I would say these are the 10 worst films that Goldsmith ever scored (he did so many great films, but scored a ton of real stinkers too!):
10. Lionheart 09. The Haunting 08. High Velocity 07. Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies 06. Rent-A-Cop 05. The Swarm 04. S*P*Y*S 03. Supergirl 02. Players 01. Inchon
Life is too short to watch all those crappy movies.
Can't speak for everyone, but once upon a time ago I would pay to go see movies (or rent) just because Goldsmith was scoring, reviews be damned. Hello, Inchon.
Can't speak for everyone, but once upon a time ago I would pay to go see movies (or rent) just because Goldsmith was scoring, reviews be damned. Hello, Inchon.
Oh, so YOU were the one who saw that in the theater! It's only possible to see that on YouTube now, I think. The world is a safer place.
Superhurl..as Cheap as The Salkinds Gremlins..Electronic Cat Sounds! Nails on a Chalkboard sound better! Anything with Rambo Basic Instunk ..Pure 100% Trash ..Film and Score The Mummy..Even Jerry Hated it! King Solomon Mines..as cheap as the Golan and Globus Total Recall…Way Too Much Jerry! Paul Verhoeven is 100% to blame for this Mess! Cassandra Crossing …Jerry phoned this score in! Damnation Alley…Jerry on line two! The Sand Pebbles ...as bloated as Robert Wise!
I know there are a lot of titles to choose from, but I'm surprised LINK hasn't gotten a mention yet. I almost feel bad mentioning it myself, since I liked the other Richard Franklin films I saw and he was an underrated talent, but man, that was a silly film. And not in a good way. At least THE SWARM was funny.
For me, something like ACE ELI is a masterpiece compared to utter garbage like.. THE SALAMANDER CABOBLANCO THE LONELY GUY THE SWARM HIGH VELOCITY THE FINAL CONFLICT KING SOLOMON'S MINES DAMNATION ALLEY PLAYERS SUPERGIRL LIONHEART RENT A COP CONGO I've suffered through A LOT of Goldsmith scored rubbish, especially during the 80s when I would rent or tape the films to dub the music onto cassette, but a few have managed to elude me, such as SPYS and INCHON, and I have no intention of catching up with any of them in the future.
Seeing a lot of people list Lionheart, which I understand as disappointing in the context of the Goldsmith/Schaffner collaboration, but there are actually quite a lot of things I like about it even in the rather butchered cut (and Jerry’s score was even more butchered) that we have. Its greatest non-Goldsmith asset (aside from some fine framing and shots by veteran Schaffner) is the villain played by Gabriel Byrne. And its greatest liability is unfortunately its lead actor Eric Stoltz… such a weird coincidence that a few years later they’d both marry March girls in the terrific 90s adaptation of Little Women.
But yeah I found Lionheart perfectly watchable despite its noticeably truncated nature.
It also makes me sad every time I see someone list Congo. Again, I understand fans of the book (which I’ve heard is far superior) being disappointed in the adaptation, but taken on its own terms I find the movie to be a delight, especially thanks to super fun performances by Ernie Hudson and Tim Curry. The great Bruce Campbell is very memorable in a small role as Laura Linney’s(!) fiancee. And damn it, though it gets silly near the end the whole thing is just super fun and quotable. (“STOP eating my sesame CAKE!”)
These two films, though admittedly flawed/disappointing and not living up to their potential, don’t belong on lists with utter trash like Inchon or The Swarm or CaboBlanco.
It also makes me sad every time I see someone list Congo. Again, I understand fans of the book (which I’ve heard is far superior) being disappointed in the adaptation, but taken on its own terms I find the movie to be a delight, especially thanks to super fun performances by Ernie Hudson and Tim Curry. The great Bruce Campbell is very memorable in a small role as Laura Linney’s(!) fiancee. And damn it, though it gets silly near the end the whole thing is just super fun and quotable. (“STOP eating my sesame CAKE!”)
Yavar
I caught this film early last year. I thought it was a hoot. The cast was having fun, Jerry's score (here's hoping for a reissue someday) was terrific and the whole thing...I was entertained. What can I say?
Really, if watching future multiple Oscar nominee Laura Linney cutting killer gorillas in half with a diamond-powered laser gun while dropping the line "Put 'em on the endangered species list!" doesn't entertain you, I guess we're just two different people.
And though it's not as wildly enjoyable as Congo, Bad Girls's leading ladies keep the film well out of the same company as Inchon and The Haunting.
Seeing a lot of people list Lionheart, which I understand as disappointing in the context of the Goldsmith/Schaffner collaboration, but there are actually quite a lot of things I like about it even in the rather butchered cut (and Jerry’s score was even more butchered) that we have. Its greatest non-Goldsmith asset (aside from some fine framing and shots by veteran Schaffner) is the villain played by Gabriel Byrne. And its greatest liability is unfortunately its lead actor Eric Stoltz… such a weird coincidence that a few years later they’d both marry March girls in the terrific 90s adaptation of Little Women.
But yeah I found Lionheart perfectly watchable despite its noticeably truncated nature.
It also makes me sad every time I see someone list Congo. Again, I understand fans of the book (which I’ve heard is far superior) being disappointed in the adaptation, but taken on its own terms I find the movie to be a delight, especially thanks to super fun performances by Ernie Hudson and Tim Curry. The great Bruce Campbell is very memorable in a small role as Laura Linney’s(!) fiancee. And damn it, though it gets silly near the end the whole thing is just super fun and quotable. (“STOP eating my sesame CAKE!”)
These two films, though admittedly flawed/disappointing and not living up to their potential, don’t belong on lists with utter trash like Inchon or The Swarm or CaboBlanco.
Yavar
I'm with you on all counts Yavar! I have a big soft spot for Lionheart as you know, and I feel it's more the case of a film being tinkered with in post which ended up giving us a less-than-stellar final product, whereas something like Inchon was bad on all counts even before the cameras rolled. There should be another category for Jerry-scored movies. The GOOD-BAD films! Movies that entertain despite lower quality production or final product. My list would include...
!. Deep Rising 2. Congo 3. The Haunting 4. Mom and Dad Save the World 5. Link
etc. etc. Then there's another sub-category, the "almost" movies. Movies you like but know are quite flawed projects or nothing spectacular such as
1. Angie 2. Powder 3. The Shadow 4. Star Trek V 5. Leviathan
etc. etc. The man may not have had the luck of hit after hit assignment but he sure has been attached to movies that I've had a lot of joy discovering and dissecting.
Yeah, The Haunting has a good cast and GREAT production design, but is ultimately let down by excessive 90s CGI (hey, so is The Mummy and that film has a lot of fans including me!) and an ending where everything unfortunately falls apart. But people act like it's utterly worthless probably in part because the original is so beloved. I think there's a lot to like in it, even if it shits the bed in the end. Here's a YouTube video essayist who agrees:
And I unapologetically love Star Trek V, even if by many criteria it's the worst of the films with the original Trek cast. Again, it didn't quite all come together, did it? Shatner had some great ideas and alas often not the budget (or available special effects house) to realize them. I most dislike how badly it treats the supporting cast (after Leonard Nimoy had given every one of them good moments in each of his two films). But for my money it also has the BEST depiction of the Kirk/Spock/McCoy relationship of any of the six films! Luckinbill is a very charismatic antagonist. Some shots (like in the opening) are cinematically ambitious like none of the films since Wise's original had been. The story/journey is quite arguably more of a STAR TREK than any of the other five films! Goldsmith's score is MAGNIFICENT and elevates everything immeasurably (even smoothing over the effects issues, for me) -- easily his best Trek score outside of his original... and my own personal favorite.
And oh yeah, it provided DeForest Kelley with an incredible scene, which I would argue is the best acting opportunity he ever received in his Hollywood acting career:
Yeah, there's also some trashy Nimbus III stuff like the uh...bar fight. Yeah, the Klingons are 2D caricatures especially in contrast to Nicholas Meyer's depiction in the following film.
But I still love it, and there's enough good about it that IMO it doesn't belong anywhere *near* Goldsmith's bottom 10 list amidst the likes of Inchon and The Swarm.
I think it might be interesting to note that many of what I'd consider his worst assignments were all within a few years of each other. The Swarm, Caboblanco, Players, Inchon, and The Salamander were all done between 1978 and 1980. His luck took a big upswing after that, but 10 years later in 1988 he began to have a string of rejected scores, all within a few years (to fairly weak but hardly bad films). Was he periodically running afoul of gypsies?
EXECUTIVE DECISION: Can't believe it featured in this thread. Some quibbles with racial "profiling" aside, I would rank it as superior to SPEED and THE ROCK. A nifty, well-researched thriller, larger than life but not totally implausible -- that's the sort of action picture I like (see VON RYAN'S EXPRESS as the ultimate example).
STAR TREK V: I'm with Yavar. But for its subpar effects this is a highly enjoyable film, with an ambitious script, some warm banter and a sterling performance from Luckinbill. And a score so great it makes the film good.
THE FINAL CONFLICT: I've said elsewhere that this is the best OMEN film precisely because it's almost a black comedy (a tonal shift that seems to have caught many off-guard). Plus it sports an operatic score so awesome that any true Goldsmith fan would have to love the film as well.
CONGO: Oscar-winning screenwriter John Patrick Shanley is no dummy and this is more a tribute to '50s adventure films (KING SOLOMON'S MINES and JOURNEY OF THE CENTER OF THE EARTH etc.) than anything, which again seems to have caught critics off-guard. No disputung it has some hokey moments and starts poorly, but it's also blessed with another spirited Goldsmith score.
"I think it might be interesting to note that many of what I'd consider his worst assignments were all within a few years of each other. The Swarm, Caboblanco, Players, Inchon, and The Salamander were all done between 1978 and 1980" ------------------------------------- Yes. Didn't Goldsmith have some rough periods in his life, such as alcoholism and suffering personal problems after marriage break-ups? They would affect ones choices or maybe make one select a film for the money to fund such dilemmas. His 60s output seems his strongest to me, film quality wise. The 70s are hit and miss, while the 80s are also filled with some good and VERY BAD films. He probably scored more decent films again in the 90s, but I started to lose interest in a lot of his scores during this period. Of course, all this is very subjective, as one can tell from seeing certain films being pilloried and defended in equal measure.
Re CONGO... I actually caught the last 30 minutes of the film last night on UK TV and it was WORSE than how I remembered it at the cinema (which was VERY BAD!!). That gorilla costume is AWFUL, especially when you consider it's years AFTER stuff like GREYSTOKE. The acting!! The dialogue!! Oy Vey! So it's not up for any re-evaluation from me.
I did notice a similarity between Goldsmith's African Anthem to the one Williams did for AMISTAD a few years later. I wonder if they were riffing off the same traditional African melody?
"I think it might be interesting to note that many of what I'd consider his worst assignments were all within a few years of each other. The Swarm, Caboblanco, Players, Inchon, and The Salamander were all done between 1978 and 1980" ------------------------------------- Yes. Didn't Goldsmith have some rough periods in his life, such as alcoholism and suffering personal problems after marriage break-ups? They would affect ones choices or maybe make one select a film for the money to fund such dilemmas. His 60s output seems his strongest to me, film quality wise. The 70s are hit and miss, while the 80s are also filled with some good and VERY BAD films. He probably scored more decent films again in the 90s, but I started to lose interest in a lot of his scores during this period. Of course, all this is very subjective, as one can tell from seeing certain films being pilloried and defended in equal measure.
There's an interesting passage in the liner notes of FSM's release of THE LAST RUN/ CROSSCURRENT which talks about how "then" (1970/'71) Goldsmith was hitting the bottle hard and - I seem to recall - even got engaged during the period of THE LAST RUN when to-ing and fro-ing between Los Angeles and London. Sounds like his life was really messed up for a while, and yet in that period (late '60s/ early '70s) he produced absolutely knockout scores one after the other. I know the "tortured artist" cliché is in many cases just that, but I also wonder....
I mean, he did seem to settle down and find happiness later in his career. I think his family life was at its most stable just when his music became (to my ears) virtually devoid of any interest, vigour or elements of surprise. But then again the films had changed. Still, I'd rather listen to anything from his "troubled period" than to anything he wrote when he was happy.
"I think it might be interesting to note that many of what I'd consider his worst assignments were all within a few years of each other. The Swarm, Caboblanco, Players, Inchon, and The Salamander were all done between 1978 and 1980" ------------------------------------- And just to compound the 'hit and miss' aspect of things, he also scored COMA, MAGIC, FIRST GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY, & ALIEN during the same period*. Four of his 'better' films for many people, I imagine.
*One could also add ST-TMP if you're in the 'rate it' category. It's a film that divides people.
Congo is a hoot. Fun B movie with committed, tongue in cheek performances and a big, rollicking score. Major points for having no annoying kids or middle-aged men with intimacy issues in it. It's one drawback, though: too much on-screen violence.
