 |
|
|
|
|
 |
Composed, Orchestrated, Conducted, and Co-Produced by:
|
Bruce Broughton
|
Co-Produced by:
|
Douglass Fake
|
|
|
|
|
Release Date:
|
December, 2002
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Availability:
Limited release, available only through the label and other online soundtrack specialty outlets.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if Broughton's light and fluffy Western side appeals to your
appreciation of easy listening experiences.
Avoid it... if you fear that too much of that sound on a long album can
deflate the effectiveness of the work as a whole.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
 |
| | Broughton | |
|
Mark Twain's Roughing It: (Bruce Broughton) A lovable
Hallmark Entertainment film, director Charles Smith's depiction of both Mark
Twain's younger and older personas offers an expansive glimpse at the life
of Samuel Clemens. Staying true to many of the facts of Clemens' life, the
film tells the tall tales of Clemens' youth through the adaptation of his
own autobiographical novel. He delivers these stories in the film from the
perspective of the 1891 Clemens while speaking at the graduating ceremony of
his daughter's school class. The success of Clemens' writing career (as Mark
Twain) is sustained mainly because of his ability to relate history in a
comical fashion, and the film offers the visual representations of many of
these comedy routines that Clemens was a part of during his own lifetime. As
wholesome entertainment, Mark Twain's Roughing It is a lighthearted
and fluffy work set mostly in the Wild West, as Clemens' journeys took him
to California in search for adventure and story inspiration. Composer Bruce
Broughton is widely regarded as the scoring industry's foremost expert on
Western genre music in the 1990's and beyond. Since his Academy Award
nomination for Silverado established him as a Western guru in the
mid-1980's, Broughton has embraced the genre for projects both large and
small. His willingness to provide superior music for television films in
particular has led to a prolific career in these regards. Roughing It
would be a perfect match for Broughton, who initially was swamped with other
scoring assignments when approached for this picture. His enthusiasm for the
project, however, would cause him to accept the challenge. There was a large
amount of music required for Roughing It, and Broughton managed to
squeak through and finish the project with a positive attitude and a whole
lot of Western film music.
Broughton's enthusiasm shows through in his work for
Roughing It. The film's hearty spirit is mirrored perfectly by
Broughton, who responds with a score that is perhaps the most upbeat Western
of his career. Three primary themes are offered for the older Clemens, the
younger Clemens and his family, as well as the journey to the West. All
three themes feature a simple, major key construct that represents the
simple lifestyles and upbeat attitudes of those with whom Clemens was
involved. None of the themes bursts onto the screen with the same power and
motivation that Broughton's best works have exhibited, but they do establish
an effective mood for the comedy and drama. Everything is straight-forward
Americana, with the Sinfonia of London performing with a slight skip in the
step and rarely a foul note. The evil character of the plot, Slade, is
scored with a few tints of electronic accompaniment to a more dreary
orchestra during a handful of cues, but given the monumental length of
Broughton's score, such material has little effect on the overall attitude
of the score. As the score progresses, the latter scenes of the film
required a more sensitive and less comical touch. Broughton handles these
with softer, more delicate performances by single woodwinds. There is little
rugged action material in Roughing It, instead, loftier moments in
the film are handled with slapstick rhythms. The light, bouncing Western
themes introduced at the outset of Roughing It are by far its
life-blood, and on album, the music's length causes these themes to become
overextended and nearly lost (until a finale restatement of the theme in the
37th track). Occasionally, too much music can be pressed onto an album, and
this may be the case with Roughing It. With nearly 40 cues and over
75 minutes of pure Broughton material, some of the hearty spirit exhibited
early on the album is lost by the end. Nevertheless, the limited, special
edition album by Intrada Records (the ninth in their series of ten so far)
is a welcome addition to their vast collection of Broughton works presented
on album. ***
 |
|
Viewer Ratings and Comments:
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
• 1. Nervous Preparation (1:50)
• 2. The Clemens Brothers (1:27)
• 3. The Adventure Begins (1:36)
• 4. Hearing About Slade (0:42)
• 5. Indian Mail Drop (2:06)
• 6. The Prize Cow (1:11)
• 7. Pony Express Rider (1:17)
• 8. Mama's Hopes (2:43)
• 9. Slade and the Barkeep (2:38)
• 10. Bandits! (1:54)
• 11. Slade's District (1:33)
• 12. Considering a Plan (2:42)
• 13. This is Slade (4:31)
• 14. Feeling Lucky (1:05)
• 15. Sam Moves On (1:29)
• 16. Walking Nevada (1:12)
• 17. The Critters are Loose (1:14)
• 18. Meet Mr. Balloo (0:47)
• 19. Under Way (2:07)
| |
• 20. In the Drink (0:44)
• 21. Silver and Snow (1:01)
• 22. Fresh Tracks (3:08)
• 23. Confessions (5:05)
• 24. Reneging on Redemption (1:33)
• 25. Attacked! (1:03)
• 26. My Luck Was Gone (3:02)
• 27. Drifting (1:08)
• 28. Louise's Poetry (1:01)
• 29. Visions of Louise (1:20)
• 30. The Louise Story (3:07)
• 31. Sam Reevaluated (0:46)
• 32. Music on Wealth (2:08)
• 33. Orion's Ill (1:26)
• 34. Talking to Orion (2:11)
• 35. Orion Recovers (2:54)
• 36. Stupidigration (3:28)
• 37. Peroration (2:04)
• 38. End Credits (1:58)
|
The insert includes detailed notes about the score and film.
|
