FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW

Review of The Contender/Deterrence (Larry Groupé)

2000 Citadel

2000 Promo

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you are curious about the interesting solo work of the orchestrator behind many of John Ottman's dynamic and creative early scores.

Avoid it... if you expect any of the material from the two functional scores represented on this album to achieve the same engaging personality of Ottman's music of the era.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

The Contender/Deterrence: (Larry Groupé) While some orchestrators are content making a career out of collaborating with a composer or two behind the scenes, others branch out into their own composing careers. One member of the latter group is Larry Groupé, the well-known associate of popular 1990's and 2000's composer John Ottman. The conductor and an orchestrator of many of Ottman's most vibrant works, including the stunningly dynamic score for Incognito, Larry Groupé had already been composing his own scores for films and events throughout the late 1990's. Given that he was often credited for providing many of Ottman's more attractively sharp scores of that era, hopes for a successful solo career for Groupé were high (ten years later, however, that career has never really taken shape). In 1999 and 2000, respectively, Deterrence and The Contender represented two of the largest film scoring assignments that Groupé had landed, with The Contender being the first fully orchestral, mainstream film for which he could spread his wings. To celebrate Groupé's achievements of those two years, Citadel Records released the scores on one lengthy album. Both films are directed by Rod Lurie and revolve around the risks and uncertainty of modern, national American politics. Other than this generalization, however, the two films spin off into different patriotic directions. The Contender is a strongly character-driven drama with underlying themes of lobby and personal destruction, conveyed by a top-notch cast. The president is forced to choose a new vice president after the previous man's death, and a battle in confirmation hearings for the first female to possibly hold the job gets nasty.

Deterrence, on the other hand, is a smaller budget action/drama that portrays the president attempting to avert nuclear war while stranded at a remote Colorado diner. The musical approach to each is completely different, with a surprising result. Scored with a delicate and soft touch, The Contender is a distant cousin of Marc Shaiman's The American President, with light and consistently upbeat performances of a simple, but elegant and patriotic theme. The continuous repetition of this theme, along with the noble respect with which Groupé allows the musicians to stretch every moment, is predictable but functional. For a film charged with dark politics, only the subtle, but highly effective piano solos that open and close the film represent an alienating or downright serious attitude. The title theme, restrained in nearly every appearance, only takes flight in "The Speech," when it begins to adopt the stature and progressions of Richard Marvin's U-571. As patriotic scores go, The Contender was well conceived yet underdeveloped in its final performance, identical to the less interesting parts of The American President. With a considerably smaller scope, Deterrence is a completely different breed of score. While it does not attempt to mask the fact that it is a one man, synthesized effort, Deterrence features a much more broad range of stylistic motifs throughout its contents. Despite the lack of an orchestral presence, it is a more dynamic and interesting listening experience than The Contender.

The electronics in Deterrence can be categorized as somewhere in between the styles of Don Davis and Mark Snow, making use of militaristic percussion (like Davis) and extra synthesized elements such as ominous vocals (like Snow) for its most inspiring moments. Perhaps the performances that best tie the two scores together are their brief, but effective piano solos, but the highlight of their combined ranks is the faux-choral, harmonic requiem in "Deterrence." The heavy reliance on synthetic percussion in Deterrence is tiring in its latter half, but unlike The Contender, the music at least attempts to really reach out and engage the listener. Just because The Contender is the better known film of the two and features the orchestra doesn't automatically make it the more memorable score of the two. The album situation for The Contender and Deterrence is a bit muddy because Groupé had offered several of his synthesized scores in the form of promotional CDs that could be purchased directly from him online in 2000. Deterrence had already been released in this form by itself, before Citadel rearranged its cues and attached them to the end of its limited commercial release for The Contender. It should be noted that the Citadel product cleaned up much of the sound distortion that existed on former promotional versions, though there is still some static interference in the brass during elevated gain levels in "I Stand For" and "End Title: The Chapel of Democracy" (that was likely a mistake during mastering). Like any Citadel album, this one was always difficult to find in stores, and functioned much like any limited album you'd normally seek at soundtrack specialty outlets online. Still, the product offered a substantial amount of music for a first listen of Groupé's work by film music fandom and deserves a spin.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

2000 Citadel Album:
Total Time: 72:45

The Contender: • 1. The Statesman (1:30) • 2. I Stand For (1:12) • 3. Timmy Meets the President (1:16) • 4. Prophecy Fulfilled (0:40) • 5. Marching Orders (1:51) • 6. The Real Story (5:25) • 7. Meet Mr. Makerowitz (1:22) • 8. The Speech (2:50) • 9. Nobody's Business (1:15) • 10. The Deposition (0:56) • 11. The Portrait Room (2:13) • 12. Willy's Story (1:57) • 13. End Title: The Chapel of Democracy (3:14)

Deterrence: • 14. Main Title (3:28) • 15. Deterrence (3:00) • 16. The Garden Of Eden (2:07) • 17. Omari Phone Call (2:42) • 18. First Strike (1:35) • 19. Lay Down the King (2:46) • 20. Confrontation (1:11) • 21. Addressing The Nation (1:52) • 22. Decision 1 (1:20) • 23. I Hate War (4:05) • 24. Omari's Scheme (1:53) • 25. We Attack (0:45) • 26. Mr. Prime Minister (1:11) • 27. Omari's Threat (1:23) • 28. The Shooting (1:36) • 29. Omari's Last Stand (1:56) • 30. Pilots of Fate (1:10) • 31. Phone with Bean (1:28) • 32. Enter Mr. President (1:09) • 33. Gambling vs. Certainty (1:10) • 34. Report In (2:43) • 35. Target Chosen (1:04) • 36. The Dark March (3:01)

---

2000 Deterrence Promo:
Total Time: 47:02

Deterrence: • 1. Main Title (The Dark March) (3:05) • 2. Enter Mr. President (1:13) • 3. Report In (2:47) • 4. Decision 1 (1:27) • 5. Mr. Prime Minister (1:15) • 6. Contemplation (1:15) • 7. The Speech (2:03) • 8. We Attack (0:48) • 9. Gambling vs. Certainty (1:17) • 10. The Omari Phone Call (2:51) • 11. Phone With Bean (1:35) • 12. Omari's Scheme (1:58) • 13. The Garden of Eden (2:13) • 14. Omari's Threat (1:28) • 15. Target's Chosen (1:11) • 16. Omari's Last Stand (2:22) • 17. The Shooting (1:41) • 18. First Strike (1:39) • 19. Pilots of Fate (1:13) • 20. Deterrence (3:04) • 21. Lay Down the King (2:51) • 22. The Dark March (Reprised) (3:30) • 23. End Titles (4:09)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert of the promotional album includes no extra information about the score or film. The Citadel product contains a note about Larry Groupé by director Rod Lurie.

Copyright © 2000-2024, 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 The Contender/Deterrence are Copyright © 2000, Citadel Records, Promotional (Deterrence) and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 11/13/00 and last updated 6/30/08.