Digital Joe #18

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While watching "Superman Returns" last Friday night (I promise this will be the last mention of that movie for a while), a relatively ground breaking thought occurred to me. There aren´t many iconic and legendary film scores out there. I think I can count the number of memorable scores on two hands.

"Star Wars". "Superman". "Star Trek". "Halloween". "The Godfather". "Indiana Jones". "Jaws". James Bond. If I´m leaving one out, let me know.

(For purposes of this discussion, I´m leaving musicals and other music-related films out. Also, the criterion for "memorable" is the following: being able to hum, whistle or otherwise recreate a part of the score without it being heard.)

Certainly, some of the reason these scores are memorable is that they have a hook that has been drummed into our collective consciousness over the years. It also doesn´t hurt that the majority of the these scores were created by one of the masters of the industry: John Williams. Sure, Alexander Courage created the original "Star Trek" theme and John Carpenter did the one for "Halloween". But Williams is responsible for "Star Wars", "Superman", "Indiana Jones" and "Jaws".

We all have other soundtracks that stick in our minds for one reason or another. I remember the "Terminator 2" theme because of the BUM BUM that plays over the opening credits. The "Jurassic Park" theme does the job with me, too…especially when I think about the sequence where Ellie and Allen see dinosaurs for the first time and John Hammond tells them. "Welcome…to Jurassic Park". That´s one of the great movie moments that I can remember.

Too often, the soundtrack is discounted by movie goers and film fans when, in reality, it´s one of the most important pieces in the entire film. Imagine "Jaws" without the classic DA DUM DA DUM music. Try watching Darth Vader´s entrance to the Death Star in "Return of the Jedi" without the infamous Imperial March music ominously playing in the background.

Can´t do it, can you?

The best parts of the soundtrack are usually played over the end credits. Reason number one I don´t leave until the final credit has rolled. We usually get the main theme for the movie accompanying the credits, along with some secondary themes. If my (admittedly old) memory serves me, the main fanfare for "Star Wars" plays at the end of "The Empire Strikes Back" in addition to the love theme for Leia and Han. There are some other cues included (Empire music), all of which help to reinforce for the audience the "important" orchestration in the film.

The thing that struck me about "Superman Returns" is that, for all the music John Ottman put together for the film, none of it sounded remotely memorable. Sure, the moments when the original "Superman" theme was blended with the new stood out and I appreciated it, but nothing jumped out at me. This isn´t purely a "Superman Returns" issue. Scores just don´t seem to have the impact, for me, that the classic ones do.

I completely understand that I´ve been hearing some of the music mentioned above for over 20 years. Maybe in 20 years, the music for current movies will be iconic. Entirely possible. But right now, that just isn´t the case.

I enjoy the soundtrack (the actual instrumental soundtrack by Danny Elfman, not the pop/rock soundtrack "from and inspired by" the movie). I even enjoy the work done by Graeme Revell for "Daredevil" (the film is pretty good too, but that´s a future subject). "Lord of the Rings" by Howard Shore, Thomas Newman´s "Angels in America", "The Chamber of Secrets" and "The Prisoner of Azkaban" (both John Williams, coincidentally), "Jurassic Park"…they´re all on my iPod in their entirety. (BTW, they´re good reading and writing music.)

As much as I enjoy the originality of the compositions (well, "Spider-Man"s main theme is a bit reminiscent of the theme from "Batman" in places), they just don´t stick and pop in my head. Once the movie comes on, though, I get caught up in the soundtrack all over again. Ask me how the main theme goes without it playing in the background and I don´t have a clue.

What do you guys think? Are soundtracks the same as movies, they grow on you as time wears on or are they really just inferior to what has come before? And what´s the best work in a movie recently?


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