Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... on the 2013 Intrada Records album if you desire one of James Horner's most poignant single career cues, a long, orchestral powerhouse of solemn but beautiful melodrama for this film's memorable final scene. Avoid it... if you cannot tolerate Horner's rather stereotypical application of trumpet versus shakuhachi flute for an American veteran dealing with the Vietnam War, the solo elements of the score somewhat uninspired without the full ensemble's gravity. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
In Country: (James Horner) An emotional tale about a family's discovery of inner-strength, In Country was meant as a vehicle of healing for a country seemingly obsessed with exploring closure for the Vietnam War in the 1980's. The 1989 adaptation of Bobbie Ann Mason's novel to the big screen by respected director Norman Jewison follows the growing-up experiences of a 17-year-old girl and her investigation into the person who was her father, a man who married her mother at the age of 19 and was promptly killed in Vietnam four weeks later. With that mother admitting that she barely even remembers her father, the girl relies on rehabilitating her detached couch-potato uncle (a superior role for Bruce Willis shortly after Die Hard's debut), who is also a veteran of the same war. The gravity of In Country is created through the faithful telling of a series of little stories involving the girl and the way that the overarching narrative builds up to its monumentally gripping climax as the family visits the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately for Jewison and the production, America had been oversaturated with such Vietnam stories in that decade, culminating in a year in 1989 that saw several similar movies (led by Born on the Fourth of July) attempting the same resolution, and In Country suffered a quick death at the box office and remains a footnote in the careers of Willis and composer James Horner. The latter was in the late stages of a triumphant period of ascendance at the time, during which the challenging topics of war were common for him. While the subject matters are different, Horner adapts some of the same solemn attitude from his obscure 1983 music for Testament and his concurrent popular work for Glory into In Country, breaking no new ground stylistically in what could be identified as a purely Horner work at every moment. While some movie critics lamented what they perceived as a distracting role of the music in the movie at its release, much of the story was left unscored, with only roughly 45 minutes of material placed in the picture. In that music, Horner alternates between very subtle explorations of his multiple themes for the various characters and troubling dissonance for some of the harrowing flashback sequences, requiring significant patience from the listener to appreciate the payoff at the end. The majority of underscore for In Country is constructed with the piano solos that inhabit scores like Field of Dreams and Class Action, with notable solo brass performances also playing towards a careful level of sensitivity. Horner doesn't try to mask the fact that he utilizes noble French horns to personify American heroism and the shakuhachi flute (Horner's staple of exotic elements at the time) for the location of Vietnam. Out of this sonic battle come several poignant solo trumpet performances for Willis' lead character that are as crisp as they are stereotypical. Horner previews his themes early and often in the score, the orchestra swelling in "Distant Memories" for a major introduction. But, like the film, the emotional punch is saved for the final scene in D.C., and Horner reacts with appropriately overflowing melodrama for the full ensemble. While the main theme for the film had been barely audible since the opening cue, he unleashes it in grand style in the "Fallen Friends" finale with a blast of the shakuhachi flute and follows a noble brass tribute to the fallen with a lush, striking performance of the score's more solemn secondary theme, first with strings as powerful as they were in The Land Before Time and then in a heartbreaking duet with the shakuhachi. This is the only time in the work when the flute and trumpet are in perfect harmonic synchrony, and Horner allows the Apollo 13-like trumpet to replace the flute at the very end of this stellar performance (which begins at 7:50 into that cue) to suggest that the closure is complete for an American purging Vietnam from his system. Despite the average components of the score's main body of underscore, as well as some thematic phrases that will recall Glory, Legends of the Fall, and The Rocketeer for some listeners, the quality of this final cue raises the value of the In Country score to one of solid recommendation. A half hour of the score was appended to a 1996 Romanian "Vivo" label release (essentially a bootleg) of Horner's Testament and later available on a 1999 Natty Gann Records bootleg with a 9-minute suite from Testament and Horner's Honey, I Shrunk The Kids. While sound quality on these bootlegs was commendable, the products were difficult to obtain and were missing a third of the score. A 2013 Intrada Records album finally gave In Country full treatment on a legitimate, limited CD, and the quality of the final cue will justify the price of this product for any devoted Horner collector.
Music as Heard on the 1996 Vivo Music Bootleg: *** Music as Heard on the 2013 Intrada Album: **** Overall: **** Track Listings (1996 Vivo Music Bootleg):
Total Time: 55:56
Track Listings (2013 Intrada Album):
Total Time: 51:20
All artwork and sound clips from In Country are Copyright © 1996, 2013, Vivo Music (bootleg), Intrada 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 12/2/96, updated 3/3/13. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1996-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
1996 Bootleg