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Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius

Composed, Orchestrated, Conducted, and Co-Produced by:
James Horner
Co-Produced by:
Simon Rhodes


Label:
Varèse Sarabande
Release Date:
May 11th, 2004


Also See:

Troy
Fields of Dreams


Audio Clips:

1. St. Andrews (0:29), 146K bobby_jones1.ra

5. Destined for Greatness (0:33), 165K bobby_jones5.ra

7. "A Win, Finally!" (0:30), 150K bobby_jones7.ra

12. End Credits (0:30), 150K bobby_jones12.ra



Availability:

  Regular U.S. release.


Awards:

  None.









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Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius

Audio | Availability | Viewer Ratings | Tracks | Viewer Comments | Notes & Quotes
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Filmtracks Recommends:

Buy it... only if you are a serious, die-hard James Horner collector or golfing history fan.

Avoid it... if your patience with sappy, unoriginal Horner melodies on strings or rehashed Scottish rhythms for pipes has run out.



Filmtracks Editorial Review:

Horner
Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius: (James Horner) After producing four scores all for release in the last two months of 2003, James Horner continues his fast pace of writing with both his replacement score for Troy and a his heartfelt work for Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, both of which released on album on the same day in May, 2004. The story of Bobby Jones could seem like 120 minutes of Hell if you're not enthusiastic about golf and its history. Robert Tyre Jones, Jr. remains the one and only person to have ever won the title of Grand Slam Champion by winning the British Amateur, the British Open, the U.S. Open, and the U.S. Amateur, all in 1930. Having done so at age 28, the film serves as a biography of Jones' life up to and including that golfing record. It's a no-thrills detailing of Jones' sickly childhood, his 'miracle' year of performance on the golf courses of Scotland and America, and his ultimate decision to retire early to spend time with his family. The film was pounded by critics for being a boring depiction about an event that few people really care about, with poor performances (led by Jim Caviezel fresh from his suffering portrayal of Jesus in The Passion of the Christ) and sappy, unoriginal photography of golf courses. If you go through the rather stark history of golfing films (Tin Cup, Caddyshack, The Legend of Bagger Vance, etc), there really is a limit to the originality with which you can make an interesting dramatic film about golf and, more specifically, one golfer. This problem extends to the original scores for these films, although Rachel Portman managed to strike one very popular, magical exception with The Legend of Bagger Vance a few years ago. Since the meat of the Bobby Jones film is based in Scotland, the producers of the film sought the services of James Horner in order to reinvent his own wildly popular score for Braveheart in a more personalized fashion. It is a score that Horner could write in his sleep, and, in most parts, it sounds like he just may have been asleep at the wheel while writing it.

The film doesn't necessary demand much of Horner. The emotional depth of the film could have been greater had the filmmaking been of better quality, but as it stands, a very normal Horner string score would suffice at every turn. Despite a press release and a few fanatical Horner collectors' assertions that Bobby Jones is a "magical" score, it's evident that less magic went into this score than went into Field of Dreams, which remains an important sports and family-related score in Horner's career. The largely string score for Bobby Jones has lyricism and harmony pleasant enough to lull the listener to a gentle snooze, with a repetitive theme that experiences several similar variations throughout the score. Horner has produced so many of these string themes since the early 1990's that it becomes difficult to pinpoint which one of them that Bobby Jones resembles (and maybe that's a startling and dangerous point). Heavy layering of these string swells in "Destined for Greatness" is the sole highlight of the score. A solo horn announces the vistas of the golf courses in solemn tributes to the game in a few cues. A distant solo drum beat can often be heard, perhaps hushing the orchestra in the same funny manner that golf announcers always whisper into the microphone. More important are half a dozen bursts of Scottish flavor with Uilleann pipes, guitars, and ethnic woodwinds that pick up the rhythm and serve to represent the Scottish golfing locations. The themes for Bobby Jones are all so mundane and pleasant (and lengthy in their slow performances) that you don't leave this score with a tune in your head. Rather, a soft and cozy emotional impression is left, without a single darker moment to spoil the mood. It's difficult to recommend this score to anyone who already has a healthy dose of Horner on his/her shelves, especially with the superior (but also flawed) score for Troy released concurrently. The album for Bobby Jones presents an overly-generous 60+ minutes of a score that could have easily sufficed with a 45 minute release. Horner seems to be sinking further and further into his own abyss of self-regurgitation, and unless he can take a sub-average film like Bobby Jones and let loose with a highly original, truly magical work, then he risks losing a considerable number of even his most loyal fans. Unless you have a special place in your heart for Bobby Jones as a film, then skip this score in favor of one of Horner's other, more interesting variants on the style. **

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   Viewer Ratings and Comments:



   Track Listings:
Total Time: 63:24

    • 1. St. Andrews (7:16)
    • 2. Baby Strokes (4:05)
    • 3. The First Lesson (4:39)
    • 4. Not Just a Game Anymore (3:05)
    • 5. Destined for Greatness (6:52)
    • 6. The Painful Secret (3:42)
    • 7. "A Win, Finally!" (3:36)
    • 8. Playing the Odds (6:07)
    • 9. "He's On a Roll Now" (2:03)
    • 10. The Shot of a Lifetime (4:47)
    • 11. Living the Dream (10:26)
    • 12. End Credits (6:42)




   Notes and Quotes:

    Insert includes a list of performers, but no extra information about the score or film.







All artwork and sound clips from Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius are Copyright © 2004, Varèse Sarabande. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 5/13/04, updated 5/15/04. Review Version 4.2 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2004-2008, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved.