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Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Silvestri's primary theme for The Mexican is performed by a solo trumpet, heralding the stereotypical entrance of a south-of-the-border influence. In and of itself, this is no big deal, but he then goes on to add a momentous orchestra (even by Skywalker Studio standards) and the Hollywood Film Chorale to bloat the theme completely out of proportion. The result is a stunning set of thematic performances throughout the entire score that mock the old Westerns while at the same time producing some very enjoyable music on album. Balancing out the sharp trumpet theme is a Hollywood stereotypical love theme that reaches its crescendo in track 13, at the airport. I say that it is the stereotypical Hollywood love theme because it resonates with the same exaggerated emotion as the finale to David Newman's Bowfinger. It stands out like a sore thumb because it is so ridiculously overdone for the context, but since that was surely Silvestri's intent for the music, I can only sit back and enjoy it. The boyish optimism that prevails in this score produces the same kind of romp that was heard in Marc Shaiman's City Slickers scores. It's modern Western music with a zany attitude. Silvestri's The Mexican, though, pushes the envelope even further than Shaiman did by using, more specifically, the fantasy of the chorus. There is, unfortunately, a bad side to this score. Silvestri also allows the score to deteriorate into less sophisticated stereotypes of Mexican music at times. In particular, he wrote an "Ole" piece which appears near the beginning and end of the album and contains mocking, if not outrageously hispanic flavoured vocals. It's hard to believe that Silvestri wrote these cues, but evidently he did. The score also features a few unsettling cues in which a series of orchestral hits have to follow the action on screen. The theme, too, can wear itself thin on some listeners. The string section of the orchestra performs during much of the score in a processional march than will probably get to some people's nerves. Several songs also were used in the film, and they appear on the album as well. The Dean Martin and Nancy Sinatra songs fit in well because they also represent the age of mythic Western movies, but the more modern songs --some of which are a startling contrast to the immediately previous cues, are a detraction from that feeling. Because of the arrangement of the intermingling of songs and score, the album is a very inconsistent listen. The songs are spread throughout, and Silvestri's cues are often quite short. Sequences of unremarkable underscore, although short as well, break up the mood of parody. Hidden in these short cues, though, are some hidden joys, such as the whistler in the second track and a harmonica in the fifth who performs a theme that will likely remind you of a classic, cult Western motif. I can only say that The Mexican reminds me much of Bowfinger because it is silly music that can go on without note for five minutes and then suddenly burst out with a simply phenomenal orchestral sequence of themes with orchestra and chorus. If you take all of Silvestri's great cues and transfer them onto your own "highlights of The Mexican" or Silvestri compilation, you can easily get 12 - 15 minutes of fantastic music. It's the type that will either blow you away or simply make you laugh. Either way, it's enjoyable stuff. It is unfortunate, therefore, that the presentation of the music on the album, which seems to stay true to the storyline of the film, forces you to wade through a lot of mediocre cues and songs to get to these great moments. Overall, to get the whole picture of why Silvestri chose this comical route of composition, I suppose that my best recommendation would be to view the score in action on screen. ***
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