FILM SCORE FRIDAY 8/15/03

Varese Sarabande has announced their latest group of limited edition CD Club releases, an impressive set of discs including works by classic as well as contemporary film composers. They can be ordered now, and will be mailed on August 19th at the earliest.

The most eagerly awaited of the group is almost certainly Alan Silvestri's score to PREDATOR, the 1987 cult favorite wherein future gubernatorial candidate Arnold Schwarzenegger battles a dreadlocked alien hunter in a south-of-the-border jungle. The film was director John McTiernan's first hit and helped put producer Joel Silver on the map as Hollywood's top action movie producer (Bruckheimer, schmuckheimer), and featured one of Silvestri's most exciting and popular scores, never given a legitimate soundtrack release until now. (The producers originally tried recording the score in Hungary but the orchestra proved unable to master the complex score and the sessions had to be moved to Los Angeles, the additional expenditure probably one of the many reasons it's taken sixteen years for a Predator soundtrack to appear). With last year's limited edition soundtracks of Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, Joel Silver's late 80s classic action score trilogy is now complete (No, I'm not forgetting Action Jackson. Not for a moment.), and as a bonus Varese is including Elliot Goldenthal's offbeat arrangement of the classic Alfred Newman 20th Century Fox fanfare, recorded for the Alien 3 score.

JUSTINE: THE DELUXE EDITION features Jerry Goldsmith's score for the ambitious but unsuccessful film version of Lawrence Durrell's acclaimed series of novels The Alexandria Quartet (Justine, Mountolive, Clea, Balthasar). The movie was one of the final films directed by the great George Cukor and featured an impressive and truly eclectic cast including Anouk Aimee, Dirk Bogarde, Robert Forster, Anna Karina, Michael York, Jack Albertson and Michael Constantine. Goldsmith's score was an unusually romantic work for the composer, featuring a lush main theme as well as appropriately Egyptian flavored orchestrations, and Varese's Deluxe Edition includes both the original score tracks as well as the LP re-recording, which has never received a legit CD release before.

The third Club CD, THE STORY OF RUTH, features Franz Waxman's score for this Biblical drama, starring the completely forgotten Elana Eden (even I'd never heard of her -- she makes Ben-Hur's Haya Harareet seem as famous as Katharine Hepburn) in the title role and co-starring Stuart Whitman and future The Other novelist Tom Tyron. This is the first legit release of the original score tracks, and Varese's CD features over seventy minutes of Waxman's music, including a title song demo written by Waxman and then-ubiquitous lyricist Paul Francis Webster.

The Club's Masters Film Music release is a two-disc set spotlighting Alex North's Western scores. The more famous work of the two, THE WONDERFUL COUNTRY, is one of the composer's warmest and most accessible scores, and the MFM release features the tracks from the original album (in mono) as well as over thirteen minutes of additional music. The second disc features North's never before released score for the Western romance THE KING AND FOUR QUEENS, starring Clark Gable, and Varese promises that the score is "extraordinary" and features "a tremendously exciting and vigorous-beyond-words main title." Sounds good to me.

Open Range - Michael Kamen - Hollywood
S.W.A.T. - Elliot Goldenthal - Varese Sarabande

American Splendor - Mark Suozzo - Soundtrack CD due Aug. 19 from New Line
Confusion of Genders - Jay Jay Johanson
Freddy vs. Jason - Graeme Revell - Score CD due Aug. 19 from Varese Sarabande
Loco Love - Jon McCallum
Open Range - Michael Kamen - Score CD on Hollywood
Passionada - Harry Gregson-Williams - Score CD due Aug. 19 from Varese Sarabande
Uptown Girls - Joel McNeely - Song CD on Nettwerk inc. one McNeely cue

August 19
Freddy vs. Jason - Graeme Revell - Varese Sarabande
Gigli - John Powell - Varese Sarabande
Justine: The Deluxe Edition - Jerry Goldsmith - Varese Sarabande CD Club
Passionada - Harry Gregson-Williams - Varese Sarabande
Predator - Alan Silvestri - Varese Sarabande CD Club
The Story of Ruth - Franz Waxman - Varese Sarabande CD Club
The Wonderful Country/The King and Four Queens - Alex North - Varese Sarabande CD Club/Masters Film Music
August 26
Jeepers Creepers 2 - Bennett Salvay - Varese Sarabande
Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life - Alan Silvestri - Varese Sarabande
September 23
Major Dundee - Daniele Amfitheatrof - DRG
Date Unknown
The Abominable Dr. Phibes/The Shuttered Room - Basil Kirchin - Perseverance
Amerika - Basil Poledouris - Prometheus
Battle Cry - Max Steiner - Screen Archives/BYU
The CBS Years vol. 1: The Westerns - Bernard Herrmann - Prometheus
The Hellstrom Chronicle - Lalo Schifrin - Aleph
Mighty Joe Young, etc. - Roy Webb, et al - Monstrous Movie Music
Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation - Henry Mancini - Intrada Special Collection
Night and the City - Franz Waxman/Benjamin Frankel - Screen Archives
A Summer Place - Max Steiner - Screen Archives/BYU
This Island Earth, etc. - Herman Stein, et al - Monstrous Movie Music

August 15 - Jacques Ibert born (1890)
August 15 - Ronald Stein died (1988)
August 16 - Miles Goodman died (1996)
August 18 - Herman Stein born (1915)
August 18 - Robert Russell Bennett died (1981)
August 19 - Fumio Hayasaka born (1914)
August 19 - Jerry Goldsmith begins recording his score to The Illustrated Man (1968)
August 20 - Isaac Hayes born (1942)
August 21 - Basil Poledouris born (1945)
August 21 - Walter Schumann died (1958)
August 21 - Angelo Francesco Lavagnino died (1987)

S.W.A.T. - Elliot Goldenthal

"The feature-film version of the 1970's cop series "S.W.A.T." preserves the most memorable thing about the old television show: Barry DeVorzon's wah-wah crackle theme song. (Hearing constant variations on it as arranged by the gifted Elliot Goldenthal is hilarious.)"

Elvis Mitchell, New York Times

"A talented production crew, including lenser Gabriel Beristain, editor Michael Tronick and composer Elliot Goldenthal, has done better work elsewhere."

Robert Koehler, Variety

FROM: "David Logan-Morrow"

SUBJECT: Sanya Henderson's book on Alex North
 
RE: "Alex North, Film Composer" by Sanya Shoilevska Henderson

An additional comment:

The book neither has a forward or afterward by Jerry Goldsmith.

The forward for the book was written by John Williams who, in so many words, considers Alex North his mentor.

How do I know this? Sonya and I have been collaborating on a Musical Theatre piece for the past two years. And she's good!!

Best to you all.

FROM: "Fernan"

What??? A poll about best Goldsmith end titles and there is no LEGEND option????

I don't know who wrote the poll but in the list of Michel Legrand soundtracks they left out one of his most wonderful scores, Sweet November -- the original, not the recent waste of time remake. You should have on the poll a place to type in your favorite.

I thank you for your attention to this matter.

I am a film composer from Montreal and my favorite Legrand score was not included: THE GO BETWEEN - check it out!

FROM: "John Archibald"

See "Billy Liar;" it's available on DVD now. At the time, it was yet another of those British "kitchen sink" pictures, presenting a raw, realistic image of life among the working classes. It was based on a play, realistic enough in its presentation to be included in the "kitchen sink" category, so called because of its realism. (This was a movement in British theatre in the mid to late 50's, when upcoming authors, spearheaded by John Osborne's play, "Look Back in Anger," rebelled agains the "well-made" plays of such drawing-room enthusiasts as Terrence Rattigan. "A Taste of Honey" and "Billy Liar" were directly influenced by Osborne's attitude. It then extended itself into films, as films of all these plays were produced, also with the same, usually black-and-white grittiness. And a whole new generation of directors appeared, such as Tony Richardson, Richard Lester, and, of course, Mr. Schlesinger.)
 
"Billy Liar" is chiefly memorable for me, because of a sequence fairly early in the film, in which Mr. Schlesinger introduces the free-spirited character played by Julie Christie, following her as she makes her lighthearted way along a busy street. It's a marvelous sequence, and it was so effective that it, in effect, made a star of her, because her next film, the aforementioned "Darling," won her the Academy Award.
 
For those of us who enjoy historical films, "Billy Liar" also includes a performance by Finlay Currie, as Mr. Courtenay's boss. It's almost startling to see Mr. Currie in contemporary clothes; one keeps wondering, "Where's the toga?"

FROM: "James Goodridge"

SUBJECT: PASSION (or lack thereof)
 
While it seems we must accept that as music enthusiasts our opinions are pretty much irrelevant to studio executives when it comes to reinstating a score which has been deemed inappropriate for a movie, does it follow that our opinions are equally likely to be ignored in the case of requesting a score be rejected?

Put simply: James Horner should not be writing the music for The Passion. It's fair to say I have not actually heard even one note of his score but, given his track record, I'm sure that over the last 20 years I have heard the complete soundtrack: a little here, a little there--

Mel Gibson is creating what looks to be a true event movie on an epic scale devoted to a subject about which he is clearly passionate. Why then is the scoring not given equal care by leaving it in the hands of a number of other composers; Morricone, Kilar, Goldsmith or Goldenthal or maybe Glass or Arvo Part whose 3rd symphony has always called to mind images of turmoil. Any of these composers could be relied upon to bring a unique tragic beauty to a score which this movie appears to deserve and instead I fear we are going to end up with the usual collage of previous outings whether it be Jude Law in Russia, Brad Pitt on the wide open Prairie or DiCaprio on a big boat, Christ gets crucified and here comes Horner with his wailing bloody pipes again!! Whether you are religious or not doesn't this historically significant figure deserve more than a rehash of Mighty Joe Young? Doesn't every movie deserve the composer's best effort?

All the best and thanks for the Bond scores; simply stunning.

P.S. I know the answer is Braveheart but it's not a good answer.

FROM: "Louis Banlaki"

I know I may be a little behind but I just got a copy of John Williams score from the latest Harry Potter installment and I love every note of it!! This is the type of Williams score I love. His intimate scores are nice but let's face facts. Its scores like this and HOOK that really make me love this type of music.

I really liked the opening cue but my main favorites are his beautiful theme for Fawkes the Phoenix and especially The Chamber of Secrets cue. When I listen to it in the car I can't help but want to conduct an invisible orchestra in my car. The Flying Car is another great favorite. It's a wonderful and exuberant action cue and it makes me feel good just to listen to it. I can't wait to hear what Williams has up his sleeve for the third film.

Hell, John Williams IS a wizard if you ask me. His spells of magic -- oops, music -- are intoxicating and I hope I'm not gushing too much, but I really love this score and can't get enough of it. I'm going to pick up a copy of his Catch Me if You Can. I'm sure I'll be in for a treat.

As the editors have read some of my letters before and know what I have said about James Horner in the past may be a little bowled over when I come to confession and confess that I really liked his score from THE PERFECT STORM. I bought it last week.

I had only seen the movie a few weeks ago. It was one of those films that I never got to see when it was first released. After having seen it I must confess that I love the movie and having once been caught in a storm at sea when I was in the Coast Guard may have a lot to do with it. it wasn't that bad a storm, of course, but it was a scary ride.

Anyway, I guess it was his piece called "Rogue Wave" on the album where the Andrea Gail sees her doom looming high above her that sold me on wanting to get the album. I thought that piece superbly caught the sheer awe and terror these men had when they saw the wave that was about to kill them. it just grabbed the hell out of me. I liked a majority of the score even though I've heard some of it before. Yes, I know what I said in the past about Horner and I still stick by it, but I just had to make an exception with this album.

However, I did hate the guitar riff he stuck in there, even more so than that damned four note villain motif he's been using since the days of STAR TREK II and WILLOW (though I did love that score and would like to get a copy of it), and that damned vocal which I thought sucked. But other than that I had no other problems with the album and the music where Murph was pulled over the side reminded me too much of Bernard Herrmann and I am glad it wasn't included on the album.

Still, I wonder what sort of score Jerry Goldsmith would have written for it.

And I did get the score from BRAVEHEART, too.

But that is another story.