The Master: Part 4

Part 4 of 5…I know, it’s a lot of Goldsmith to digest, but he has just has too much. Originally I wanted to make it only 3 parts, but I kept going over the whole list, and I just couldn’t stop right there.

This time I’m going for some of the heavyweights on his career, as well as a couple of minor titles. And again, what a range of films, for every genre.

There is a Sci-Fi classic, Horror, Suspense, Drama, Romance, Action. He could tackle them all. And if you listen to them, you’ll notice that he not only did that, he made some of them unforgettable.


Wikipedia / IMDB

A Few more favorites

Papillon

Another collaboration with his good friend Franklin J. Schaffner, this one showcasing a heartfelt and personal work for Goldsmith. Someone qualified it’s memorable main theme as lush. I fully agree

Track: Theme from Papillon

Patton

War scores can be incredibly moving, but some try to bring up the action seen on screen. This is a perfect example of how less can be more, trying to accentuate the personal story more so that the action itself. What a rousing theme!

(Note. There are a few different editions out there. This one includes a few themes of “A Patch of Blue” with it)

Track: Patton March

Poltergeist

What an example of the evolution of a score following the movie, starting with some eerie themes mixed with a light family theme, and progressively transforming into a full horror score.

(This one refers to the 1997 Expanded Edition)

Track: The Calling/The Neighborhood

Air Force One

A “quick” assignment for Goldsmith, who had to write a score in 2 weeks after the original from Randy Newman was rejected by the studio.Here he delivers one of his later and most rousing scores, exemplified perfectly by the “Hijacking” track

Track: The Hijacking

L.A. Confidential

Curtis Hanson made sure that Jazz music was a center part of the film, but he recruited Goldsmith to “fill in the gaps”. The results is a score were most of its value is on the action and suspense parts. And here is were Goldsmith works best, adding a Jazzy Trumpet to showcase his main theme and serve as a bridge between the score and the song soundtrack

Track: Bloody Christmas

Collectors corner, Must-Have & Small Gems

As the section indicates, here I’ll try to name 3 scores; the first, a difficult to find title, the second, is pretty much given, and the third, is a score that you may not think about that often (mainly due to the quality of the film), but it’s a surprising find.

Collector’s corner: A Patch of Blue – Jerry Goldsmith

An absolute must, this early piece in his career is a perfect score, where the sentiments are never overstated, but heightened and adding other layers of emotion to the story itself

Track: Finale

Must-Have: Star Trek: First Contact – Jerry Goldsmith

I don’t think there is much that can be said here. A timeless classic.I decided to showcase one of his later Star Trek works because it showcases what he could do with already existing music. This main theme, for example, contains 4 main parts; the original Alexander Courage theme, his own main theme created for the first movie, a new and gorgeous main theme for this film and some “Borg” music that was created by his son Joel, which Goldsmith thought could help him create a metallic signature sound to contrast the other rousing and epic themes.

(Note: Film music reviews can sometimes be too technical in its dissertations. I found this one to be a great example of how I feel a good review should be for those who want to learn more about what goes on with the music itself)

Track: Main Theme/Locutus

Small Gems: Forever Young – Jerry Goldsmith

Goldsmith at his most romantic, with a little dash of adventure mixed in between. A minor title for sure, but quite enjoyable.

Track: Love Theme

Trivia

Goldsmith was originally contracted to do the score for Judge Dredd, but he had to drop out due to his work on First Knight and Congo. He did create a specific piece of music for the first trailer, which gave a clear idea of what it was going to sound like. Ever since, the theme has been used in many other trailers. And its even made its way into a couple of albums