This is another entry in my Complete Score Breakdown Series, focusing on the complete scores to films that have had abbreviated previous releases or have gone unreleased.
Today we are looking at Marked for Death (1990) by James Newton Howard.
Ah, Steven Seagal and James Newton Howard: two Hollywood titans destined to work together. One of Howard’s earliest action efforts, this one is actually not that bad; there are definitely dated-sounded synthorchestra parts that sound very cheesy and I could certainly do without them, but there is a lot of fun stuff in the score that hints at the promise the composer showed. Among the interesting traits of the score are a vast bevy of tribal percussion (think Silvestri’s Predator 2, also dealing with Jamaican voodoo drug gangs), some really fun electric guitar work, and some decent rock tracks with a solid beat. It is definitely of its era, but if you take it at face value there is fun to be had on a guilty pleasure level. Howard even establishes a theme for the main character Hatcher (Seagal) that is rather lovely and is usually played with a glassy synth effect (“Home”) and some of the better synth strings that are employed. There is also some very unusual and interesting sound design going on in the score, interesting effects that punctuate the score and add an otherworldly feel to the devious black magic of the villains.
There was a soundtrack issued with one score cue called “Weapons Montage” which ran just over 2 minutes and is posted at the end of this CSB (and honestly, that track does not sound like the rest of the score -- it's light and fluffy with sax and the rest of the score ain't like that at all). All in all, the complete score runs 50 minutes. While obviously not Howard’s best work, I think it’s a worthwhile peek into his early efforts, and I even think it’s better than other JNH early action/suspense synth efforts like The Package or Off Limits for example (believe it or not), it just has a little bit more enjoyability to it. Those other two score take themselves a little too seriously and are a little too dour without a sense of playfulness that does sustain Marked for Death. Hopefully someday this score will be released. Certainly it won’t be for everyone, but for those curious about Howard’s early work (forget that its for a Seagal film) they might be entertained by this pulpy genre entry.
CURRENT CD RELEASE RUNTIME: 2min 10sec COMPLETE SCORE RUNTIME (AS HEARD IN FILM): 49min 50sec
UNRELEASED SCORE RUNTIME: 47min 40sec
Complete Score Cue Titles and Cue Times (unreleased cues named by me for the sake of identification):
1. Main Title (1:50) 2. Deal Goes South (2:21) 3. Confession (0:58) 4. Hatcher Resigns (0:56) 5. Home (2:00) 6. The Meet (1:32) 7. Screwface (2:18) 8. Ritual (1:48) 9. Limo Ride (0:20) 10. Dead Man Walking (0:30) 11. Message from Tito (0:37) 12. Stay on the Prepared Path (1:02) 13. Drive By Shooting (2:00) 14. Vengeful (0:56) 15. Two Down (1:08) 16. Screwface Rage / Returning Home (1:14) 17. Home Invasion (3:16) 18. City Chase (2:20) 19. Hand to Hand (2:28) 20. Demolition Escape (2:37) 21. Weapons Montage (2:04) 22. The Compound (1:29) 23. Party Crashers (7:08) 24. Final Meeting (0:37) 25. Double Vision (6:05)
Ah, Steven Seagal and James Newton Howard: two Hollywood titans destined to work together.
Well, according to Seagal on the David Michael Frank/Steven Seagal CD interview, Seagal said that he was not that happy about the choice of composer on that movie.
But this is a personal holy grail of mine so I really appreciate your CSB on this one.
Ah, Steven Seagal and James Newton Howard: two Hollywood titans destined to work together.
Well, according to Seagal on the David Michael Frank/Steven Seagal CD interview, Seagal said that he was not that happy about the choice of composer on that movie.
But this is a personal holy grail of mine so I really appreciate your CSB on this one.
You got it, glad you appreciate it! I very much hope for a release one day as well. To heck with Seagal!
I'd rather have "Above the law" teamed up with "Code of silence". Favourite "Marked for death" sequence is where he smashes one of the Jamaican scum through three display cases, never gets tired that scene. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUCRuuI5Sjk
Totally agree with you there. However there is one little bit of film music related trivia about Seagal that I read somewhere that I do like. Apparently Seagal once wanted to take guitar lessons and he asked Trevor Rabin to help him out with that. In return Seagal asked Rabin what he wanted for those lessons. Rabin said that he always wanted to write (a) film score so Seagal made sure that Rabin got to score his movie The Glimmer Man...and the rest is history. Or at least this is what I read somewhere. Rabin may not be the best composer out there but Rabin would may not be scoring movies if it were not for Seagal so that makes me like Seagal a litte bit.
