Film Score Patton-Day 3/12/99
by Lukas Kendall
It brings us great pleasure to announce our newest Silver Age Classics
release: Patton coupled with The Flight of the Phoenix! This
two-on-one CD from the 20th Century Fox archives features the first-ever
release of one of Jerry Goldsmith's most famous original soundtracks, plus
a little-known gem by the underrated Frank DeVol.
Jerry Goldsmith's Patton (1970) is, by any standards, one of
the most moving, effective and memorable film scores ever written. A model
of economy and judicious spotting, the score clocks in at little more than
a half hour in length, yet its brilliant musical definition of the character
of General Patton and stunning evocations of both the glories and horrors
of warfare give it the stature of an epic work. From the jaunty Patton
march to the echoplexed trumpet triplets that conjured up the ghosts of
an ancient, martial past, to eerie depictions of the film's desolate battlefields,
this is an unforgettable effort. Previous LP and CD releases have all been
re-recordings; this release presents Goldsmith's original score as recorded
for the film, with the echoplexed trumpets fully intact.
The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) is a superbly acted adventure
film from Robert Aldrich, director of The Dirty Dozen, about a cargo
plane that crashes in the Sahara desert, and the desperate efforts of its
passengers (led by pilot Jimmy Stewart and an eccentric German engineer
played by Hardy Krueger) to construct a flyable aircraft out of the plane's
wreckage. Veteran composer Frank DeVol's rousing, kinetic score launches
the action with a thrilling, staccato main title, afterwards supplying
music which carefully delineates the film's sharply drawn conflicts and
the characters' unified struggle against the encroaching threat of the
desert. Everything leads to a nail-biting climax that marks a high point
for both the composer and director Aldrich.
A classic Jerry Goldsmith treasure (complete score: 35:53) plus an obscure,
highly enjoyable Frank DeVol adventure work (40:31)--both remixed from
the Fox vaults and lovingly presented on one CD. The 16-page booklet features
stills from the Fox archives and liner notes by Jeff Bond. This is a limited
edition of 3,000 copies not sold in stores!
$19.95 plus shipping
How to Order
1) Use our
secure-server order form here on the web site for credit cards.
or
2) Print
and fax or mail this handy form.
Shipping Status
Here's the deal: this baby is still being manufactured. The earliest
we will get it back is next Friday; the latest, the middle of the week
after that. PLEASE don't hesitate to place your order, as we process the
orders ahead of time and start a queue for shipping out the discs. Thanks,
and we hope you love this new disc. We're especially happy to release The
Flight of the Phoenix as it is one of Doug Fake's favorite unreleased
scores, and Doug has done so much for film music fans over the years at
his Intrada label.
We will be back on Monday with the track list for this album and some
additional information. Please, we're swamped, so if you have any questions,
hold off until Monday to see if we address them there. Unless the secure-server
form really bombs on you, use it to order, and give Lukas's email account
a break. Classics Charter Club members: you'll get your copies first.
Events
Austin, Texas: The Austin Chamber Ensemble is having a film music concert
on Sunday, March 14, at 4PM: Tequila Mockingbird Recording Studio, 306
W. 16th Street, Austin, Texas. Music from The Robe (Newman), The Young
in Heart (Waxman), Pride and Prejudice (Carl Davis), and concert works
by John Corigliano (Violin Sonata) and Miklos Rozsa (Variations on a Hungarian
Folk Song, Op. 4). Ticket info can be found at http://www.armonico.org
or by calling Martha MacDonald at (512) 345-3399
John Barry fans in New York City: I read the following somewhere but
was never able to confirm this. If somebody can find something out one
way or another, post on the message
board. Thanks: Saturday, March 13 is your chance to meet the composer
in person, at TriBeCa's The Screening Room. There will be a brunch buffet
at 12:30PM, followed by a 1PM screening of Midnight Cowboy and an informal
Q&A session with Barry. Tickets will be announced in TimeOut New York;
admission is $30.
The Westport Arts Center (in cooperation with Crown Royale Theatres)
is presenting a film and lecture series, The Composer in Hollywood, in
Westport, Connecticut. March 14 is a screening of The Magnificent Seven
(scored by Elmer Bernstein, guest commentary by composer Michael Small),
March 21 is Vertigo (Bernard Herrmann, commentary by Royal S. Brown), and
April 11 is A Streetcar Named Desire (Alex North, commentary by composer/conductor
Michael McGurty).
Elmer Bernstein
Re: Deep
End of the Ocean CD review
From: "William Finn" <wjfinn@reliable-net.net>
No I don't have to be prodded - I've passed up very few scores by
Mr. B. in my time, and I'm looking forward to this one as well. I think
you nailed it on the head when you mentioned he began scoring pictures
in 1950 - that's an amazing career. Even more when you realize what he
had to do to rejuvinate it when in the 1980's the only thing he was offered
were "Airplane" style parodies. Not wanting to continue that
thread any longer he decided to work in Europe and Ireland just to get
out of that rut ("Marie Ward", "My Left Foot"). How
many other composers would have cared so much or persisted as much?
But we have that decision of his to thank that for the last dozen
or so years, Elmer Bernstein has been back doing what he does so well.
The only fitting thing to add is: Hallelujia!
1982 Poll
Some letters about our ongoing
poll as to the gems of 1982; please vote, if you haven't already.
From: TOMASPDOUG@webtv.net (THOMAS DOUGLAS)
5. SECRET OF NIMH, JERRY GOLDSMITH
The first time I heard the music to the Secret of Nimh i thought
what a kiddie score, then years later i have grown to appriciate Jerry
Goldsmith effort. It has depth to the full body of the score, not just
some story of some mouse, but great clarity of that the music is relaying
to you.
In most part the Goldsmith score is a simple score, strait foward,
nothing complicated at all. The tractor cue is one of the most brillant
cues, Goldsmith lets you know that immediate danger is ahead for our heros'.
Great score
4. Conan the Barbarian, BASIL POLEDOURIS
This score made Arnold Schwarzenger look good. Poledouris was so
good, it was better than the film itself. Powerful overtones, and great
vocals made this score great today, and still used by bodybuilders as they
perform on stage at contest.
Poledouris score is so good it can stand own its own. Soft as a
peddle of a flower. Soaring as an eagle. Magical Score
3. Victor Victoria, HENRY MANCINI
Henry Mancini's score is a perfect delight, a fun frolic, for a
lazy sunday afternoon. Wimsical nothing to serious, a master playing and
doing is best work.
2. Poltergeist, JERRY GOLDSMITH
This is one of Goldsmith best efforts. Menceing yet sweet at times,
but wait a minute, if you blink and rest for one moment it will lure you
in thinking everything is alright, but wait!!!!!
This scores zaps you in the gut, Jerry Goldsmith is the best composer
in bringing two emotion to the table. A sort of nice carefree and then
the other extreme a haunting, a massive turn around in a split second.
Goldsmith is the master of creating a sense of something evil is about
to happen..The Carol Ann theme is a that perfect example. A sweet ballad
not really knowing where he is going to take you. The score builds to this
great ending with you wanting more. A great rollercoaster of a ride. Goldsmith
uses very dark overtones in this score. One of his best
1. E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, John Williams
BRILLIANT, SOARING, MAGICAL, and still today with its new addtional
music added, it is even more brilliant, and still will make me cry at the
end. In John Williams top 5 scores he has ever done. Enough Said.
From: "Rowell Gormon" <imaginator@lynxus.com>
I enjoy reading the information and opinions about film music on
your site, and have often thought, as many of your other readers seem to,
that film scores are unfairly overlooked as the "classical" music
of our time.
but i had to raise an eyebrow at the gushing going on about john
williams' score for e.t. as one of the best of 1982.
now before anyone lights a firebomb, please understand i do enjoy
williams' work, and have many many many of his scores. but my enthusiasm
for e.t. was considerably dimmed last year when i heard howard hanson's
symphony no. 2. maestro williams didn't just get inspiration from that
modern work, he lifted whole sections and changed notes around. i was greatly
disappointed in someone i otherwise respect. hanson should have shared
any honors and money for that film score (which was indeed beautiful and
enthralling). listen to the symphony sometime and see if you don't agree.
the thing it reminds me of most is the old material for those 30's
lone ranger serials that george trendle ordered tinkered with and re-recorded
for later use, so they were just different enough to avoid copyright infringement...and
some hefty royalties!
that said, i still listen eagerly to a new williams movie score...and
not just to find borrowed bits either.
From: David Ferstat <dferstat@iinet.net.au>
Hmmm ... Lukas, you've sure picked a tricky one here. Until you
posted this poll, I (like many others, I suspect) had not realised just
how rich 1982 was for film scores. Just reviewing your list, I see that
I've got 10 of 17 scores you list!
Here are some very personal views on some of your entrants.
After reflection, I'd have to vote for "The Dark Crystal"
as the best score of 1982. (Or, more accurately, my favourite of the 1982
scores that I've heard.) Relative newcomer Trevor Jones gave us a score
that managed that rarity: using familiar musical idioms, it never-the-less
described a totally alien world, while still engaging our own human emotions.
Blade Runner. Possibly one of the most effective non-orchestral
scores produced in recent years (maybe even ever!) it suffers (if that
is the correct term) from a uniformity of emotion.
Conan the Barbarian, as you (I think) described it, is "an
opera for Arnie". Poledouris's method, to me, echoed very much John
Barry's; he scored the emotional states of the characters rather than underlining
every bit of the action. Hence the "action music" is quite different
to that of Williams or Goldsmith; you can't always listen to the score
and say just what is happening in the movie at that point. It's not better
or worse, just different. A score of substance for a movie of substance.
(Don't be fooled into thinking of it as an action movie. It's a film about
revenge, and the cost of revenge.)
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid. The late and much-lamented Rozsa doing
classic Rozsa. Good though it may be, unfortunately, that's all it is.
There's nothing particularly new here. Good, yes. New, no.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. Well whatever you say about Williams
(and who doesn't) he knows his trade. ET is a very effective score, but
it ain't subtle at all. It's a score that's perfect ammunition for his
critics; like the film, it tends to overplay its hand almost all the time.
Don't get me wrong, I love the score (I even bought the recent MCA expanded
release!) and I love the film, but when I compare it to, say, "Always"
(another Spielberg/Williams collaboration) I can't help wanting a bit more
restraint. (Interesting observation: ET, as far as I know, is the very
first film score to be re-released in an expanded form by a major record
label. can you think of any before it?)
Frances. As Barry fan, I should be voting for this one, shouldn't
I? Well, not quite. Yes, it's Barry, even good Barry. But, to me, it's
one with most of the modern Barry music; slow, almost languid rhythms,
carried by the strings, and none of the astonishing variety of composition
and orchestration you find in his music from the sixties.
Poltergeist. Another score I snapped up when released in an expanded
form to replace my old LP. It's very good Goldsmith, but is it anything
that he hasn't already done?
The Road Warrior. (Known to the Australian audiences as Mad Max
II.) Ostensibly an action score , it is suffused with an almost Wagnerian
sadness, reflecting the fall of civilisation. It deserves much more exposure.
The Secret Of NIMH. For a kid's movie, the score has a delightfully
dark edge to it. I think that both Goldsmith and director Bluth recognised
that kids like to be scared (at least a bit). To me, the song "Flying
Wings" (lyrics by Paul Williams) is out of place in this film; it
has a sentimentality that cloys the palate.
Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan. Ahh ... now we're talking about
"Dark Crystal" 's only real competition here. An exciting score,
and not just in the sense of adrenaline-pumping. It was a new and very
creative score, and a large part of what revitalized the Star Trek franchise
after the near-disaster that was the first film. Remember that little motif
for Spock? Alien, and yet plaintive and dignified at the same time. Remember
Khan interrogating Chekov? Very quiet, ominous music. Remember his main
"Star Trek" theme? Stirring, but not bombastic. Like Goldsmith's
later theme for "Star Trek: Voyager", it would be perfectly at
home in a "Hornblower" film. (Given that C.S. Forester's "Hornblower"
novels were an inspiration to Gene Roddenberry, this seems quite apt.)
This is a score, like Star Trek III, that deserves an expanded release.
(Hint, Lukas!)
As observed above, these are personal views, and I encourage others
to respond, even to disagree.
From: Geoff <geoff@tribal.com.au>
You're asking me to make a choice between "Wrath of Khan",
"Conan the Barbarian" and "Poltergeist"? What are you,
nuts?
From: JSchuer416@aol.com
It's interesting that, despite all of the critics proclaiming that
STAR WARS had killed originality in film music, 1982 is considered such
a great year for film scores. The years in between had produced a few decent
scores as well (SUPERMAN, ALIEN). It actually seems that STAR WARS gave
the art a much needed boost, rather than the other way around.
Maybe THE PHANTOM MENACE will do it for us all over again - God
knows TITANIC didn't.
This final letter is my favorite:
From: irmo@iquest.net
Great poll. 1982 is probably the best year for high concept cinema
in the past 2 decades. It took me quite a while to see it as the abberation
it was, and not be disappointed in a given year's fare. There are good
years and bad years. '82 was a great year.
However, I was surprised to see the omission of such other 1982
fantasy films as Yor: the Hunter from the Future, Amityville II: The Possession,
The Beast Within, Q, Android, Venom, and let's not forget Warlords of the
21st Century. Or how about the adventure fare of Ninja in the Claws of
the CIA? Raiders of Buddhist Kung Fu? And what's with the genre bias anyway?
There were some fine comedies that year, with equally fine scores, Six
Pack, Hey Good Lookin', Kiss My Grits, Just Pals, "just" to name
a few! And aren't we so nationocentric! There are other countries, ya know!
Did you forget Australia's Tennis Elbow, or the German classic Ein Dicker
Hund? How could you, of ALL people, forget the Czech film Lukás?
Your biases are REALLY showing this time!
Links
Go to http://hometown.aol.com/MusBuff/page2.htm
for Roger Hall's "SAMMY Awards" picks and pans of 1998.
There's a new web site about the John Williams prequel music to Star
Wars. By the way, Jeff Bond saw the second trailer for The Phantom
Menace yesterday and said it was the coolest thing ever. It's tracked
with music from the original Trilogy, though. http://members.es.tripod.de/Befan/Episode1music.html
From: "Jeff Eldridge" <jeldridg@edcc.edu>
This week on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Sunday (a two
hour program heard Sunday mornings on most NPR stations) film score sage
Andy Trudeau begins another series on this year's Oscar nominees with Life
Is Beautiful and Pleasantville. These segments are usually not archived
on the NPR Web site due to rights issues, so be sure to tune in Sunday
morning to hear Andy's analysis. The other Oscar nominees will be featured
in subsequent weeks.
For further information on Weekend Edition Sunday, see http://www.npr.org/programs/wesun/
Thanks everybody, and hope Patton and The Flight of the Phoenix
are good picks for you.
MailBag@filmscoremonthly.com
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