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| Goldsmith |
The Don is Dead: (Jerry Goldsmith) Violent films
about the mafia were a high priority for the studios in the early
1970's, each knock-off entry trying to capture a piece of the success
experienced by
The Godfather. Veteran director Richard Fleischer
took a stab at the genre in 1973's
The Don is Dead, which
postulates that the death of a mob boss leads to a struggle for power
amongst the various generations of the syndicate. While an elder
statesman played by Anthony Quinn takes control, he is haunted by his
loneliness, and scheming power seekers set up this new boss with the
girlfriend of one the younger men angling for future control. The
various factions begin killing each other in common street attacks and
ultimately cause a rather unattractive ending. The movie was greeted
with marginal interest but would have been better suited for television.
The same could be said about Jerry Goldsmith's score for the picture.
The composer had collaborated with Fleischer a few times before, and the
director was known in decades prior for furnishing his movies with
highly respected but sometimes controversial music. For
The Don is
Dead, he and Goldsmith strayed towards the darker, ambient strategy
that intentionally avoided all the stereotypes established by Nino
Rota's
The Godfather. By focusing solely on the gritty suspense
of the story, Goldsmith obliged very little of the glamour of the genre.
In fact, almost nothing within the music can tie the work to any Italian
or mafia subject matter. His unfriendly approach is similar in minimal,
percussive style to
Crosscurrent and
A Step Out of Line
from the era, though he does preview some ideas further developed in
Contract on Cherry Street and
L.A. Confidential. The
demeanor of
The Don is Dead is generally unpleasant or
underplayed in almost all of its music. While the orchestra sometimes
offers the stark hints of
Chinatown, Goldsmith remains brutally
ambient, with percussion outbursts that remind of
Planet of the
Apes. Abrasive synthetic tones dominate for the villains, these
elements recorded live with the orchestra. Specialty instruments include
acoustic guitar, marimba, harp, chimes, and xylophone, and occasional
echoplexing of shrieking instruments is used as a stinger effect. Not
much full-fledged action is employed, though the sustained horror of
"The War" and awkward meters of "A Great Memory" throw some manic fright
into the equation.
Goldsmith's narrative flow in
The Don is Dead is
very sparse, with no moment of impactful structure until the latter half
of "End Title," which foreshadows the same drum-banging moments in
Ransom. The score's themes are not even remotely explored until
well into the picture. The most recognizable motif is actually more of a
modulated sound effect, a buzzing synthetic idea for the younger
mobsters planning to take control of the operations. Heard extensively
throughout "Emblem - Main Title," this technique persists in "The Test,"
"The Meeting," "The Confession," and several other cues. It's
particularly unnerving and challenging on album in the long sequence of
"The War" and continues all the way through the beginning of "A Great
Memory" at the end of the story. There is an Italian theme for the
older, established mafia concept, but it's a half-hearted rendering. Its
extremely minimal melody is actually somewhat jarring compared to the
surrounding material, filling the score with some semblance of warmth in
"No Trouble #1" on flute and acoustic guitar. It's more orchestral but
still subdued with those soloists in "No Trouble #2" and resolves in a
similar but extended treatment during the latter half of "Final
Meeting." Most listeners will recall the love theme, however, adapted
from Goldsmith's very light pop song "Our Last Night" for the aspiring
singer of the plot. The long version in "Our Last Night (Love Scene)"
builds from little solo backing to full ensemble sway. The idea is badly
fragmented in the dissonant horror of the subsequent "The Beating,"
tentative on flute in "Angie's Home," and melancholy briefly on
woodwinds over guitar in the lonely "Anything She Wants." It vaguely
informs "The Set-Up" as a clever follow-up to "The Beating" and returns
briefly on flute and strings in the middle of "End Title" but changed by
the preceding violence. Goldsmith recorded an unused instrumental
version of "Our Last Night" with slightly more pop infusion as well. On
top of these motifs, minor, descending brass pairs are common in the
stalking and killing scenes, and this tool intriguingly shifts to
strings at the outset of "End Title" for resolution. Overall, the music
in
The Don is Dead is consistently unpleasant, but that was the
intent of the composer's approach to the topic. There's little
romanticism to the mafia here, the scheming and killing prevailing over
the few glimmers of hope in the love theme. The only album for the score
was a comprehensive one from Intrada Records in 2020, the entirety of
the work supplemented by a few unused recordings in split mono sound to
emulate stereo. Approach it with caution and be ready for obnoxious
stingers around the corner.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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The insert includes detailed information about the score and film.
