Buy it... if you are an avid collector of Lee Holdridge's heartfelt family scores, or appreciate tender harmonica performances.

Avoid it... if you don't yet own many (if any) Holdridge scores and are looking for a place to start a collection of his works.

Holdridge

The Giant of Thunder Mountain: (Lee Holdridge) Even by the standards of composer Lee Holdridge's usual television and B-film projects, The Giant of Thunder Mountain was a monumental failure. It's a project that centers entirely around actor and writer Richard Kiel, who most people will recall as the immense character 'Jaws' from the James Bond films The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker. Believe it or not, Kiel's acting through the years has taken a back seat to his Christian faith, which has led him to spend much of his time spreading that faith and writing screenplays for films that essentially tell tales that promote those beliefs as well. Judging from the audience response to his story for the 1991 theatrical release The Giant of Thunder Mountain, perhaps we now know why studios aren't leaping at the opportunity to purchase these scripts. With practically no critical response whatsoever and a no-name studio and distributor, the film grossed only $127,000 and marked the end of cinematographer James Roberson's directing exploits. Nevertheless, The Giant of Thunder Mountain maintains interest from fans of the famous Bond villain (and his Christian preaching), as well as collectors of Lee Holdridge's scores. Holdridge is no stranger to such projects; it seems that if there's any heart-warming family story about overcoming prejudice, Holdridge is available and ready to provide a score better than what the film deserves. In the case of The Giant of Thunder Mountain, the story is about Kiel's self-written role as a giant hermit living in the woods of 1900 Northern California, and the harassment he experiences while a young girl from the local town is unafraid of his size and befriends him. Carnivals, torching mobs, and roaring Grizzly bears don't keep Holdridge away from the family-friendly soft themes for very long, and his score is as unchallenging as it is redeeming.

	Learn about supporting Filmtracks

Unfortunately, the softer parts of Holdridge's score were drowned out in the film by additional narration that was added to the film in post-production as an attempt to save an obviously failing picture. Those soft guitar and harmonica cues are the highlight of The Giant of Thunder Mountain, with the action and suspense music typically remaining anonymous and subpar compared to other outdoors adventure scores in Holdridge's career (notably Call of the Wild a few years later). No dominant secondary theme for the giant (or a danger motif, for that matter) is well developed, leaving only the title theme to hold the score together. That theme is performed with great attractiveness by a harmonica over acoustic guitar, and is fluffy and enjoyable in its innocence and pseudo-country style. It's not often that harmonicas are used these days in film scores, but Holdridge's upbeat use of the instrument here (as well as in Buffalo Girls) is a reminder of John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith of decades past, and since Old Gringo, any Holdridge score with an accompanying guitar has potential. There are three or four cues featuring these solo statements that merit compilation inclusion, along with the fully orchestral finale statement. Unfortunately for Holdridge, the large-scale performances of this theme expose head-scratching similarities to Goldsmith's The Wild Rovers theme. Where The Giant of Thunder Mountain falls somewhat flat is in its action music; just as in the film, these sequences seem to exist without direction... without leading to satisfying crescendos or natural conclusions, leaving motifs hanging in several cues. While the harmonica, guitar, and occasional woodwind performances are mixed well at the forefront, the brass, strings, and Holdridge's usual timpani are muted and distant. While overall this score may not be on par with Holdridge's other B-film efforts, it remains one of his more readily available on CD. A repressing by Citadel in 2005 has brought the product back to online outlets. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Lee Holdridge reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.75 (in 13 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.49 (in 6,763 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.