Buy it... if ten minutes of an outstanding Jerry Goldsmith Western theme is worth the cost of an otherwise surprisingly generic suspense score.

Avoid it... if you have never been able to appreciate Goldsmith's similarly prominent Western themes in his many other efforts in the genre, because Breakheart Pass really has nothing else of interest.

Goldsmith

Breakheart Pass: (Jerry Goldsmith) It's amazing that studios continued milking the genre of the Western well into the 1970's despite audience disinterest in dusty tales from old West. They did everything they could to alter the equation, sometimes yielding frightfully bizarre and comedic results. One more conventional experiment was Tom Gries' 1975 adaptation of an Alistair MacLean story, Breakheart Pass, that moved cult movie icon Charles Bronson from his Death Wish fame into a saddle, though he still played predictably into the role of reluctant killer for the betterment of humankind. This time, he's a secret service agent embroiled in a complicated plot involving weapons on a train, raiding parties interested in that and other loot, and double crossing agents of the law and the train that make Bronson's life difficult at every turn. Throw in Bronson's real-life wife Jill Ireland into a helpless role and round out the supporting cast with a strong collection of veteran actors, and Breakheart Pass is decent entertainment. It's especially appealing to fans of old railroad pictures, for the filming of the production in Idaho resulted in some spectacular locations in which to shoot dangerous fist fights and battles without the assistance of special effects. One crew member who always seemed inspired by trains was Jerry Goldsmith, whose music for Westerns persisted into the dying days of the genre. His career had already been littered with many Western scores, some of which considered classics while others never gaining much traction. Usually present in these scores is a strong theme, and the composer doesn't disappoint in Breakheart Pass. In fact, so attractive is Goldsmith's primary idea for this score that everything else he provides for the picture sounds completely generic. It's a classic case in which an extremely memorable theme has to carry the entire load, and the success or failure of the soundtrack depends on how frequently and creatively the composer adapts that idea into the non-title portions of the work. Unfortunately, Breakheart Pass only rarely lets rip with full statements of Goldsmith's fantastic theme, but those highlights make the endeavor worthwhile. It's always difficult to rate a score like this, because its highlights are so outstanding and the rest of it so mundane and mediocre.

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The first and last cues of Breakheart Pass, both featuring Goldsmith's concert arrangement of the infectiously bold and almost hip title theme, along with "Here They Come" and brief moments from other cues, form 10 minutes of material that is absolutely necessary in any Goldsmith collection. It's a Western theme along the same exciting route as Wild Rovers and Take a Hard Ride, serving up a rowdy acoustic guitar rhythm and lofty brass performances of a surprisingly romantic progression. The secondary phrase of the theme is as pretty as anything Goldsmith ever wrote for the genre, and the composer thankfully translates this sequence into solo woodwind performances at least twice in the work. The theme is full of energy and features outstanding performance emphasis, especially in the trumpets, begging for repeat enjoyment. The rest of the score references this theme, but never states it in full with enough consistency to make the entire soundtrack worth a lengthy album appreciation. The story involves a significant amount of conversation and sneaky suspense, and Goldsmith thus responds with generic, pulsating material rooted in the lower regions of the ensemble. A rhythmic train motif, using percussion to imitate the engine, is underutilized. A synthetic theme for the villain (and Native Americans, oddly) barely registers. The sensitive moments are handled with quiet fragments of the title theme. The fight sequences never explode with the kind of consistency that Goldsmith has applied elsewhere, leaving fifteen-second bursts of greatness that never connect into a satisfying whole. The best aspect of Breakheart Pass, interestingly, is the superior sound quality of the Los Angeles recording. When the guitars suddenly erupt in the title theme performances, an added dose of reverb creates a generous soundscape that brass take advantage of throughout these tracks. It took quite a long time for a good album of Breakheart Pass to chug along. Bootlegs with flat, distant sound (negating the naturally strong recording) existed in several formats since 1997, featuring a nearly complete 45 minutes of material. In 2006, La-La Land Records officially released that music (plus two short source cues, the latter of which being handy if you have access to an apartment or dorm intercom system after midnight) in crystal clear sound, albeit in limited form. Don't hesitate to find that 2006 CD if ten very strong minutes of a classic Goldsmith theme is worth your money. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.26 (in 113 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.32 (in 133,461 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.