Where's Maurice?

by Lukas Kendall

Got this letter the other day:

From: kevin@paradigmsim.com (Kevin)

Recently, I was going through a few soundtrack LPs which I purchased in my youth. I came across a record for "Crossed Swords" -- and somewhat amusing adaptation of Twain's "Prince and the Pauper" with a notable cast for many of the smaller parts (George C. Scott, Charlton Heston, Raquel Welch?!?). The orchestral score was by Maurice Jarre, and it has some interesting segments. It made me wonder about lesser-known Jarre scores which may not be readily available on CD. Should you be inclined to write about Jarre's lesser-known works in one of your daily columns, I'd be interested in reading your comments.

How could I turn down this invitation? First, however, I was wondering, where's Maurice? The composer, who turns 74 in September, has had a long and rich career in which, just when he has seemingly gone out of style, he always shows up on a big film. He did a French film that we reviewed favorably in FSM last year (I think it was Le Jour et le Nuit; I didn't hear it) and he did Michael Cimeno's most recent film, Sunchaser, in 1996 - now known to collectors as the aborted Milan album, the few discs of which got out go for hundreds of dollars.

I'm a fan of Jarre's music and I do look forward to whatever he does next. I know some people have always complained about his music, and he is one of the most idiosyncratic composers out there. His melodic writing is based on the "hook" of changing keys - continuing to resolve a phrase while taking it into new tonal territory - and I always dug that as a way of getting across an unusually potent and ongoing uplift. Plus he's written some great tunes. I mean, Lawrence of Arabia... that's a tune.

Some of my favorite Jarre scores are the Lean films of course - Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago, Ryan's Daughter, and to a lesser extent Passage to India - as well as some big sci-fi films he did in the mid-1980s: Mad Max 3 and Enemy Mine. The Professionals is great; so is The Collector, two '60s films. So are his two Asian epics, Tai Pan and Shogun. I even like the mellow sax piece at the end of Dreamscape... and there are dozens of others I'm forgetting. Moon Over Parador, Red Sun... the recent Walk in the Clouds. These things are great.

Jarre's electronic work is very different from his symphonic style, and I find it much less interesting to listen to. Some of his '80s thumping-and-buzzing suspense scores are excruciatingly dated, and even at the time didn't offer much more than ambient tension. Still, his Witness music is a fitting and accomplished contribution to a good piece of cinema.

Some composers can be "cast" to their films like great character actors, in that their music makes that much of a contribution to the picture. John Barry is most notably this way: if you hire him, you better be sure that's what you want. And if you are sure, go for it, because there's none better. With Jarre, he's probably done some films where he's been "miscast," but he's done so many more where he's been perfect.

Let me put it this way: I was listening to Jarre's "Abbey Road" album (I think that's the one) where there's a short suite from Prancer. Yes, this is the live-action movie about one of Santa's reindeer. This sounds like one of the all-time dumbest and ill-conceived children's movies, and yet Jarre wrote some beautiful, memorable music. I regularly listen to the Prancer suite, and I can't think of any other composer working today in children's films who might have done something that actually sticks that much in the memory. That's the kind of musical personality Jarre has.

Maurice Jarre, I salute you. Send your own comments and recommendations on Jarre's oeuvre; I'm a fan, but I'm also not familiar with his entire output and would appreciate some tips on what to hear next. JarreBag@filmscoremonthly.com