Buy it... only if you were very closely touched by the film itself and enjoy the respectful, low-key ambience of Eastwood's music.

Avoid it... if the technical and thematic simplicity of Eastwood's very basic music leaves you hopelessly bored.

Eastwood

Million Dollar Baby: (Clint Eastwood) Edging the Martin Scorsese film The Aviator for the 'best picture' and 'best director' honors at the 2005 Academy Awards, Million Dollar Baby earned Clint Eastwood both of those Oscars, and well as acting awards for the film's other two top stars. The 25th film for Eastwood as a director continues his trend towards telling the gripping tales of inner demons and perseverence of character, often with spectacular critical result. And while Eastwood has excelled at portraying the raw, genuine emotions that his own acting performances in his hit Westerns of decades ago typically lacked, his award-caliber films also have a morbid sense of darkness about them that often leads to the subjects of maiming and death. Million Dollar Baby falls along all of these familiar patterns, providing the story of a young female boxer and a hardened boxing trainer, both struggling with their own failed family relationships. In the process of evolving the woman's boxing talents to top form (begrudgingly for the trainer), the two serve to inspire and frustrate each other to positive phychological ends. The tragedy that occurs is as the story progresses is necessary to understand the original score, although it should be noted that despite the general unhappiness that prevails in the film, it was both a critical and popular success. So rarely do critics unanymously praise a film that a project like Million Dollar Baby --with just that type of rare reception-- merits, for soundtrack collectors, a score album that would probably not exist otherwise. Marking the fifth venture as a solo composer for one of his films, Million Dollar Baby continues the same kind of very low-key scoring effort from Eastwood. He has also been recognized by major awards for his compositions for his recent films, including a Golden Globe nomination for Million Dollar Baby (he filed paperwork too late to be eligible for a 'best score' nomination at the Oscars, though). As usual, he takes solo credit for his compositions while continuing to utilize the services of longtime collaborators, such as Lennie Niehaus, to assist in adapting, orchestrating, arranging, and conducting the score.

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For those who have heard Eastwood's music for Mystic River, then be aware that Million Dollar Baby is a step back from the instrumental usage of that score. For this new project, Eastwood relies on 25 musicians (23 string, one piano, and one acoustic guitar) to produce the necessary soundscape. To say that the attitude of the music is grim would be only partially true. If you were to describe this score as a chamber orchestra piece meant only for live performance on the small stage, then perhaps the work would be represent the season of autumn, longing for something past but also respectful of its own colors and future darkness. Eastwood's music is technically very simple --there are probably hundreds of college graduate students studying film music at this very moment who could write something more varied and complex-- but it seems to suffice to the degree that Eastwood figures he needs music. Basically repeating the same two common themes over and over for its entire length, the score for Million Dollar Baby is mundane in style and nearly devoid of spirit. Obviously, an early choice was made to avoid action material during fighting scenes. Strings perform with slow strokes without counterpoint, and the piano and guitar often contribute mostly in solo circumstances (the guitar, for instance, does not join the piano or strings for a full ensemble effect). That said, Eastwood accomplishes the basic respect that the music needs to be functional on a minimal level. Could it have been done better? Certainly, and the score does yearn for the more outward sensitivity that someone like Jerry Goldsmith could have balanced well with the cloudiness of the film had it existed ten years ago. It is uncertain whether Eastwood continues to score his own films because he truly enjoys writing music or, simply, to save money and time (though the former is likely the right answer). How do you judge the underdeveloped and minimally functional music of a man who is otherwise a fantastic producer, director, and actor? And to what extent should Niehaus and others be given credit for that music? Overall, Eastwood's talents writing underscore are sufficient, but technically obvious in their novice origins. The 29 minutes of stark, mundane score are overshadowed by two jazz/blues cuts written and performed by Eastwood's son Kyle (a well known musician in the New York jazz community) and his collaborator Michael Stevens. On album, the score is likely only of interest to people who were very closely touched by the film itself. **