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| Isham |
42: (Mark Isham) It's impossible to consider
yourself a fan of the game of baseball without knowing about the legacy
of Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player to reach the major
leagues of the sport. His challenging but triumphant ascendance to the
Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 opened the doors for countless other minority
players in subsequent years, and Robinson's jersey number, 42, was
eventually retired for all teams in baseball. It's astonishing to look
back at the ridicule and scorn that he faced from even his own teammates
during the events shown in this film, representing some of the best and
worst moments that the sport has experienced. With consultation from
Robinson's still living wife and players on his teams, the 2013 movie
42 was crafted with the intention of providing a true depiction
of the man and the pivotal events that led up to and included the
breaking of the color barrier in baseball. Some dramatic liberties were
taken with the lead character, and there are a handful of somewhat
careless errors in the historical aspects of the story, but for the most
part, reactions to the film were very positive. While
42 is not
expected to join the ranks of the historical sports genre greats, it did
turn a good profit at the box office and provided an aging Harrison Ford
with a notably believable and affable role as the executive of the
Dodgers who shepherded Robinson to the majors. There is no doubt that
42 strives to embody the baseball and apple pie sense of
Americana that has made the sport's history so rich with "pastime"
definitions, and although composer Mark Isham is known to many
movie-goers as an artist most adept at maintaining extremely troubled
soundscapes for horror and other dark genre topics, he has also
meandered through some very patriotic assignments through the years.
Most comparisons will be made between
42 and
Miracle, the
latter representing America's breakthrough hockey win in the 1980
Olympics. Though valid to a degree, Isham reaches back to the homely
melodrama of
Fly Away Home and
October Sky to a greater
degree, resisting the flashier orchestral heroics (until the end) but
instead opting for wholesome ambient weight. A topic such as Robinson's
achievements is difficult to score because no viewer wants to have the
music driven home in too obvious a fashion; after all, this isn't a
fantasy film like
The Natural. That said, Isham does build to
those Randy Newman levels of pomp at the conclusion of
42.
For some listeners, there may be a degree of
disappointment with the fact that Isham chooses a very safe and humble
road in
42. There are three facets to most of the score's length,
none of which really reaching out and grabbing the attention of the
listener despite being competent to the task at hand for each part. The
score opens with its most expected element: respectful, thoughtful
Americana ambience. Isham's solo trumpet performances (reportedly not
his own this time) are a highlight of the work, but unfortunately they
are diminished for most of the score and replaced at times with far more
subtle woodwind tones. The dark side of
42, whether manifested in
troubled contemplation or outward confrontation, is addressed by the
ominous whole notes of low strings, an anonymous but effective
technique. The most exuberant portions of the score are those in
"Jackie's Style of Baseball," "Jackie Steals," and a few others; these
upbeat violin and piano-led sequences offer the rhythmic flow of
Fly
Away Home and are sadly too infrequent in the score to counter the
stoic personality of the remainder. As the work progresses, the
Americana part of the equation exerts itself in fuller orchestral
performances, "Rachel is Pregnant" heralding a feeling of nobility that
will be extended considerably in the solid suite track, "Jackie
Robinson," that concludes the album presentation. If there is one
dominant, recurring criticism to be made of Isham's Americana works, it
is that he has rarely been able to recapture the combination of melodic
charm and graceful flow of
Fly Away Home, a throw-away assignment
like
Racing Stripes ironically coming closest to that
achievement. Many of the same concerns about
Miracle come back to
haunt
42, led by Isham's inability to enunciate the progressions
of his themes in such a way as to really make them memorable for the
average listener. Indeed,
42 is full of thematic development, but
the pacing of these ideas is so slow and the orchestrations so generic
that the listener has little chance to latch onto the theme and
empathize with its target representations as a result. As such,
42 is a lovely little score that builds to its necessary
crescendo at the end, easily earning Isham his pay for the project. But
it's also an anonymous effort, one so careful to honor a legend without
over-dramatizing him that the whole package ultimately fails to connect
on a deeper level. Had Isham maintained a greater solo role for the
trumpet (maybe just an adjustment of the mix), perhaps the score would
have developed that distinctive touch. The rather short score-only album
features very little in hints of the prevailing musical styles of the
era, either. It's a nice souvenir from the film but it's difficult not
to get the feeling that an opportunity for a classic sports score was
missed here.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Mark Isham reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.84
(in 26 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 2.88
(in 9,975 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
As in many of Amazon.com's "CDr on demand" products, the packaging smells
incredibly foul when new.
