 1969 film ‘Midnight Cowboy’ is surely a most fitting piece of music used for the scene where an old Hull trawler is mysteriously taken from its berth, going back out to sea for one last time. This particular scene features some flashbacks of a dad leaving home on Christmas Eve to go to sea, his son saying goodbye. That scene in the film is based on a true story, depicting the events of a father being washed overboard and not returning home. On reflection, was my Mum right for never allowing me to say goodbye to Dad – or was I just a lucky one? After all, my dad had always come home.”