Willie Nelson is on a train that is taking him to his
stashed away gold in this TV Western written and directed by Burt Kennedy. Jack Elam plays his
sidekick who doesn't want to be shot at while on a
train that is carrying dynamite. He reluctantly comes
along and the long ride north begins. On the way they
meet Delta Burke and her group of "ladies." This is definitely a film you'll have to fast-forward but there is a lot of good music you won't want to miss so stop and listen if you see any traveling shots of the train (that is if you feel compelled to watch more than what is on this blog - not all cues are covered). It's hard to stomach Willie's flat acting which sounds like he's reading cue cards from off-camera but Jack Elam has the
best line in the movie: "One time in Denver, I ate in
this restaurant. It had a big sign on the wall: 'Watch
your hat and coat.' While I was watching them someone
stole my steak..."
This has to be the best long lost Western score no one
has heard (well, next to Arthur B. Rubinstein's TEXAS GUNS which also hasn't been heard and will be covered in another post). It's no surprise that this style of
composing would bring out the best in the composer. The entire score tips it's hat to Elmer
Bernstein and Jerry Goldsmith but yet it still sounds
like Arthur B. The main theme first appears in 'Where
the Hell's That Gold?!!?' - a catchy song used for the opening credits. It starts with an opening rising motif with percussion and colored with guitar, harmonica and brass. A major key middle section follows before playful piccolo whistling is brought in for the return to the main idea. The song closes on a vamp after the last statement of the opening motif:
I have to skip ahead to one of the finest End Titles of Rubinstein's career which shows off this main theme in all it's glory. Here the song's melody is transformed into a rhythmic pulse of a train including bold brass, high string trills, and percussion with a Spanish flare:
Incredibly Willie Nelson does not
sing anywhere in this movie except in a few minor scenes
where he is singing to himself or with Elam. This might have been too expensive for the filmmakers but the opening female vocal makes sense. Here's the first instrumental cue containing the main theme:
Most of the
film is compiled of just shots of the train with very little sound
effects intruding and Rubinstein's score is treated
beautifully full in the mix. There are some fun harmonica statements of the theme with Arthur B harmonic twists under sequencing of the opening motif. Ever wonder how film music used to be treated under traveling shots of a train? Here's a great example:
One of the highlights of the score is a rhythmic Mexican theme for the bad guys which is then followed by an exciting statement of the main theme as Willie approaches El Guapo from THREE AMIGOS:
There's a slow harmonica variation of the major key middle section of the main theme acting as a "settling down" theme for the film:
More wonderful shots of the train with a broader statement of the main theme bookended by some terrific horn calls but ending on an unstable bass pedal:
Rubinstein creates more variation on the main theme for the introduction of the Apaches as they follow the train along it's path. There is some effective transparent snare and low brass ostinato writing common in Arthur B's style on display here:
Another exciting cue is when the opening motif and middle section of the main theme come back with some deceptive harmonic movement as Willie uses
a cannon on a group of Apaches trying to attack the
train:
So I have to ask... where the Hell's Rubinstein's Emmy for this score?
-- Brandon F.
No CD release. DVD is available.
SHOOTING WAR is a phenomenal documentary that tells the story
about the World War II combat camermen who captured some of
the most remarkable and memorable footage of the war.
The film was produced by Steven Spielberg and
written/directed by Richard Shickle. Tom Hanks (with full Cast Away beard) hosted this hour and a half program
which aired on ABC. Reels of footage are covered and
much of it stays with you after viewing. The opening
shows some of the most unbelievable aerial combat and
crash landing footage from the war. Historian Stephen
Ambrose bookends the documentary with some comments as
well.
Rubinstein's SHOOTING WAR is like a new war score for
a feature film and one of his best works. It's the kind of score we get so few of in
this day. Thanks must go to
Richard Shickle and Steven Spielberg for knowing who
could capture such beauty and tragedy in the music.
The main title is thrilling starting with a theme in woodwind intervals and continuing on with a soaring trumpet main theme over a repeating string pattern. For Hanks narration Rubinstein introduces a hymn-like theme with strings. The themes provide the basic structure of the score:
One of the most exciting cues in the documentary is for footage of planes coming in for crash landings onto aircraft carriers. The music is like an aerial ballet with Rubinstein providing fragments of the main theme along with the opening hymn theme but this time in menacing string and brass octaves. The cue continues with playful variations of the main theme for training footage of the cameramen:
Some warm string writing continues with a slight variation of the opening clarinet intervals:
This playful variation on the main theme provides a fun background to the boredom the soldiers sometimes experienced in the European front:
The woodwind intervals return throughout the picture with disturbing
suspenseful phrases but not without somber and lyrical moments like this one for the most famous footage of the D-Day invasion:
Arthur B. provides some agitated string, brass and percussion writing on the main theme for the Pacific scenes as well:
Like SAVING PRIVATE RYAN, the moving feel of the music is somber and heroic capturing the
bravery of these cameramen and soldiers all evident in
the footage:
I can't think of a more deserving score of Arthur B.'s work that should have a soundtrack album release. Highly recommended viewing.
-- Brandon F.
THE PHOENIX's second episode aired a year after the pilot episode but this time with a new opening title theme featuring more of the synclavier on the main idea with a consistent pulse from the timpani underneath. This is the same electronic sound that Arthur B. Rubinstein would play for John Badham the following year when the filmmakers were looking for a partly electronic score for BLUE THUNDER. The theme closes with a familiar Arthur B. signature motif in the synth at the end:
A mysterious setting of the main theme starts the episode off as Bennu (Judson Scott) arrives in New Mexico. This cue sounds as if it was tracked in a couple of scenes in the episode:
There's chase music that kicks off the episode early when some guys in a pickup truck hunt for Bennu. That famous sound effect from every 70s/80s super hero show appears when Bennu blasts the gun out of one of the bad guy's hands using his sun power. Apparently he can now harness enough power from the sun even at night. Interestingly toward the end the score returns to some of the electronic pulsing sounds from the Pilot episode:
The show would bring in a new villain named Justin Preminger (played by Richard Lynch) who would last for the remaining four episodes. In this standout cue, an exciting build of percussion, strings, horns and electronics begin after Preminger comes asking Dr. Ward Frazier (E.G. Marshall) about where to find Bennu. The composer returns to the South American pan flute color as Frazier retrieves a map and a stone possibly from the Peruvian burial ground. There is an interesting mixed-meter synth idea that bookends the following scene. The main theme begins on it's middle B section in the strings (again with pounding timpani and electronics) and continues into the main theme on French Horn in a scene where Bennu begins to recharge his solar power:
One of the best variations of the main theme is a reflective string passage for a conversation between Bennu and Darlene:
The ancient astronaut is also able to read minds and influence animals. Here Bennu is able to get a dog to bail him out of jail by retrieving his amulet. The cue starts off with the pan flutes as Arthur B. combines a fragment of the Main Theme from the Pilot episode with the new opening theme of the series. Strings whirl around in some nice orchestration under another statement of the B section of the main theme:
The love theme from the Pilot (Noel's Theme) returns for when Bennu says goodbye to Darlene:
I failed to mention last time the brief but great end title cue from the Pilot episode but unfortunately it's covered by the ABC announcer and it's not on YouTube.
-- Brandon F.
The Phoenix will return next week in "One of Them."
Even Arthur B.'s due for a clunker every now and then,
right? Well this sure as hell isn't it. In fact, this
is one of his finest works, brimming with almost as
many leitmotifs as your average STAR WARS film. The
score is amazing the first time through, but it only
gets better as you become more familiar with the
various themes and their charming interconnections.
The highlight is the cue that bridges the 7/8
Arabian-flavored action motif with a heroic reading of
the love theme; it accompanies the scene where the
gorgeous Stephanie Zimbalist uses her high heels as a
digging tool to escape from a prison cell.
BROWN SUIT is another fine example of Rubinstein's
energy and inventiveness virtually carrying (or,
depending on how you look at it, disregarding)
portions of a telefilm: look for several static,
poorly framed and horribly lit shots of Zimbalist
sitting in her boat cabin, thinking for about 90
seconds straight (with occasional voice over
narration). That said, this score is so good, it's
worth sitting through the whole film just to
appreciate the levels on which it functions. Okay, you
can fast forward a little if you want, but be careful.
There's a ton of music.
Definitely worth watching.
-- Jon Z.
AGATHA CHRISTIE'S THE MAN IN THE BROWN SUIT is a pure gem of a film score. The first cue in the film (after the opening song) lets you know what kind of score you're in for. Arthur B. builds the excitement up and introduces the 7/8 action motif after Harry Lucas follows Anita into a mansion and discovers her diamonds are missing. He quickly leaves the scene of the crime:
The action motif is quickly reprised in this scene where Anne briefly meets Harry before he flees again. An Arabic snake charming theme is added to the mix and builds to an exciting finish:
The main theme is a memorable and yearning adventure theme for the main character Anne Beddingfield (Zimbalist). Some of the suspense music is classic mystery sleuth music with parts that would fit in with any Sherlock Holmes or Harry Potter movie. Here the theme sounds like something right out of RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK:
Other character's motifs are introduced here with plenty of sneaky woodwinds:
It's incredible how many little motifs sneak in and out. Harry (the man in the brown suit himself) has a cool, short upward woodwind motif and Rubinstein uses it in many wonderful romantic settings:
Here's an example of how the composer is able to blend just about every idea into one cue with motifs and themes flowing into each other. Arthur B's minor third flourishes are always present. After the commercial break is another softer moment on Anne's Theme:
More interesting variations on Anne's Theme, Chichester's music, Suzy's Theme and Harry Lucas' motif in her cabin as she counts up the suspects:
Last but not least is the best cue in the film where Anne's Theme is combined with the action motif as she escapes from her prison cell. Bells and high strings with woodwinds climb in excitement as Anne digs out with the help of her high heels:
-- Brandon F.
No soundtrack album available. The film is available on DVD only in this Agatha Christie boxset.
BLUE THUNDER is John Badham's super-helicopter
thriller, starring Roy Sheider as
Frank Murphy, a cop assigned to test-fly the dangerous
vehicle for the '84 Olympics.
When Murphy suspects that the government plans to use
the chopper for evil, he steals it,
resulting in some of the most intricate helicopter
chases ever captured on film.
BLUE THUNDER is deservedly one of Arthur B.'s best
known scores, a unique
combination of '80s electronics with acoustic brass,
strings and percussion. The main
theme is dynamite, an ascending long-line melody
usually voiced on a hollow-sounding
synclavier patch (at times layered over a sampled
rhythm of whirling helicopter blades).
As per custom with Rubinstein, the tune takes
unexpected harmonic turns that keep you
on your toes everytime you hear it. It's not often you
get to hear a classically trained film
composer write this sort of sophisticated music for
the synthesizers that were more often
employed on pop-scores by Vince Di Cola and Harold
Faltermeyer. BLUE THUNDER is
a rare thrill in that it tricks you into thinking
you're in for an enjoyably trashy synth score
only to reveal the classical intricacies found in
Rubinstein's best work.
As you might suspect in a movie about a helicopter, a
good deal of the music is buried
under sound effects. The promo soundtrack CD is hard to find but Track 14 (River
Chase/Hide and Seek) may very well be
the best action cue Rubinstein has ever penned, mixing
and matching his main theme
with the rest of the score's biting, mechanical
sub-motives, and brilliantly blurring the
line between electronic and symphonic. Highly
recommended.
Definitely worth watching.
-- Al B
We attempted to sync up the picture with the exciting River Chase half of the cue. Here you can see how the music works in the film with only Rubinstein's score isolated:
There are some standout themes in BLUE THUNDER like the soft piano theme for the quiet moments between Murphy and Kate (on the album as Kate's Theme). This theme has a haunting quality in it's beginning statement but ends with a more hopeful turn in the closing phrase.
The composer utilized some experimental piano effects for the creation of the score. According to John Badham in the promo CD liner notes, Rubinstein created an unusual piano sound by placing the microphone inside a large empty water bottle underneath a Steinway.
Track 8, Follow My Leader, is one of my personal favorite cues which plays with fun synth textures and contains an early statement of the action motif later heard in River Chase. Always present are the bouncing minor 3rd intervals expected from the composer. Synths used for the score were the Synclavier II, Jupiter, Prophet and Moog. An original version of Murphy's Theme was composed for the end title and performed with a single piano building with a crescendo in the orchestra (Track 15, Ride With The Angels) but the filmmakers opted for a more pop flavored version which can be heard as Murphy's Law - Theme from Blue Thunder (Track 16).
BLUE THUNDER stands as one of the best action films of the 1980s and it's theme of secret government surveillance is still a very relevant subject. Today's word of summer blockbusters with nothing coming out but comic book action movies gets old and stale so it's nice to reflect on how action used to be made. It's incredible to think now that John Badham's BLUE THUNDER was released the same year as WARGAMES. 1983 would be a watershed year for both Arthur B and the director.
-- Brandon F.
The promotional CD cover for BLUE THUNDER. Unfortunately as of this post the soundtrack still has not seen an official release from any label.
Every weekend I'm going to attempt to cover one episode of a TV show scored by Arthur B. This week I'll start with THE PHOENIX which was a short lived television series that starred Judson Scott as an ancient astronaut who is discovered in a sarcophagus in a Peruvian tomb. The show only lasted for 5 episodes on ABC even though 8 episodes were produced. The premise of the show has Bennu of the Golden Light (Scott) searching for his partner Mira and the reason why he was unearthed too soon. Bennu has super powers, like many of the main characters from shows of this era, but his strength is dependent on the sun. I clearly remember watching one episode of this show with my dad when I was five years old and being disappointed it did not come back on the next week.
Rubinstein's music for the pilot episode is the best from the series and utilizes a main theme for Bennu that does not appear again in the short run. The opening main theme is impressive and consists of strong brass writing with an octave leap and a repeated single phrase over a pedal tone with only a slight variation:
There are some experimental colors like this wild percussion and pizzicato string cue where Bennu escapes from the scientists who are doing experiments on him:
The main theme is soon explored on a pan flute when Bennu escapes to the beach with a photographer named Noel (Shelley Smith). Pan flutes at the beach always remind me of THE KARATE KID (1984) -- maybe this is where Bill Conti got the idea!
The warm tremolo string bed adds support to the theme along with the piano as Timmy is introduced:
Noel is a photographer who for some reason thought it was a good idea to pick up this strange alien hitchhiker who gives foot massages. She has a yearning minor theme which also acts as a sort of love
theme for Bennu and does appear again for another
woman who he meets in the series. It becomes an important part of the score later:
E.G. Marshall plays a supporting role as Dr. Ward Frazier, one of the scientists who unearthed Bennu, and helps him escape from the head of the Latin American Department of Antiquities Diego DeVarga. There are some interesting textural cues with synth for Bennu's mind powers:
After Bennu is shot more electronics are added to the score on the main theme. Bennu hides the amulet with Timmy who gives it back to him when he prepares to escape from the hospital:
There are a few exciting
car chase sequences with repeating timpani, muted
horn and trumpet. It all comes to a halt with French horns
blowing dissonant clusters as Noel's car careens out
of control and crashes off a bridge. The best dramatic use of Noel's theme is after she dies. A gorgeous statement of the theme is stated on trumpet and then the music returns to the main theme on pan flute with harp followed by an exciting synth and brass statement for the finale:
Overall the score is very beautiful and perfectly
matches the spiritual elements of the series.
-- Brandon F.
No CD release but the new theme written for the opening of the rest of the series was mistakenly released on the FAKE OUT soundtrack. No DVD release.
MURDER IN SPACE, starring Wilford Brimley and Michael Ironside, is a flat bore with
trashy sets and virtually no lighting -- but we were so excited by Arthur B. Rubinstein's
main title music that we watched almost an hour before realizing that we had to start
fast-forwarding.
This is one of those rare scores that grabs you from the very first note. After a signature
Rubinstein flute motif kicks off the opening credits, the cue quickly shifts into something
less than familiar in the composer's oeuvre: A giant star cruiser slowly glides by to the
tune of authentic Arthur B. space music! Better yet, as the main title cycles through
freeze-frame headshots of all the cast members (the crew aboard the space ship), the
music launches into a rhythmic frenzy, channeling the very best of Jerry Goldsmith, but
sounding like Arthur B. all the way It's like a more martial, driving version of the Tic
Tac Toe finale from WARGAMES.
MURDER IN SPACE features a bevy of themes for the different characters, but is largely
driven by the four-note motif introduced in the main titles. The rest of the underscore is a
disappointment by default, but it's chock full of top notch writing, including a welcome
reprise of the Tic Tac Toe action music at the film's climax. The mix, as usual in '80s
Arthur B. telescores, is largely outstanding. The music is fully audible during dialogue
scenes and bursts to the fore for many thrilling transitional scenes. (This score has several
of the best "guy walks out of the room" cues ever written.)
You must hear the main title piece.
Otherwise...
Definitely worth fast-forwarding
-- Jon Z and Al B
The opening notes of MURDER IN SPACE
are enough proof
that Arthur B. is quite comfortable scoring music for
science fiction space adventures. To this day it still ranks as one of our most exciting discoveries by the composer. Could this be the
only Arthur B. space (in this case soap) opera? The
suspense is scored with woodwinds reminiscent of even
John Williams' Tatooine music from STAR WARS:
A great example of the wonderfully explosive transitional music for a guy walking out of a room:
There are softer moments of the score with more of your typical Sci-Fi woodwind and warm string writing:
One of my favorite parts is the eerie
sounds for the icy Russian exteriors and the intense
brass for two men meeting at a park bench. Rubinstein masterfully makes this sound like a real
caper with the main theme sounding like it would fit
right in with a Sherlock Holmes mystery:
A guy leaves a park bench:
Here's a playful return to the opening chattering woodwind idea but this time in pizzicato strings:
Arthur B returns to music reminiscent of his Tic-Tac-Toe scoring from WARGAMES for the reprise of the main title material as the crew escapes from the Conestoga to return to Earth. The Russian theme can be heard briefly as Kalsinov unpacks a bag:
Music for Re-Entry:
-- Brandon F.
Only released on VHS. No album or DVD released as of this post.
