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Capricorn One: (Jerry Goldsmith) Director Peter
Hyams took aim at one of America's most respected institutions in his
1978 thriller
Capricorn One, a film hailed as a classic by
conspiracy theorists who believe that NASA would be capable and willing
to fake a manned journey to another planet. In very sinister fashion,
Capricorn One tells of NASA's much hyped mission to send three
astronauts to Mars. Upon realizing that due to a myriad of reasons (but
mainly budget problems) the mission would result in certain failure, the
astronauts are secretly spirited away from the launch pad before the
space vehicle blasts off without them. The great deception of NASA
continues from there, as the agency forces the reluctant astronauts to
perform the remainder of their duties from a remote sound stage created
to look like their vehicle and the Martian landscape. Under threat of
harm to their families, they play along with the scheme and temporarily
save NASA's reputation, but upon the unexpected destruction of the
vehicle upon re-entry, the three men must be terminated. Realizing this,
they escape through the desert of the American Southwest, chased
relentlessly by helicopters containing assassins hired by NASA. While
the film is somewhat dated by its retrospective implausibility and O.J.
Simpson's casting as one of the three astronauts,
Capricorn One
remains an extremely compelling piece of storytelling. Distrust of the
federal government is an enduring factor in American society, and Hyams
managed to construct the narrative in a fashion that still provokes
considerable thought more than thirty years later. The collaboration
between Hyams and composer Jerry Goldsmith only lasted for two pictures,
and there's a significant difference between the application of music in
Capricorn One and the score for the equally entertaining space
Western
Outland two years later. Whereas the music in the latter
film played a purely secondary role (and is far less complicated),
Goldsmith's extremely intricate composition for
Capricorn One is
a vital part of the film's success and, on its own, a striking entry
during this period in his career (one that is often referred to as his
peak). The debate about
Capricorn One is not about its quality;
nobody can effectively argue that the score isn't tremendously
effective. But the two different recordings that Goldsmith produced of
the score are worlds apart and thus open the doors for a debate that
happens surprisingly infrequently in regards to this era in film
music.
As was customary at the time, Goldsmith recorded the
score for
Capricorn One in late 1977 at MGM's studios in Los
Angeles and then took his manuscripts to London, where he rearranged
several pieces, beefed them up significantly, and re-recorded 35 minutes
with the National Philharmonic Orchestra for the LP album release. Only
in a few cases in the Bronze Age, such as with John Williams'
The
Fury, is there such a dramatic difference between the film and album
recordings that questions about why the album arrangement wasn't used in
the film can be raised. Purists and the most veteran collectors will
refer to this discussion as rubbish, because they often accept the
intent and functionality of the two types of recordings without such
debate. With
Capricorn One, though, you have an outstanding
composition that works in the film, but the MGM version is so sparse
compared to the London recording that it's difficult not to be curious
about how Goldsmith's more symphonic rendering would have impacted the
picture. Certainly, some of the effectiveness of the film version exists
because of what some would call the avant garde constructs and
instrumental choices. There is sense of harsh, raw energy and a feeling
of the inevitable that Goldsmith infuses in the MGM recording that is
undeniably scary. His title theme is built on top of an extremely
memorable, jagged ostinato (of near-octave hopping, an obvious choice
for corruption) for deep brass, percussion, timpani, drums, bells, and
xylophone and serves as the identity for NASA's treachery and, more
specifically, the almost life-like helicopters that pursue the
astronauts at the climax of the story. Goldsmith split the string
section into two, placing them in equal halves on either side of the
ensemble and forcing them into combat with another when performing this
ostinato, and the effect is quite menacing in its overbearing, chopping
tone. The early sequences in the film extensively employ fragments of
this ostinato to underline the mechanized nature of the plot. By the end
of the film, all the audience needs to hear is two or three notes in
this rhythmic figure to know that something unfortunate is about to
happen on screen. The secondary theme in the film is one of romance for
the primary astronaut's family ("Kay's Theme") and it is this yearning,
tragic idea for strings, harp, and piano that only slightly occupies the
soundscape until its triumphant performance in "The Celebration."
Goldsmith merges the two themes in the end titles cue (and consequent
concert arrangement) with fantastic success, though the score never
really loses touch with the brutality of the relentless NASA
theme.
As heard in the film, Goldsmith's MGM recording uses a
smaller orchestra (but still imbalanced in its shifting of strings and
emphasis of low brass) and electronics in sparse fashion for most of the
narrative. It isn't a score of sustained action material; early scenes
use very quiet, but ominous fragments of the ostinato to great effect.
The few action bursts, along with the opening and closing titles,
suffice in their brutality but do so without much resounding depth. The
secondary family theme is equally sparse in its rendering until the end.
It's not surprising, upon examining the tone of the MGM recording, that
Goldsmith sought to really enhance the album version through not only a
rearrangement of the action material into longer variants (and adding a
concluding major key note at the end of the title theme), but also the
replacement of the synthesizers (for the most part) with a larger
orchestral ensemble. The resulting performance in London gives this
score incredible power, offering the kind of depth that the MGM version
badly lacked. The assembled "Break Out" cue, despite a few awkward
splices of the master tape for the LP, is among Goldsmith's most
ambitious and satisfying, and the "Main Title" is a classic piece. So
here's where we get back to the perplexing question: would the album
arrangement have better serviced the film? It's superior in every
performance aspect and the sound quality is vastly improved. Purists,
once again, would dismiss this issue. But the brutality of the
composition is retained in the London recording, and the more powerful
sound is arguably appropriate for the level of treachery on display. In
short, the London recording might have enhanced the film even more than
the MGM version, especially if the spirit of the un-rerecorded early
portions was kept intact. The LP album performance, available in
identical presentations on a collectible 1993 CD from GNP Crescendo
(with
Outland) and inexpensive retail CDs in 2009 from
Collector's Choice and 2012 from Perseverance, is a very strong
presentation and will be best for nearly all listeners. True fans of the
score will be interested in Intrada Records' limited and remastered 2005
release of the entire 53 minutes of the MGM recording. While a
fascinating listening experience, the film version of
Capricorn
One simply can't compete with the album recording. What's really
unfortunate is that Intrada, unlike its practice with many other
Goldsmith re-issues of the late 2000's, did not include the album
version along with the film version on their 3,000-copy pressing. As it
is, most fans seeking to hear this fine score will be best served by the
GNP Crescendo, Collector's Choice, or Perseverance products, or even the
City of Prague Philharmonic's re-recording of the title theme suite, a
performance that remains that ensemble's finest single handling of a
film music piece in their history.
Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download
LP Album Recording as Heard on the 1993, 2009, and 2012 Albums: ****
Film Recording as Heard on the 2005 Intrada Album: ***
Overall: ****
| Bias Check: | For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.26 (in 113 reviews)
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