The previous entries in this series can be found below.

Part 1: https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=139461

===========================

No Man’s Land (1987)



In the same year that Poledouris scored a little Sci-Fi action-thriller called Robocop he also worked on a Not-Walter Hill-Film-But-It-Wants-To-Be called No Man’s Land. Ever heard of it? Probably not, but it has a decent cast including Charlie Sheen, D.B Sweeney, Randy Quaid (before going completely nuts) and Lara Harris plus a script by Dick Wolf (Law & Order TV franchise). Oh yeah, the story… young undercover cop (Sweeney) teams up with a hotshot car thief (Sheen) who “only steals Porsches”. The film royally bombed at the box office and now seems to only be a footnote for two things: Brad Pitt has an uncredited screen appearance and the story is apparently very similar to The Fast and the Furious (2001). Go figure.



As for Poledouris’ score, it’s a largely synth-Pop affair with some brass work and other instruments thrown in to add depth to the soundscape. Really making the “we want to do a Walter Hill flick” vibe obvious is the primary theme (“Main Title”) that’s a blatant lift of James Horner’s contemporary thriller sound that he (in)famously used in 48 Hrs, Gorky Park and Commando complete with the keyboard runs and primary melody over all the chaotic drum pads. Of equal oddity is the “Love Theme” which comes off more like a suspense motif than anything with a swirling, Herrmann-esque melody that never really resolves itself. Despite the VERY late 80’s tone of everything (there’s even electric guitar here!!), No Man’s Land is still entertaining enough in its own highly dated way. 



Fans of Poledouris in epic action or swooning romance mode need not apply here, though it is interesting to hear someone else trying to do that James Horner contemporary thriller sound besides… well, Horner himself. I’m honestly a bit torn on a final rating for this one, so I think I’ll be a bit generous with the caveat that if you really can’t stand dated synth scores, then round down.



SCORE:

2 1/2 out of 5



———————



Amerika (1987)



If this was a video essay series I’d be highly tempted to start this off with a clip of “This is America by Childish Gambino. So, be glad this is all in text.



If Red Dawn was a bit too positive for you in its Cold War paranoia, here’s your perfect miniseries: a 14 plus hour show about life in the former United States of America after the Russians have taken over. Another 80’s TV production with a caliber cast including Kris Kristofferson, Sam Neil, Robert Ulrich, Dorian Harwood and a pre-Twin Peaks Lara Flynn Boyle amongst others with directing & writing credit to Donald Wrye (he of Fire on the Mountain from earlier in the decade) and cinematography by Hiro Narita (The Rocketeer, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). Airing on ABC in late Feb. 1987, Amerika was a highly controversial show as one might expect but ultimately only did so-so numbers for the network even with all the hoopla around its production and airing. It’s probably telling that until doing this composer journey I’d never heard of this unlike the other two major Cold War paranoia productions of the 80’s: The Day After and Red Dawn.



On the musical side of things Wrye re-teamed with Poledouris after their collaboration on Fire on the Mountain with the production budget of Amerika allowing the composer to the record with the Hollywood Studio Symphony, a major step up from the chamber group used for Fire…. The end result is a combination of the Americana spirit that Poledouris used in Fire… and would revisit for his upcoming Westerns with an incredibly morose overall personality that never really goes off into either action nor ethnically Russian territories. Thematically we have several identities running around from a primary theme (“Main Titles”), a character specific one for “Alethea” and a rather rousing idea heard in “Squatters (The Homeless)” and “The Homeless March”, ironically enough. While Poledouris rotates through his various themes and motifs, most of the thematic material just kinda blurs together in a melodramatic pile that stylistically bounces between Poledouris’ own mannerisms and blatant John Barry influences (especially in the second half).



Ultimately this is another hard score to finally rank. The heavy, morose melodrama personality of the score is appropriate and does deliver some gorgeous moments (“Dieter’s View”, “Devin’s Return”) but after two full listens if you asked me to hum any of the themes… I couldn’t. Also adding to the frustration here is that both sides of the musical story (American resistance to Russia & personal melodrama) had and would be done FAR better by the composer in Red Dawn a few years earlier and Les Miserables (1998) in the following decade. So yeah, I’m still going to give this a decent rating because it is well done and worth hearing at least once (especially if you love Basil’s Les Mis) but just know that your going into a very morose hour or so of music with a frustratingly muddled thematic structure.



SCORE:

3/5



————————



Cherry 2000 (1988)



So, fun (maybe?) tidbit: I’ve known the title of this film for over two decades thanks to looking up soundtrack reviews in my early teens and seeing this alongside other Poledouris works such as Robocop, Conan, Starship Troopers, etc. that I knew about. Had never looked into what, exactly, Cherry 2000 was until just a little while ago when listening to the album for the first time. Man, Orion and Canon really cornered the market on weird, campy yet oddly ambitious genre productions in the 1980’s, didn’t they?



So anyway, for those like me that never bothered to dig deeper into what a “Cherry 2000” was/is, let me esplain… no, there is too much. Let me sum up: this is a Sci-Fi/Western/Comedy flick where in the distant future of 2017 (heh…) a young man (David Andrews) sets out on a quest to retrieve a replacement companion/sex bot of his favorite model from The Wasteland… a Cherry 2000. Oh and Melanie Griffith is along for the ride as a bounty hunter/scout. Yeah, it’s definitely a “welp, THAT’S from the 80’s…” type of thing. As one can probably imagine the film came and went with its only lasting legacy seeming to be the poster of a bazooka toting, cleavage bearing Melanie Griffith and the knowledge that Basil Poledouris did the music. These two things are not equal, mind you. 



As for the music, this is probably the most Jerry Goldsmith sounding thing from Poledouris I’ve heard thus far. From the retro Western vibe to the array of synth sounds and textures, Cherry feels like a love letter to Goldsmith, though Clem keeps mention Morricone in his review which perhaps I haven’t heard enough from him but… yeah, this has Goldsmith written all over it to my ears. The whole thing is centered around a lovely, if cheesy, love theme (“Main Titles”) that recalls a stripped down (heh…) Blue Lagoon while the real standout is a secondary, galloping adventure theme derived from the main melody of the Love theme (“Photograb”). This secondary theme is worth the price of admission alone and Poledouris seems to be having fun with the idea whenever he pulls it out. There’s also a villain theme that pops up a few times with a synth bass line that recalls Goldsmith’s thriller works particularly First Blood.



While the performance of the Hungarian orchestra can be lacking in depth or polish at several points, the ensemble performs the music with vigor which helps a lot as well as Poledouris liberal augmentation with assorted synths. Despite some nearly-too-much zaniness in the middle, Cherry 2000 was a very nice surprise and a score I’d strongly recommend to most. It’s not Top Tier Poledouris, but it is the composer clearly having a blast with a bozo little film and delivering a highly entertaining score as a result.



SCORE:

3 1/2 out of 5



Side Note:

I’m not entirely sure which album I ended up listening to. It was a “fan upload” of the entire album in one video and checking with Clem’s review… I think it was the Prometheus release? Maybe? The runtime seems to match up without including the extras. There’s also a slightly shorter album (19 tracks) currently on iTunes, though I have idea where it’s sourced from as all it says is “MGM Music” copyright (same thing with some other Poledouris titles on that service…).

> a 14 plus hour show
> about life in the former United States of America after the Russians have
> taken over.

Too soon.

> 

Cherry 2000 (1988)



This movie is a minor classic. The director's only other feature, Miracle Mile, is a bona fide classic. The lead actors are terrible here, and also have no chemistry, but De Jarnatt truly excelled at world building with the details instead of with exposition and this movie is so excellent in that regard, and so prescient in so many of its ideas (alienation from other people in the face of social connection with devices; late-stage capital collapse with urban centers hanging on while the rule of law ends just out of town), I really love it. Plus, y'know, 80s colors. Most of the action kind of stinks, but at least it's real people in real locations and not digital goo, but there's one truly awesome set piece (truly stupid, too, but awesome) involving a car dangling from a magnet (just how many films with cars hanging from magnets did Poledouris score in 1987, anyway?) above a ravine while stunt doubles hang off it with people shooting bullets and rpgs at them. Music is a blast in context, at least when they're outside of the rule of law. AHITF, some of the early music sounds weirdly like the Supergirl music reimagined for soft porn.

> Amerika (1987)

I'm much higher on this one than you are. The secondary themes get a little lost in the shuffle, but this is a consistently solid blending of Poledouris' orchestral drama and synthetic thriller sounds, and the title theme rules even if it (appropriately) isn't exactly the most rousing thing. ****1/2

I do wonder if your reaction is somewhat a function of trying to collect 75 minutes of highlights across 14.5 hours of television. But then I also have no idea how much good music was left off the album.

> 

Cherry 2000 (1988)



Oh boy...

***** for me. There is nothing else like this one. A handful of source cues should generally be programmed out, but the score portions rule.

Richard Kraft wrote an amusing paragraph about the process of finding the tone for this score as part of a longer remembrance of Basil - https://perspectiveforum.net/2016/05/22/finding-family-with-basil-poledouris/

> 
Side Note: 
I’m not entirely sure which album I ended up listening to. It was a “fan upload” of the entire album in one video and checking with Clem’s review… I think it was the Prometheus release? Maybe? The runtime seems to match up without including the extras. There’s also a slightly shorter album (19 tracks) currently on iTunes, though I have idea where it’s sourced from as all it says is “MGM Music” copyright (same thing with some other Poledouris titles on that service…).

I think the Apple Music album you mentioned is legit, though I have no idea why it's shorter than the three previous CD releases.

Still, it's an improvement over the digital/streaming version of Amerika which has a cover that doesn't even spell the composer's name correctly!

> I'm much higher on this one than you are. The secondary themes get a
> little lost in the shuffle, but this is a consistently solid blending of
> Poledouris' orchestral drama and synthetic thriller sounds, and the title
> theme rules even if it (appropriately) isn't exactly the most rousing
> thing. ****1/2

> I do wonder if your reaction is somewhat a function of trying to collect
> 75 minutes of highlights across 14.5 hours of television. But then I also
> have no idea how much good music was left off the album.

So, funny enough, I think if the album was actually shorter and consisted more of the thematic statements and melding of themes, I'd give it a higher rating. The 70-odd minute presentation just kinda causes everything to get lost for me after awhile. Also this could very easily be a case where watching the show greatly enhances my appreciation of the score, which has happened with some other works that I was so-so towards on album at first.

That said, not sure I want to commit to the 14 1/2 hour series.

> Oh boy...

> ***** for me. There is nothing else like this one. A handful of source
> cues should generally be programmed out, but the score portions rule.

If it makes you (and Riley) feel any better, Cherry is a high 3.5/5 for me that could easily go up at a later date. For me currently it's just not as great as Blue Lagoon, Whale for the Killing, Conan, Robocop, Starship Troopers, Les Mis, Flesh + Blood, etc.... yet.

> Richard Kraft wrote an amusing paragraph about the process of finding the
> tone for this score as part of a longer remembrance of Basil -
> https://perspectiveforum.net/2016/05/22/finding-family-with-basil-poledouris/

Ah ha! So I was right that there's a Goldsmith Western influence!! Also that's a very sweet, insightful remembrance of Basil. He sounds like he was a really great guy.

> I think the Apple Music album you mentioned is legit, though I have no
> idea why it's shorter than the three previous CD releases.

> Still, it's an improvement over the digital/streaming version of
> Amerika which has a cover that doesn't even spell the composer's
> name correctly!

*checks*

Good grief, they did misspell his name!! XDD

> The previous entries in this series can be found below.

> Part 1:
> https://www.filmtracks.com/scoreboard/forum.cgi?read=139461

> ===========================

> No Man’s Land (1987)

> 

In the same year that Poledouris scored a little Sci-Fi
> action-thriller called Robocop he also worked on a Not-Walter
> Hill-Film-But-It-Wants-To-Be called No Man’s Land. Ever heard of
> it? Probably not, but it has a decent cast including Charlie Sheen, D.B
> Sweeney, Randy Quaid (before going completely nuts) and Lara Harris plus a
> script by Dick Wolf (Law & Order TV franchise). Oh yeah, the
> story… young undercover cop (Sweeney) teams up with a hotshot car thief
> (Sheen) who “only steals Porsches”. The film royally bombed at the box
> office and now seems to only be a footnote for two things: Brad Pitt has
> an uncredited screen appearance and the story is apparently very
> similar to The Fast and the Furious (2001). Go
> figure.



> As for Poledouris’ score, it’s a largely synth-Pop affair with some brass
> work and other instruments thrown in to add depth to the soundscape.
> Really making the “we want to do a Walter Hill flick” vibe obvious is the
> primary theme (“Main Title”) that’s a blatant lift of James
> Horner’s contemporary thriller sound that he (in)famously used in 48
> Hrs, Gorky Park and Commando complete with the keyboard
> runs and primary melody over all the chaotic drum pads. Of equal oddity is
> the “Love Theme” which comes off more like a suspense motif than
> anything with a swirling, Herrmann-esque melody that never really resolves
> itself. Despite the VERY late 80’s tone of everything (there’s even
> electric guitar here!!), No Man’s Land is still entertaining enough
> in its own highly dated way. 



> Fans of Poledouris in epic action or swooning romance mode need not apply
> here, though it is interesting to hear someone else trying to do that
> James Horner contemporary thriller sound besides… well, Horner himself.
> I’m honestly a bit torn on a final rating for this one, so I think I’ll be
> a bit generous with the caveat that if you really can’t stand dated synth
> scores, then round down.



> SCORE:

> 2 1/2 out of 5

Not only have I heard of this movie, I actually own the bluray!....never seen it though, just looked like good cheesy fun. Had no idea Poledouris did the score.

> 

———————



> Amerika (1987)

> 

If this was a video essay series I’d be highly tempted to
> start this off with a clip of “This is America by Childish Gambino.
> So, be glad this is all in text.

> 

If Red Dawn was a bit too positive for you in its
> Cold War paranoia, here’s your perfect miniseries: a 14 plus hour show
> about life in the former United States of America after the Russians have
> taken over. Another 80’s TV production with a caliber cast including Kris
> Kristofferson, Sam Neil, Robert Ulrich, Dorian Harwood and a pre-Twin
> Peaks Lara Flynn Boyle amongst others with directing & writing
> credit to Donald Wrye (he of Fire on the Mountain from earlier in
> the decade) and cinematography by Hiro Narita (The Rocketeer,
> Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country). Airing on ABC in late Feb.
> 1987, Amerika was a highly controversial show as one might expect
> but ultimately only did so-so numbers for the network even with all the
> hoopla around its production and airing. It’s probably telling that until
> doing this composer journey I’d never heard of this unlike the other two
> major Cold War paranoia productions of the 80’s: The Day After and
> Red Dawn.



> On the musical side of things Wrye re-teamed with Poledouris after their
> collaboration on Fire on the Mountain with the production budget of
> Amerika allowing the composer to the record with the Hollywood
> Studio Symphony, a major step up from the chamber group used for
> Fire…. The end result is a combination of the Americana spirit that
> Poledouris used in Fire… and would revisit for his upcoming
> Westerns with an incredibly morose overall personality that never really
> goes off into either action nor ethnically Russian territories.
> Thematically we have several identities running around from a primary
> theme (“Main Titles”), a character specific one for
> “Alethea” and a rather rousing idea heard in “Squatters (The
> Homeless)” and “The Homeless March”, ironically enough. While
> Poledouris rotates through his various themes and motifs, most of the
> thematic material just kinda blurs together in a melodramatic pile that
> stylistically bounces between Poledouris’ own mannerisms and blatant John
> Barry influences (especially in the second half).



> Ultimately this is another hard score to finally rank. The heavy, morose
> melodrama personality of the score is appropriate and does deliver some
> gorgeous moments (“Dieter’s View”, “Devin’s Return”) but
> after two full listens if you asked me to hum any of the themes… I
> couldn’t. Also adding to the frustration here is that both sides of the
> musical story (American resistance to Russia & personal melodrama) had
> and would be done FAR better by the composer in Red Dawn a few
> years earlier and Les Miserables (1998) in the following decade. So
> yeah, I’m still going to give this a decent rating because it is
> well done and worth hearing at least once (especially if you love Basil’s
> Les Mis) but just know that your going into a very morose hour or so of
> music with a frustratingly muddled thematic structure.



> SCORE:

> 3/5

Way too low, you wack!

> 

————————

> 

Cherry 2000 (1988)



> So, fun (maybe?) tidbit: I’ve known the title of this film for over two
> decades thanks to looking up soundtrack reviews in my early teens and
> seeing this alongside other Poledouris works such as Robocop,
> Conan, Starship Troopers, etc. that I knew about. Had never
> looked into what, exactly, Cherry 2000 was until just a
> little while ago when listening to the album for the first time. Man,
> Orion and Canon really cornered the market on weird, campy yet oddly
> ambitious genre productions in the 1980’s, didn’t they?



> So anyway, for those like me that never bothered to dig deeper into what a
> “Cherry 2000” was/is, let me esplain… no, there is too much. Let me sum
> up: this is a Sci-Fi/Western/Comedy flick where in the distant future of
> 2017 (heh…) a young man (David Andrews) sets out on a quest to retrieve a
> replacement companion/sex bot of his favorite model from The Wasteland… a
> Cherry 2000. Oh and Melanie Griffith is along for the ride as a bounty
> hunter/scout. Yeah, it’s definitely a “welp, THAT’S from the 80’s…” type
> of thing. As one can probably imagine the film came and went with its only
> lasting legacy seeming to be the poster of a bazooka toting, cleavage
> bearing Melanie Griffith and the knowledge that Basil Poledouris did the
> music. These two things are not equal, mind you. 



> As for the music, this is probably the most Jerry Goldsmith sounding thing
> from Poledouris I’ve heard thus far. From the retro Western vibe to the
> array of synth sounds and textures, Cherry feels like a love letter
> to Goldsmith, though Clem keeps mention Morricone in his review which
> perhaps I haven’t heard enough from him but… yeah, this has Goldsmith
> written all over it to my ears. The whole thing is centered around a
> lovely, if cheesy, love theme (“Main Titles”) that recalls a
> stripped down (heh…) Blue Lagoon while the real standout is a
> secondary, galloping adventure theme derived from the main melody of the
> Love theme (“Photograb”). This secondary theme is worth the price
> of admission alone and Poledouris seems to be having fun with the idea
> whenever he pulls it out. There’s also a villain theme that pops up a few
> times with a synth bass line that recalls Goldsmith’s thriller works
> particularly First Blood.



> While the performance of the Hungarian orchestra can be lacking in depth
> or polish at several points, the ensemble performs the music with vigor
> which helps a lot as well as Poledouris liberal augmentation with assorted
> synths. Despite some nearly-too-much zaniness in the middle, Cherry
> 2000 was a very nice surprise and a score I’d strongly recommend to
> most. It’s not Top Tier Poledouris, but it is the composer clearly
> having a blast with a bozo little film and delivering a highly
> entertaining score as a result.



> SCORE:

> 3 1/2 out of 5


Way too low, you wack!

> 
Side Note:
> 
I’m not entirely sure which album I ended up listening to. It was a
> “fan upload” of the entire album in one video and checking with Clem’s
> review… I think it was the Prometheus release? Maybe? The runtime
> seems to match up without including the extras. There’s also a slightly
> shorter album (19 tracks) currently on iTunes, though I have idea where
> it’s sourced from as all it says is “MGM Music” copyright (same thing with
> some other Poledouris titles on that service…).

....you wack :P

great write up bud

> Not only have I heard of this movie, I actually own the bluray!....never
> seen it though, just looked like good cheesy fun. Had no idea Poledouris
> did the score.

Oh, cool! Whenever you watch it you'll have to let me (us) know how it is and how Basil's score is in-context.

> Way too low, you wack!

> Way too low, you wack!

> ....you wack :P

> great write up bud

Calling me names thrice and then complimenting my writing. The internet in nutshell.