Summer Summary Part I

by Doug Adams

What to make of this summer? Like the monkeys on "The Simpsons" typed, "It was the best of times, it was the blurst of times." In other words, when it was good, it was very, very good. And when it was anything else, it tended to be positively vexing. This was an odd, almost trend-less summer--or at least one which mutilated any attempt to sort everything under convenient umbrella terms. In a way, that's good. I'd rather be watching independent visions than cookie-cutter films. On the other hand, I haven't purposely skipped so many preordained blockbusters in years. And that seems to be the general audience reaction as well. People showed up for some things, and stayed away from others in droves. Why did Lethal Weapon 4 fare comparatively better than Godzilla? I don't know. Maybe we're just used to the things that are bad in Lethal Weapon films--Godzilla dared to offend anew. And why, among films that were actually directed, did There's Something About Mary capture the public's attention more than Out of Sight? Do audiences crave gross comedy over violent comedy? And how about Saving Private Ryan? Certainly if there was any film that deserved to reach a wide audience this summer, this was it--so, I'm thrilled it did. But wasn't it pretty much designed to put off mainstream audiences? I guess the films that succeeded financially this summer were the ones which offered us something new.

In the long run, we shouldn't be too concerned about which films make money and which don't. Still, grosses tend to be a pretty good barometer for trends on the horizon, so it does have an impact on the audience. And that goes hand-in-hand with film scores. If Star Wars One and Wild Wild West rake in as much cash next summer as they're planning to, you'd better get used to hearing big orchestral scores for a while. (Maybe the pseudo-predestined success of next summer's films explains Hollywood's lack of willingness to set any trends this year.)

Anyway, since I haven't bothered to review much this summer, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the past few months and see what, if anything, we can figure out of this knot.

Deep Impact

This was the only killer meteor movie I saw this year-- as well as part of the reason I didn't bother to see Armageddon. A) I didn't feel like being asked to care about this scenario again (yes, cynical on my part). B) After seeing The Rock, Deep Impact made me all too aware of the overwrought possibilities inherent in this kind of story line. I just didn't need to see that.

That said, Deep Impact wasn't all that terrible. The central elements were spread a bit thin, especially the ill-conceived teen romance angle. But around the edges, in the parts that showed how a government might realistically deal with a problem of this magnitude, it became more interesting. James Horner's score probably disappointed a lot of his newly amassed Titanic fans. While Titanic gave Horner the chance to step out in front of the film from time-to-time, Deep Impact did not. In Deep Impact, Horner was required to deal with the same dilemma that faced John Williams in Saving Private Ryan. Namely, how does one write music that is respectful--music which, by its nature, deflects attention and importance? Horner's solution involved a lot of serious sounding brass chorales, his favorite field drum riff, and minor moded string writing. He produced a nice, safe-sounding score which reinforced comforting ideals about the importance of family, of love, of country, of patriotism.. and that's about it. Again, it was more of a musical skeleton, designed convey wispy impressions rather than draw any sort of scrutiny. But, I'm not about to slam Horner for his effort. (By the way, due to stuff I've written about Horner in the past, I'm constantly getting e-mail from his fans wanting to know why I hate him so much. I don't hate him at all. I might have some musical and ethical disagreements with him, and I might seriously wonder what he's talking about in some of his interviews, but I hold nothing personally against him. I'm sure at the end of the day he's nice to his wife and kids. And I really love some of his scores. Sneakers is one of my favorite scores of the 1990's, and I'll write about Zorro next time. On the other hand, I've been told that he's none to fond of me!)

Again, in Deep Impact, Horner had to write music which, by design, caused the listener to thing about something else. If we heard the music behind the space shuttle explosion and thought, "Oh, cool progression!", Horner wasn't doing his job. If we thought, "Oh, what patriots," mission accomplished. This bring us directly to--

Saving Private Ryan

John Williams' had to do essentially the same thing on Saving Private Ryan. Of course, Deep Impact and Saving Private Ryan weren't exactly in the same league. I absolutely loved this film, though just about everyone did, so I'm not about to waste space seconding that. One could argue that Ryan didn't need any music other than main and end title cues. Spielberg obviously thought differently, so the job came to Williams to write music which, again, is respectful and which directs our interest to non-musical ideas and images. Many have suggested that Williams' music sounds dangerously close to Horner in this film, but I think it's mainly because there are limited number of ways in which one can write this sort of non-confrontational Americana sound.

In my opinion, it's Williams' score which is far superior. The "Hymn to the Fallen" obviously helps the music have some sort of extroverted hub, but the meat of the score never refers to this piece. What really sets Williams' effort apart is the way he constructed his sounds. The writing is so pan- diatonic and free at times--it's almost like tightly controlled aleatorism. In the film, the trumpet and horn writing just manage to seep through the seams of our consciousness. And when Williams introduces more chromatic writing, such as the clarinets moving in thirds during Wade's death, the effect is subtly disturbing. It's rhythmically so slow that it's almost subconscious, but our ears pick up the change in moods.

The introspective writing in this score causes us to think as much about the message as the vessel. It's splitting hairs, but I'd name Williams' score as better than Horner's because, while neither purposely invites us to listen to it as music, Williams allows for the opportunity. The subtle shifts of character, the nimbly constructed free-flow of the pieces (a difficult musical task), and the ambiguous cross-pollinated call-to-arms/war-is-hell/life-pain/living-is-worth-any-price messages of Ryan's score all push it a step beyond. It's been stated that this score does nothing but push patriotic buttons, but I think that people may be mistaking the colors of the score with the writing. Solo brass and military drums certainly suggest "God and country", but the gist of Williams' music is at odds with all of that. It exists half way between glowing patriotism and a melancholy condemnation of the same. And in it's contradiction lies its true message in all its gnarly complexity.

It's well-nigh impossible to write interesting music which never draws attention. It's also a problem that's unique to film. Music (and musicians) by nature don't want to be sublimated. Saving Private Ryan is possibly the most effective score ever in a film that didn't want a score--which in the grand scheme is both good and bad. Paradoxically, the score on disc demands even more attention, as its artistry is in its subtlety. It's not everyone's cup of tea, but Williams is reaching for something remarkable intangible here, and coming up with far more than vapors. That's impressive in itself.

Rats, I'm out of room. We'll look at more summer scores next time.

Doug@filmscoremonthly.com