Filmtracks: Don Juan DeMarco (Michael Kamen)

•	Newest Major Reviews:	.	•	This Week's Most Popular Reviews:			•	Best-Selling Albums:
.	1. Nim's Island 2. The Life Before Her Eyes 3. Horton Hears a Who! 4. Leatherheads 5. The Spiderwick Chronicles	.	.	1. Moulin Rouge 2. Gladiator 3. POTC: Curse of the Black Pearl 4. Star Wars: A New Hope 5. Edward Scissorhands	6. Pearl Harbor 7. Schindler's List 8. Titanic 9. Braveheart 10. Home Alone	.	.	1. Varèse Sarabande 25th 2. The Last of the Mohicans 3. Legends of the Fall 4. Schindler's List 5. LOTR: Return of the King (Set)

Don Juan DeMarco

Composed, Conducted, Co-Produced by:

Michael Kamen

Co-Produced by:

Stephen McLaughlin
Christopher Brooks

Orchestrated by:

Michael Kamen
Robert Elhai

Label:

A&M Records

Release Date:

April 18th, 1995

Also See:

Robin Hood (1991)
Chocolat

Audio Clips:

1. Have You Ever Really loved a Woman? (0:30), 150K donjuan_demarco1.ra

4. I Was Born in Mexico (0:30), 150K donjuan_demarco4.ra

6. Doña Julia (0:28), 140K donjuan_demarco6.ra

7. Don Alfonso (0:32), 160K donjuan_demarco7.ra

Availability:

Regular U.S. release.

Awards:

None.

Search Now:

•

Printer
Friendly
Version

@Amazon.com:

List Price: $9.98
Our Price: $8.98
You Save: $1.00 (10%)

Used Price: $0.39

Sales Rank: 9394

Avg. Rating: 4.50

or read more reviews and hear more audio clips at Amazon.com.

Compare Prices:

Half.com

(new and used)

Amazon.com
(new and used)

CD Universe
(new only)

Find it Used:

Check for used copies of this album in the:

Soundtrack Section at eBay

(including eBay Stores and Half.com listings)

Filmtracks Recommends:

Buy it... if you enjoy romantic Mexican and flamenco music led by traditional guitars and solo strings.

Avoid it... if you only seek the Bryan Adams song and are not interested in the incidental underscore.

Filmtracks Editorial Review:


Kamen

Don Juan DeMarco: (Michael Kamen) One of the most successful songwriter/composer pairings in Hollywood during the 1990's was Bryan Adams and Michael Kamen. After their dominance of all music charts and awards for "Everything I Do..." from the 1991 Robin Hood film for which Kamen wrote the score, the two would collaborate once again for another blockbuster in Don Juan DeMarco. The 1995 film offers the story of a delusional Johnny Depp, who claims to be Don Juan, the world's greatest lover, and who claims to have rolled around in the sack with more than his fair share of beautiful females. His psychiatrist, Marlon Brando (who allegedly showed up at filming sessions naked from the waist down), must analyze his patient to sort out reality and, at the same time, live up to the romantic aspirations of his wife, played by Faye Dunaway. With lush flashbacks from the psychiatric sessions to the adventures of Don Juan in Mexico, the film is the ultimate romantic comedy. Some people have claimed that the entire Don Juan reference is false, because Depp's actions in the film more closely resemble those of Casanova rather than Don Juan, but that's beside the point. The film's charm resides in masterful dialogue (performed flawlessly) and Michael Kamen's score. The song, co-written by Adams and Kamen, follows the consistent line of being adapted throughout the score as the orchestral theme of the film. Not that many people would notice this, however, because most audiences grew immediately attached to "Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?" and unfortunately disregarded the score. Going on to all of the same awards recognition, the song was strangely the last major success story of the Kamen/Adams collaboration, and the reason for this is unknown. In many ways, Don Juan DeMarco was a better match for the two guitar enthusiasts than Robin Hood ever was.

Along with the Adams performance of the title song, a traditional Spanish rendition was also provided in the film and on album, and this was another major attraction for fans of the film. Film score enthusiasts should not be fooled by the actions of the general populus, however. Kamen's accompanying underscore is fabulous. It is simplistic in its emotions, drawing out the romance of the film and the song's theme with the same spirit of a typical Rachel Portman affair (and Chocolat specifically, with the same flavor). The song, of course (as with the Adams sound), is rich with guitars, and Kamen takes this a step further. The alternating Spanish, Mexican, and Arabian accents on the adoringly lovable theme provide very easy listening for the 40 minutes of the score's duration. Kamen surprisingly utilizes exact rhythms and performance characteristics of both Mexico and Spain, with even a habanera --a slow Cuban dance-- thrown in to a track of the same name. The solo performances by strings in Don Juan DeMarco offer both the passion and the comedy of the score, taking the main theme and one alternate theme and repeating them with immeasurable style throughout the effort. Upon first listen, the score could seem highly repetitious, and like Portman's romance music, Don Juan DeMarco does revolve around the same material for its entire length. But the key to enjoying the score is to become enveloped in the spirit of each interpretation of the theme and accept Kamen's work as a fluffy walk on the beach. There are moments when the full London orchestra fulfills the scenes of movie magic (and they even pull a woodwind rhythm from the Conan scores for the Arabian motif!), and these fully accompanied performances of the title theme are more enjoyable in many ways than the song. Nevertheless, the song is certainly the main event on the Don Juan DeMarco album, and people who wish to deprive themselves by seeking only the song can do so on Adams' "18 Till I Die" album. Overall, this is among Kamen's most playful, heartfelt, and listenable scores. ****

Purchasing Options: CD Universe (New), Amazon.com (New or Used), eBay/Half.com (Used)

Viewer Ratings and Comments:

Most Recent Comments:	Read All


•	Thanks, Christian Southall -- 6/26/03 (2:07 p.m.)



Read All \| Add New Post \| Search \| Help

Track Listings:

Total Time: 45:42

• 1. Have You Ever Really loved a Woman? (4:54) - performed by Bryan Adams
• 2. Habanera (2:10)
• 3. Don Juan (4:08)
• 4. I Was Born in Mexico (2:28)
• 5. Love at First Sight (2:49) - performed by Michael Kamen, Jose Hernandez & Nydia
• 6. Doña Julia (5:11)
• 7. Don Alfonso (6:45)
• 8. Arabia (7:52)
• 9. Don Octavio del Flores (1:49)
• 10. Doña Ana (7:32)

(listed track times on album are all slightly incorrect)

Notes and Quotes:

Insert includes no extra information about the score or film.

All artwork and sound clips from Don Juan DeMarco are Copyright © 1995, A&M Records. 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 6/19/03, updated 6/24/03. Review Version 4.2 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2003-2008, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved.