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Radio Flyer: (Hans Zimmer) If you want to study about a
film that definitely should never have been made, then
Radio Flyer is
your case in point. It's hard to think how director Richard Donner couldn't
see the writing on the wall, but the screenplay for
Radio Flyer by
David Mickey Evans was passed around Hollywood with extremely high interest,
and Donner took it upon himself to bring this terrible fantasy tale of child
abuse to the big screen. Donner's first film being
The Omen was
perhaps some indication at the time that the director could take any film
about a troubled child and make it into a classic. Unfortunately,
Radio
Flyer falls into the trap of an impossible reality: a mother of two
children remarries an abusive alcoholic, but she doesn't know that he is
beating the younger son. Having seen another child attempt to fly on his
Radio Flyer wagon (and being crippled by it), the two brothers decide that
the only way to escape the abuse is to build their own flying wagon and
attempt to have the beaten brother fly away to safety. The whole film exists
in this fantasy world, balancing the horrors of his beatings with the
imagination of flight that is the boys' goal. The older brother tells the
story some years later, and despite the film's glossy, misleading ending
(which indicates that the escape was not only possible, but the flight
actually happens), the brother dies in the attempt. It's a hideous,
malformed story that had millions pumped into its making, and Hollywood
remembers it as one of the most fiscally disastrous projects of all time (as
of 1992). Composer Hans Zimmer was building his fame in giant leaps and
bounds in 1992, and took on the project with a sense of challenge since
children's scores were a new avenue for him. The problem with the film and
score, however, is how the music would be approached. Would the score mirror
the horrors of the abuse? Or would it exist solely in the fantasy world of
the boys?
Zimmer and Donner would argue about the approach throughout
the scoring process ("We fight like nobody's business. He can take it, and I
can take it," Zimmer stated during the recording sessions) about how
child-like the score would actually be. "So as a composer I have to evoke
childhood," Zimmer said, "but you can't do that by being childish about the
music. As soon as you do that it doesn't mean anything to them. They just
think you're being childish by intellectualizing it." The resulting score is
consistently fluffy and positive in its atmosphere, with only occasional,
rumbling sidebars in the darker moments. On the whole, Zimmer's score is
undeniably charming, happy, and lovable. Unfortunately, some critics would
dismiss the score right there as a total loss, because it got caught up in
Donner's ill-fated attempt to gloss over the topic of child abuse. On it's
own, however, the score has considerable merits. Zimmer wasn't sure if he
could be successful at writing upbeat children's music, but he managed to
impress himself by his own ability to do it. The score is thematic,
extremely pretty in parts, with heartwarming rhythms of excitement that
could invite you to run outside and skip down the street like you are a kid
again. Portions of the score even become silly, reminding the listener of
Jerry Goldsmith's accomplished works in the genre (pieces of
Dennis the
Menace and
Mom and Dad Save the World will come to mind;
Goldsmith was in that phase of his career in the early 1990's as well).
Adventurous rhythms in
Radio Flyer are more innocent variations of
similar ideas in
Muppet Treasure Island. A hugely orchestral
recording, Zimmer accents his orchestra with some mild electronics and
soloists on harmonica, pan pipes, piano, and clarinet. The pipes in
particular will give you goose bumps with their elegance. Some cues border
on the carnivalesque (with even a few Randy Newman rhythms), but the
constant tingling of the fantasy environment often pulls the wishy-washy
parts of the score into line. If anything, the score could possibly irritate
the listener with its shiny optimism, and if those Goldsmith scores above
aren't your cup of tea, then stay away from
Radio Flyer.
There are some darker moments in
Radio Flyer that
need mentioning. Zimmer does slip into near tragedy mode at times, but
always maintains the cue from the perspective of a child. The "Lost Secrets"
cue is of particular interest, with a beating heart underneath a music box,
leading to the snare drum quickly imitating the cocking of a gun, a bass
drum signaling the gunshot, and an overwhelmingly solemn solo boy's voice
performing a tragic melody that would make Danny Elfman proud. A few similar
moments slow the steadily optimistic progression of the score, but if you
didn't know that
Radio Flyer is a horrible tale of child abuse, you
won't know it from this score. The film's premise is so offensive to some
people that the score's fluffy approach is an equally offensive part of that
sour taste. If you're among that crowd, then perhaps this review by itself
could taint the score for you. Otherwise, if you've never heard of the film
and are a Zimmer collector who stumbles upon this CD, it could be an
extremely wonderful listening experience for you. It is probably the
pinnacle of Zimmer's children-film writing, and it comes at a time when
Zimmer not only wrote most of his scores by himself, but also relied more
heavily on the orchestra over his electronics. The album has been out of
print since the mid-1990's (when the label ceased to exist), and although it
is difficult to find, it is not overwhelmingly expensive once you do find
it. Like the promotion for the film in 1992, the album was produced in
decent numbers, so don't overpay for it. It is tempting to rate this score
very poorly as it was heard in the film, but Donner is far more to blame
than Zimmer, who became very cynical about the project by its completion. As
a standalone piece,
Radio Flyer on album is a very enjoyable score.
It is arranged into three inconvenient, long suites by Zimmer, and followed
by an unrelated source song. For Zimmer fans, the album is highly
recommended. For Zimmer fans or otherwise, the film itself cannot be
recommended at any level, and should rightfully be boycotted if you are
among those who seek serious messages about child abuse.
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| Bias Check: | For Hans Zimmer reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.09 (in 78 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.13
(in 244,629 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes information about Zimmer, the Donners, and the film.