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PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Apollo 13 (James Horner)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the comprehensive, 2019 Intrada album if you own only
a handful of James Horner's scores and are in search of the composer at
his very best, Apollo 13 exhibiting an exemplary sense of
historical patriotism and tension.
Avoid it... if the understated respect that Horner conveys in his rather short score for this film doesn't appeal to your need for more lavishly melodramatic efforts from other works during that fruitful period of his career.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Apollo 13: (James Horner) An impressive critical
success across the board, 1995's Apollo 13 arguably remains
director Ron Howard's most respected film. The humbly patriotic
examination of this important piece of NASA history follows the events
of the near disaster of Apollo 13's mission to the moon from the
perspective of the Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Fred Haise (Bill Paxton), and
Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), their friends and family, and mission
control. Not often does a film with all the traits of a historical
documentary stir up such popular interest, but a remarkable collection
of cast performances, outstanding special effects, and a variety of
awards recognition assisted Apollo 13 in its journey to
mainstream acceptance. The film supplanted The Right Stuff as the
industry benchmark for engaging depictions of past American space
exploration, with subsequent pictures either emulating its mastery or
intentionally avoiding direct competition with it. One of the film's
more obvious elements was its music, with an intelligent collection of
appropriate 1960's pop songs selected for inclusion in the film. Above
and beyond that source usage, James Horner's rather short
Oscar-nominated score, clocking in at about 75 minutes in total length,
served as patriotic inspiration for many of the film's more exciting
scenes. The year of 1995 was a most impressive one for Horner; fresh off
of the overwhelming popularity of the superior Legends of the
Fall, he produced two above-average scores for children's films,
Balto and Casper. Next came his two Academy Award
nominated gems, Braveheart and Apollo 13, and while the
legacy of Braveheart has persisted and eventually overshadowed
Apollo 13 to a great extent, debates continue within the
soundtrack community about which of the two is actually a better fit for
its film. In this regard, Apollo 13 triumphs, partly because it
works while restraining its understated patriotism so well, and partly
because it reflects the film's vastly more intelligent design. There is
really no way to appreciate Horner's music fully without also
appreciating the high quality of the film itself. The composer's heroic
theme epitomizes the patriotic American spirit, and its sincerity and
raw, dedicated, and serious power drives the score with the perfect feel
of a respectful historical documentary.
Several motifs are utilized by Horner in Apollo 13, but one primary pair of themes defines most of the score. Aside from the inevitable comparisons to Aaron Copland that some listeners will force upon this theme and its noble solo trumpet sub-motif (in some scores, these complaints are valid, but here they're a stretch), Horner's attitude is distilled with reverence. This melody never dances and twirls, nor does it try to get cute or bloated, as many believe a score like Independence Day to be. As Horner stated in early 1995, "If you start off with a big score, it sets an audience up for just another sci-fi movie... except Apollo 13 is a documentary; you know where it's going to end. What I'm trying to get out of the story is the idealism." And the distinction between fantasy and stark reality is very strong in Apollo 13. There are indeed moments of whimsical wonder for the dreams of great space exploration, but the score never deviates from the dark and occasionally frightening realities that the dangers of space travel present. The main thematic expressions, led by a lonely and simple, seven-note rising and falling fanfare for NASA, are dominated by brass, which is appropriate for the American spirit of adventure. Aside from the launching sequence and heroic climax of the astronauts' return, the noble NASA motif and associated primary theme are performed mostly by solitary trumpet solos by veteran film score performer Tim Morrison. The brass represents the far-reaching aspirations of NASA, and in myriad incarnations, it maintains the vast and solitary plight of a small space capsule in such an enormous void. The horns often echo into the distance (in fact, it's built directly into the main theme's constructs), which also signifies the vastness of space. The momentous, massively orchestral mounting of theme during the launch sequence, despite not being the most dense of melodic expression to be heard in Horner's career, can send shivers up a person's spine when combined with the awesome visuals on the screen. The final climactic return to that grand theme unfolds when the capsule emerges from radio silence and the crew is discovered alive. The short choral statement of the idea during Hanks' epilogic dialogue is extraordinarily redeeming. These extroverted passages represent twenty minutes of action on screen (as well as the end credits), and they have come to define the score. Beyond the primary pairing of melody in Apollo 13 exist many other ideas hard at work. Every part of the orchestra is utilized to its best talents, using the soloists of the ensemble much like NASA's mission control center collecting ideas during the height of the film's panic. As a brilliant move, Horner employed the voice of Annie Lennox to perform classy wordless vocals twice in the score. Lennox's voice itself has almost a historical significance alone in American culture, and her low tone enhances the dramatic and dark aspect of the score for one crucial cue, "The Dark Side of the Moon." Her voice seemingly represents the moon itself, inviting and beckoning the astronauts towards her yet forbidding and cold at the same time. The solemn cue lures Tom Hanks' Jim Lovell into a dream-like state, where the heroic brass theme starts to build in his fantasy; as reality sets in, only Lennox's bittersweet voice remains. She returns for a rousing and very enjoyable performance of the title theme at the opening of the end credits, which is enhanced by a powerful synthetic rhythm. Combined with a choir and electronic base, the format of this presentation will remind many listeners of Glory. The synthetic elements and choir are both used with great effect in the score. The pulsating electronics build the momentum as the launch sequence nears liftoff and represent the technically sophisticated nature of what we are watching. In a way, it also infuses a subliminal sense of coolness into the equation, a touch restrained as to not interfere with the austere personality of the picture while also nodding to all the song placements. It also establishes the strong beat and determination that the marching snare drums cannot achieve alone. The snare, as in many other Horner scores, is used to a great degree in Apollo 13; it is perhaps more appropriate in this film than a few of the others considering the militaristic and governmental influences in the story. On the other hand, Horner's typical use of a children's choir is always entertaining. This was a period in time when Horner was using the choir in almost all of his scores, and it creates a perfect fantasyland for the Apollo 13 astronauts. Its light, whimsical touch floats like the weightlessness itself, beginning as the crew members take off their helmets in space for the first time and concluding during the slow-motion finale of the film, as to foreshadow future expeditions into space by the Apollo missions. To accommodate the character establishment of Apollo 13, the score does take a while to get jumpstarted, with the songs chosen for the film dominating early scenes. Once the launch sequence pushes the score into gear, the songs are largely confined to short bursts on the astronauts' tape players. (By the start of the landing sequence, the songs are completely absent). Two parts of the score that are rarely discussed are Horner's ideas for tension and panic. The tension is palpable when watching the film, and Horner contributes to it by understating his suspense cues. The "Docking" cue uses a synthetic choral effect along with a slowly marching timpani, string, and wood block rhythm to build to an elegant but subtle climax. The uneasy trumpet solos in this cue are a perfect representation of the balance of confidence and nervousness in the capsule during the scene. The rhythm adds great suspense and even dread to the tricky task of aligning and attaching the two space vehicles; the rumbling holds its breath in a single, pulsating note until the docking is completed, at which time the timpani suddenly quits. In the latter half of the score, Horner pulls out a variety of lightly tapping percussion to accompany mission control and the astronauts during their thought processes. In the cues "Into the L.E.M.," "Carbon Dioxide," and especially "Four More Amps," Horner's slight, but effective use of wood block, snare, and the tingling of cymbals represents the transferring of an electrical current. This interesting technique is expanded upon for the score's one panic cue, "Master Alarm," in which Horner makes the most the crashing, descending piano motif that he introduced a few years earlier in scores like The Pelican Brief and would extend into Titanic. The continued tapping of wood block, snare, and cymbal signifies the energy trickling out of the damaged spacecraft, while the frantic bursts from the piano accompany the wildly pitching instability of that capsule. The cue appropriately ends as suddenly as it began, as Lovell's discovery of the horrifying truth of the situation sinks in. An extension of this sound is more unorganized in the later "Manual Burn" cue, easily the weakest two minutes of the score. None of these sequences, whether for the eerie suspense or the outright panic, is supplied with substantially recurring thematic constructs, though the snare and wood block rhythms remain fairly consistent, as does Horner's typical, guarded optimism with rising bass region figures. Several dissonant and/or electronic cues were added later by Horner in the post-production process, including the horrific pitch that accompanies the electrical pulse that causes the initial fault in "Canister Explosion," the atmospheric mystery of "Reactant Valves," the deep, synthetic dread of "Out of Control" and "Power Off." Perhaps most interesting of these is "A Square Peg," which mostly exhibits a continuation of the rhythmic wood block motif. None of this material, along with several of the orchestral suspense cues, was initially made available on album. In part because of the film's popularity, the CD releases of this score were complex enough in the early years to make a man's head spin. In sum, there were four official Apollo 13 releases in 1995 and 1996. Universal apparently decided that the quality of the film was so great that its dialogue and sound effects should be mixed into the score and songs for all of its commercial soundtrack releases. Any substantial fan of the film will admit that this decision makes the albums a worthy souvenir, and the superior production quality of the audio in the film is quite interesting to enjoy along with the score. But the score has its own merits that demand attention (apart even from the source songs), and many potential listeners wouldn't be well served by Universal in the end. The regular album release, which was the only one available in most stores, contains a frightening amount of dialogue and songs, with little untouched score. There's no reason at all to purchase this product. A "gold edition" edition features practically identical contents, but the music, dialogue and sound effects were digitally transferred into Dolby surround sound on a gold-plated disc similar to the label's treatment of the scores for Schindler's List and Dances With Wolves. Although this was a limited pressing, it was readily available for a few years at regular retail stores. If you seek the regular version of the music, complete with all the dialogue, sound effects, and songs, go with the gold edition. That is, unless you don't have the equipment to appreciate it, of course. When pumped through a surround system, the sound of the gold presentation is simply spectacular, especially during the launch sequence. With any luck, your neighbors will be calling the police because of the sound of the rocket rumbling through their living room. The reverb on the "Blue Moon" song by the Mavericks is stellar as well, mirroring the song's prominent and equally echoing mix late in the film. Interestingly, on the secondary market, you might discover that there was also a 2-CD release of Apollo 13 in Australia from 1995, though it contains nothing new; the first CD is identical to the American regular release and the second one only offers more songs from the era. For die-hard film score and James Horner fans, though, nothing less than the awards-season promotional release would do, and this presentation stood as definitive until Intrada Records provided its own expanded product in 2019. The 1996 promo is the typical Academy "for your consideration" treatment of the score, with 15 minutes of extra music and the rest thankfully dialogue free. At an hour in sum, it is blissfully unadulterated, and it was long highly recommended if you could get your hands on a copy, regardless of whether it was a real pressing or one of the numerous bootlegs that inevitably spawned from it. The sound quality on the promo, though obviously less impressive than the surround sound version, of course, is crystal clear. The only downside of the promo is that the "End Credits" cue is a slightly different mix than that heard on the other albums. In the extended version (by a minute) likely matching the film's presentation, the key of the orchestral sequence that follows Annie Lennox's bass-enhanced portion at the start is incongruous. For listeners familiar with the mix heard on the commercial albums, the difference is more than a bit distracting. Those who made their own compilations of the score were advised to copy all tracks from the promotional album except for "End Titles," for which the commercial versions were superior. For more information on the differences between all of the various 1995 and 1996 releases of the score, including the ways to determine if you have a genuine promotional copy, see the notes section at the bottom of this page. With the addition of the 2019 Intrada product, though, such details are likely of interest to only the most avid soundtrack collectors. That 2019 album offers the full score and Horner's promo album edits on a limited 2-CD product. There are some differences between the cues on the two presentations, though most of them are not significant outside of the level of brutality in "Master Alarm." On the promo assembly, the two final cues overlap just as they do in the film; on the film version on the first CD, there is a somewhat awkward break between the two. Both versions of the "End Credits" on the product correct the strange, key-change edit heard on the 1996 promo. For its excellent product, Intrada made the interesting decision to supply Horner's electronic filler cues together at the end of the first CD rather than place them chronologically within the score; the booklet does provide the proper sequencing for those who prefer to sequence otherwise. The sound quality of the 2019 album is largely the same between the two versions contained within the product, though the full film edit seems slightly crisper at times, especially when the score exhibits its trumpet solos. Listeners satisfied with their compilation of the 1995 and 1996 albums may not have significant need for the 2019 set, as the experience will not be improved outside of a modest improvement in sound quality for those cues not provided cleanly on the gold product. With Horner's personal arrangement already available, the attraction for some will be the film versions of five of the cues, all of them major, and seven new minutes of orchestral music. In summary, Apollo 13 is both a classic film and score, the latter leading a very strong field of film music contenders in 1995. Like Glory and Legends of the Fall before it, Apollo 13 captured the attention of many casual movie-goers at the time of the film's release, bringing an awareness to both the genre of film music and Horner's career that would eventually bubble over with Braveheart and Titanic. Many imitations of the score surfaced in subsequent years, including, most notably, Edmund Choi's The Dish in 2000, which serves as a loving extension of Apollo 13's music to the extent that some collectors might consider appending part of that later work to any custom rearrangement of the Horner classic. There is no doubt that this music represents Horner at his very best; he produced great scores in the following dozen years, including The Mask of Zorro and its forgotten sequel, but rarely has he hit the nail on the head as squarely as with Apollo 13. It's an instance in which the composer's reliance on past inspiration shifted away from overwrought connections to heavy Eastern European drama and instead tackled American patriotism in a way rarely heard from Horner or anyone else. The merely functional suspense and panic portions of the work may be underwhelming to some listeners, and its short length is a necessary side effect of the film's extensive use of songs, but Horner addresses each need of the film with masterful respect. The resulting score is easily among the best of the decade.
TRACK LISTINGS:
1995 Regular/Gold Albums:
Total Time: 72:45
* score track composed by James Horner (track times on packaging incorrect and not given for overlapping dialogue tracks; correct times here) 1996 Promotional Album: Total Time: 58:31
* previously unreleased track ** contains previously unreleased music 2019 Intrada Album: Total Time: 134:38
NOTES & QUOTES:
"If you start off with a big score, it sets an audience up for just another
sci-fi movie, except Apollo 13 is a documentary; you know where it's going to
end. What I'm trying to get out of the story is the idealism, everything that
was great in the guys at Mission Control and in the capsule, the best thing
about NASA. And that's a very elusive thing to bring out with a flute, but
that's what I want--idealism, in a very different way. If I go with something
you don't expect at all, it'll be just magical. My trick is that the films are
all so different. I have no high ambitions to win 35 Academy Awards. I just try
to be the best at what I can be and work on the best movies I can and not get
too wrapped up in the day-to-day ups and downs of it, which is difficult
enough."
Availability Notes: How to distinguish the promotional version from possible bootlegs:
The real promotional copies have the following writing on the bottom top
of the disc: "Motion Picture Artwork and Artwork Title © 1995 Universal
City Studios, Inc. (p) © 1995 MCA Records Inc MCAP-3432." In the center of
the authentic promotional CD should be: "MCA3P-3432 A50609Ma," across from "MFG
BY UNI." The bootleg promotional copies have the following writing on the bottom of the disc: "Motion Picture Artwork and Artwork Title ©1995 Universal City Studios, Inc. Promotional CD Only - Not for Sale." In the center of the bootleg CDs is: "201604-2." Both feature a black and white cover with the same artwork as the regular releases. However, at the bottom of the promos is written "Original Motion Picture Score from Apollo 13 Composed and Conducted by James Horner" and on the top right is "MCA3P-3432" written sideways.
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1996-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Apollo 13 are Copyright © 1995, 1996, 2019, MCA Records (Regular and Gold), MCA Promotional, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/24/96 and last updated 5/11/19. |
