Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you seek a more melodramatic, instrumentally diverse, and thematically worthy follow-up to Bruce Broughton's famous score for Silverado. Avoid it... on the 2006 expanded edition if you are satisfied with the original 1993 album, because the additional material and improvement in sound quality is appreciable but not significant enough to replace the older product on your shelves. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Tombstone: (Bruce Broughton) When actor Kurt Russell decided in 1989 to make a film about Wyatt Earp, little did he know the trials that awaited him. Kevin Costner had already beaten Russell to the idea, but had failed to come to agreement with Tombstone writer Kevin Jarre (son of famed composer Maurice Jarre) about the inclusion of so many incidental characters in the plot. Costner thus sought director Lawrence Kasdan and they began production on Wyatt Earp, all the while using Costner's considerable influence at the time to harm Jarre and Tombstone's distribution chances. This, despite the fact that Russell had agreed to helm Tombstone and assemble a monumental cast to eclipse the most notable ensemble Western performances of prior years. Unfortunately for Russell, his cast and crew saw considerable turnover during production due to a variety of awkward reasons, and he employed director George P. Cosmatos to ghost-direct a film that was being rewritten on the set to accommodate changes in cast. The ambitious production featured Russell, Val Kilmer, Sam Elliott, and Bill Paxton in the lead roles while teasing audiences with supporting performances from Charlton Heston, Robert Mitchum, Harey Carey Jr., Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, Dana Delaney, and heartthrobs Jason Priestley and Billy Zane. Casualties of the production's difficulties were Glenn Ford and Willem Dafoe, the latter interestingly refused for the Doc Holliday role by the studio (Disney's Buena Vista) because of his involvement with The Last Temptation of Christ. The story did indeed suffer from fragmented attention because of Jarre's overblown script, but the usual Earp, Holliday, O.K. Corral scenarios were well enough executed (especially by Kilmer, surprisingly) to earn the film positive reviews. Russell had the last laugh over Costner, because Tombstone beat Wyatt Earp to theatres by six months and doubled its budget at the box office while the Costner endeavor was often forgotten as a financial disaster because of Waterworld not long after. Both films failed to capitalize on a genre that had run out of steam after Silverado, Dances With Wolves, and Unforgiven had expended audiences' tolerance of modern Westerns. For film score collectors, Tombstone had the benefit of composer Bruce Broughton's services, despite Silverado director Kasdan's involvement with Wyatt Earp, which went to James Newton Howard as part of his enduring collaboration with Costner. There are remarkable similarities between the approaches taken by Howard and Broughton towards their respective assignments, both using similar tones not traditional to the Western genre to avoid stereotypes. For Broughton, these specifically manifested in a cimbalom, tin whistle, bhodran, and contrabass sarrusophone. A massive trombone section emphasizing its lowest ranks also contributes to the relatively bass-heavy tone of Tombstone. The themes conjured by Broughton for this film are similar in robust construct to those of Silverado, though the composer has never again really captured the adventurous essence of that score's primary identity. In fact, comparisons to Silverado are inevitable in Broughton's many Western scores to follow his Academy Award nomination for the 1985 classic, none more so than Tombstone. The musical tone of the 1993 film is even darker in its material for the villains, though regardless of the composer's claims as to a substantially more menacing ambience in Tombstone, much of it does continue to exhibit either the wholesome or upbeat spirit of Silverado. Several major themes exist in the latter score, though their use isn't as flashy as the placements of the main theme in Silverado, so Tombstone relies on a steady stream of high quality material that spans greater emotional range to ensure its success. The title theme for Tombstone is a muscular identity ready for war, introduced in "Arrival in Tombstone" and largely absent from the score until the final cues. Fortunately, Broughton did record a concert arrangement of this theme alone for enjoyment on album. Of softer personality are the themes for Earp's family (expressed with exuberance in "A Family") and a replacement for the character of "Josephine." The "Arrival in Tombstone" cue is perhaps the most interesting expression of the score's theme, featuring some of the most prominent placements of the whistle and cimbalom. The evil "Cowboys" of the story are afforded growling, percussive rhythms heard immediately at the start of the score; this propulsive material is remarkably ominous in its metallic clanging effects and snarling pounding through the bass region and will remind of Alan Silvestri's action material at times. The remainder of the score often explores these ideas (arguably with the exception of the title theme) in interesting directions, a cue like "Fortuitous Encounter/Wyatt & Josephine" a welcome respite from the darker shades. While Tombstone is definitely at its best when reinforcing its thematic content, the middle sequences in the score do resort to more generic suspense techniques with strings and brooding passages of minimal volume. And, although much is made about the unusual specialty instrumentation added to the mix for this score, there is a fair amount of xylophone, wood block, and standard brass usage to make an enthusiast of the genre comfortable. The woodwind techniques in "The Town Marshall" are familiar as well. Some of the crescendos of agony in Tombstone definitely get your attention, however, with the duo of "Morgan's Murder" and "Morgan's Death" applying ultra-melodramatic brass layers and timpani pounding over clanging chimes that is reminiscent of John Williams' Star Wars music. During the action sequences, Broughton isn't afraid to lay on the cymbals in constant crashes and rolls as well, highlighting "Finishing It" with an unmistakable sense of victory. Overall, some of the middle sections of Tombstone are a bit generic in the mass of Broughton's career, but there is more than enough thematic interest in the opening and closing thirds of the score to heartily recommend it on album. Broughton was also proud of his original music for the traveling theatre group in the film, offering something of a slight carnival atmosphere in its pompous little overture. Ultimately, however, Tombstone will appeal to Silverado enthusiasts no matter the attempts made by Broughton to distinguish the later score. The similarities between them are simply too great to ignore, and while many of the composer's subsequent Western works would be dismissed because they couldn't rival Silverado's legacy, Tombstone comes satisfyingly close. The Intrada Records label has always been loyal to Broughton's work and has presented multiple versions of both scores through the years. The initial Intrada release of Tombstone at the time of the film's debut offers the 66 essential minutes of music from the score, but includes only one of the Fabian theatre group pieces. An expanded edition from the label in 2006, pressed without a limit in quantity, added twenty minutes and remastered the whole. The follow-up set does indeed sound better, though not significantly so, and the handful of incidental, short additions to the score are, with the possible exception of "No More Curly Bill," not particularly interesting. The second CD does provide alternate takes and the theatre source cues, amounting to 14 minutes (dominated by the concert arrangement of the title theme). Unless you are deeply in love with this score, the original 1993 album should suffice if you already have it in your collection. **** Track Listings (1993 Intrada Album):
Total Time: 66:11
Track Listings (2006 Intrada Album):
Total Time: 86:56
All artwork and sound clips from Tombstone are Copyright © 1993, 2006, Intrada Records (Original Issue), Intrada Records (2-CD Set). 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 5/28/10, updated 5/28/10. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 2010-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
1993 Intrada