Welcome to the James Horner Odyssey.
Those who have been with the forum as long as I have been know that my first major Odyssey was Hans Zimmer… and my second was James Horner. The Zimmer run had burnt me out and, though I love many of the man’s works, the quality was so disparate from album to album that I wasn’t sure if this whole score fanboy thing was for me.
But boy-oh-boy did I fall in love with film music over the course of the Horner Odyssey – it is because of him that I stayed with Filmtracks. He’s why I continue doing Odysseys all these years later. He and maestro Williams remain my two formative guys, and I suspect they will never be toppled.
Don’t go back and read the old Odyssey. I perused a few articles and decided it was best to not read anymore… because my voice as a writer had not fully formed yet, and the way I approached music was also more immature and childish. I made a bunch of rookie mistakes, like listening to the scores in a non-chronological order, which meant I could not appreciate the maturation of the man’s music. I also took on all of Horner’s filmography in one go, which exhausted me on his techniques… making me a lot more cranky and unforgiving of his style by the end.
As the years passed and I became more confident in my own voice and opinions, I began to regret doing Horner so early. I wished I had another chance to dive deep into his works and really do them justice. As I became close friends with other Scoreboarders like Nic and Craig, they encouraged me to “remake” my Odyssey. And with all the releases of his early works and expansions of others, now feels like the perfect time.
To prevent fatigue on his repetitious stylistic trademarks like the danger motif and that damn shakuhachi flute, my plan is to do this Odyssey in installments. For this “Volume,” I’ll cover everything from “The Lady in Red” all the way to “Krull,” then take a break for a short Odyssey or two before returning to tackle “Brainstorm” until “An American Tale,” then repeat that ‘til we reach “The Magnificent Seven.”
Okay, enough prologue. Let’s get started – this first article will cover his three scores for Roger Corman’s New World Pictures.
The Lady in Red
I had never heard of “The Lady in Red” prior to learning that it was the first feature scored by Horner, who had primarily been working on thesis projects for the American Film Institute Conservatory before “graduating” to Roger Corman’s New World Pictures.
1979’s “The Lady in Red” has nothing to do with the popular pop song by Chris De Burgh, which was released seven years later. Instead, it focuses on the woman in the red dress who accompanied infamous gangster John Dillinger to the movie theater where he was gunned down. Dillinger is an afterthought to the film, with Polly (Pamela Sue Martin, remembered mostly today as Nancy Drew) front and center. She grew up a poor farm girl who was beaten and molested by her father… until one day she is taken hostage during a bank robbery. Something changes in Polly, and she runs away – moving through her life unwilling to sit still and let men fuck her over – ultimately becoming a badass bank robber herself.
As I wrote, I had no idea what this film was and assumed it was one of the hundreds of interchangeable quickies made by New World during that era. Imagine my surprise to see it was written by the incredible John Sayles (“Matewan”) and featured excellent supporting turns by Louis Fletcher (only three years after winning her Oscar), Robert Forster and Christopher Lloyd. More than that, Quentin Tarantino has singled out “The Lady in Red” as a masterpiece many times, deeming it “the best exploitation film ever made.”
And friends, it is indeed wonderful. You can tell that it’s a bunch of talented filmmakers stretching every dollar of their nonexistent budget to make a gangster epic like none other. Polly’s character – and Martin’s portrayal – is outstanding and so ahead of its time. I highly recommend you check it out, because it deserves to be a minor classic of the ’70s, wiping the floor with big-studio crime dramas from that era that cost twenty times its budget. It’s on Peacock right now if you are curious about streaming it… which you should be.
I am so happy I watched the film for another reason – because it gave me much more context as to why Horner made the choices he made on his first project. The score was, obviously, unreleased for decades before Intrada finally premiered it earlier this year – less than a half hour of material for $23. Is it worth it? Fuck yes it is!
At first blush, the album appears to have multiple clashing styles that don’t add up together. First it appears to be an Americana-dripping love story, then a jazzy reinterpretation of the iconic song “42nd Street” by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, then a crime drama. But, watching the movie, they all make sense.
For Horner fans, the most interesting material is the main theme/love theme… which is great. It feels like Horner arrived as the Horner we know – it’s immediately identifiable as him. And that theme gets one heck of a workout on album… probably over a third of the half-hour of score is devoted to the theme, but it doesn’t get old because it’s so damn good. It also is central to the best cue on album: “Playing Baseball” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJH5np1UpgQ) which is one minute of pure musical bliss. Stunning stuff.
You might be thinking it’s odd that Horner composed such an innocent theme for the love affair between Polly and Dillinger, but within the context of the film and its importance to Polly’s journey, it’s the perfect move.
The second major section of “The Lady in Red” is the “42nd Street” of it all (were rights to the song the reason it was unreleased for so long?). Baffling without context, its inclusion is brilliant once you know that the first time we see Polly, she is singing it – a naïve young woman with big dreams to get to that street and perform. It tracks her journey through the film, with Horner almost haunting Polly with the melody as she loses pieces of her soul. During the chase climax as the heist goes wrong and another car chase involving Polly happens, Horner tragically reprises it to melodically bring the film full circle – and the results are emotionally impactful.
The more crime-centric suspense stuff, which begins in earnest with “Laying the Trap Part 1” is perfectly serviceable and appropriately jazzy considering the time period (nice horn work!), but nothing special. You won’t remember that stuff a few hours after you finish the album.
If you listen to the album without watching the film, it will probably rank about 2.5 stars for you – with its pretty love theme centering an otherwise tonally dubious work. And I must also admit that it will never be more than a minor footnote in Horner’s career. But damn it works beautifully in the movie itself, elevating scene after scene, which is why I am rating it so high below. The best case scenario is that you purchase the album, then watch the movie before listening.
Score: ***1/2
Humanoids From the Deep
If New World’s “The Lady in Red” was a pleasant surprise in almost every regard, the same company’s “Humanoid’s From the Deep” managed to be even worse than my low expectations. The plotline involves the titular creatures coming to land to rape and impregnate women… and then kill a bunch of people in gross ways. When original director Barbara Peeters didn’t shoot the rape sequences explicitly enough for Corman’s liking, he had second-unit director James Sbardellati perform reshoots, and the resulting sequences were so disgusting and graphic that the cast and crew all but rebelled, making public statements that they didn’t know about those moments.
If it all sounds gross and sleazy, it is… particularly the final moment, which sees the lone survivor of the rape pregnant and the child tearing its way out of her stomach. While I unabashedly recommend “The Lady in Red” to all readers, my recommendation here is to avoid it like the plague. The movie seems to have a slight cult following (Corman himself directed the made-for-television remake), but I can’t imagine why since nothing about it is fun… not even the gore effects.
It did, however, offer Horner a chance to cut his teeth on suspense and horror music. Now, right off the bat, the score ain’t great, and if you are just starting your journey into James Horner, there are about 70 scores I would recommend before this one. But as someone who already loves the man, this is a fascinating listen for a number of reasons.
Most notable among them is that you can see Horner trying out suspense technique after suspense technique, with most blatant rip-offs of other composers’ most popular and loved scores. He’s throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks: Jerry Goldsmith’s “Alien” and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” get generous “homages,” as does David Shire’s “The Conversation” and Bernard Herrmann’s “Psycho.” I’m sure I’m missing a bunch.
Are any of these rip-offs better than the originals? Hell no. But there are moments here that work very well and function as foundational bits of Horner’s oeuvre, most notably that anvil clank. In other words, the material might not be great, but it is often interesting… and that is something.
The strongest material remains the final three cues, which are the most melodic and raucous. They make a very good suite – mysterious, scary and also a little bit sci-fi.
Intrada released a new expansion late last year with many new cues and a re-mastering of an older release… and honestly you can pass on it. Most of the added cues are non-starters, and the change in quality doesn’t much matter considering that the material isn’t stellar to begin with. The original album (whose star rating is reflected below) is all you need concerning Horner’s music.
Score: **
Battle Beyond the Stars
With a budget of $2 million, “Battle Beyond the Stars” was the most expensive movie Corman had produced to that point, and became a giant hit for New World. It was a rip-off of both “Star Wars” and “The Seven Samurai,” but also really horny. “Samurai’s” director, Akira Kurosawa, also made “The Hidden Fortess,” which was the major inspiration for “Star Wars” – so the snake is definitely eating its own tail here.
John Sayles wrote the script, which is an elevator ride and several flights of steps down from “The Lady in Red.” James Cameron handled the sets and special effects, which are really, really fun. The main ship looks like ovaries, and the opening crawl along a giant spaceship (clearly lifted directly from the opening of “Star Wars”) is masterful. It really is just about the only thing to recommend in the project…
… aside from Horner’s score.
For his final film for New World, Horner pulled out all the stops and crafted a score of such bombast and volume that it couldn’t even be performed properly by its original orchestra. On the original recordings, you can hear brass players poop out in the middle of cues! In other words, Horner was take-no-prisoners “Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my close-up” in order to get onto higher budget levels and bigger movies.
And the results are a lot of fun. I see people complain a lot (myself included) that Horner didn’t score “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home” and didn’t get to complete that trilogy of music… but you don’t even have to squint at “Battle Beyond the Stars” to know it’s the unofficial third (first?) entry.
In fact, since Horner was ripping off several of Goldsmith’s techniques here from “Star Trek: The Motion Picture,” one could argue that this music could serve as a great bridge between the first “Star Trek” score and Horner’s second. The blaster beam effect from “Motion Picture” is here quite a bit, “Love Theme” might as well directly quote Goldsmith and “The Battle Begins” is clearly just “The Klingon Battle” but not quite as sharp.
Like “Humanoids From the Deep,” these rip-offs made me smile more than anything else. Plus, here they add to my narrative that this is a “Star Trek” score in everything but name. But unlike “Humanoids From the Deep,” this work has enough going on for itself that it pulls itself up and away from its copycat sections.
First off, it’s got a fucking awesome main theme, used brightly and loudly throughout the work. It’s a total earworm and a ton of fun. And it also has Horner writing complex action and fanfare material that is astonishing considering this is only his third major score. If you’re not named Patrick Doyle, great scores from the start like this simply don’t happen.
And of course, the techniques not lifted from “The Motion Picture” would simply find themselves prevalent in “The Wrath of Khan” – this score walked so that one could enter warp speed. Though I am being a little harsh in that metaphor… the nautical moments, the action sequences and the villainous twangs are all very good here, but just not quite as good as they would be in “Wrath of Khan.”
Am I being unfair by tying everything in “Battle Beyond the Stars” to “Star Trek”? Probably, but then again, the movie isn’t memorable in any other way, and this feels like a loving epilogue to my “Star Trek Odyssey” from last year. It’s a good, fun score that has become essential to anyone who loves that franchise’s music.
Intrada released the expansion last year with over 15 minutes of new music, most of which is very good, with the dual “Snipers, Fire!” and “Dr. Hephaestus’ Station” the best of the bunch. That may not be able to convince you that the $32 price tag is worth it, but technicians have also impressively managed to reduce the original recording errors (like those horn players pooping out) and make things sound much, much better. For me, it’s worth the investment.
Score: ****
The James Horner Odyssey
The Lady in Red - ***1/2
Humanoids From the Deep - **
Battle Beyond the Stars - ****
The Hand
Wolfen
Deadly Blessing
The Pursuit of D.B. Cooper
Rascals and Robbers: The Secret Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
48 Hrs.
Something Wicked This Way Comes
Krull
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