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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.
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.
***
| Bias Check: | For Lee Holdridge reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.75 (in 13 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.65
(in 6,293 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
