: (Jerry Goldsmith) It has been such a
long road for John Rambo since 1982 that it has become difficult to
recall just how different
is from the sequels that
inevitably followed its success. The character wasn't the muscle-bound
superman of Sylvester Stallone's build in David Morrell's book, and it
was never intended for the adaptation to lead to subsequent films in
which Rambo develops into nothing more than a killing machine. Audiences
wouldn't have had enough sympathy about Rambo to care about the sequels
if not for the incredible empathy developed for the character in
. While the lead role was re-written slightly when the
likes of Al Pacino and Dustin Hoffman reportedly turned it down,
yielding an obviously different portrayal by a less refined but arguably
more likable Stallone, the most important change in the narrative came
at the end. The novel concluded with Rambo's killing by his only
remaining friend, Colonel Trautman (played by Richard Crenna), but with
so much sympathy for the protagonist and the successful examination of
the treatment of Vietnam veterans already addressed in the story, the
closing act was transformed into the redemptive form seen on screen. The
total submission of Brian Dennehy's bigoted sheriff and the widespread
destruction of the small Oregon town that greeted Rambo with such
indifference or disdain was revenge enough, and, in its final cut,
is a surprisingly intelligent film. It's also a
relatively bloodless one as well, with only one absolutely confirmed
death clearly witnessed. Compare that to the three sequels, each
successively increasing the body count exponentially, and
is clearly in a league apart from its satisfying, though
mindless successors. There also exists a significant difference in the
mood between Jerry Goldsmith's music for
Whereas
Rambo: First Blood Part II and
Rambo
3 are ambitious action scores that build upon only the most
explosive moments of
First Blood, the first score is a
comparatively subdued work. It balances the tragedy of Rambo's
loneliness with the precision of his stalking and evasion techniques,
only rarely bursting with heroic force. The purpose of Rambo in
First
Blood, after all, was not to terrorize a small town, but to simply
find a long lost friend. The most obvious reflection of the differing
tone between the three Goldsmith scores for this franchise is the
relative absence of Rambo's memorable action theme in
First
Blood. Only in brief fragments and an interlude in the strictly
orchestral end credits arrangement of "It's a Long Road" is this idea
developed. Instead, at the forefront you hear the heartbreaking theme
representing Rambo's search for companionship and redemption, a
surprisingly warm idea that understandably becomes marginalized in the
later scores. Performed initially as a duet between acoustic guitar and
trumpet, the theme conveys both the pastoral essence of small-town
America while also recognizing, with the latter instrument, the military
service of John Rambo. Goldsmith manages both a heartwarming and
bittersweet tone with this strikingly sad theme, restricting it to the
minor key until a gorgeous setting on screen and the hopes of meeting an
old friend in "Homecoming" allows the idea its only foray into the
major. In this cue, "Last Summer," the album version of "My Town," and
"It's a Long Road," the composer conveys the theme with decidedly light
instrumentation, ranging from extremely high strings to a flute in the
latter to add a sensitive representation high in the treble region for
the theme. In terms of its construct, this theme remains one of
Goldsmith's most effective, its actual melody and lovely counterpoint
line intermingling and exchanged between trumpet and strings
effortlessly and highlighted by their stunning pairing at 2:30 into
"It's a Long Road (Instrumental)."
The other motifs in
First Blood include the
franchise's faintly noble representation of the military on overlapping
trumpets ("My Town" and the finale) and an elusive series of five notes
in the bass that accompanies Rambo's militaristic professionalism.
Goldsmith performs this idea most frequently on synthetic keyboard,
giving it a slightly cold personality appropriate to Rambo's detached
determination when in stalking mode. Effectively a "sneaking motif,"
scenes such as "The Tunnel" and "No Power" use these cyclical, rambling
notes extensively, typically combining several variations on the
progression to form a continuous string of bass meandering. With
precision, the idea increases in pace to match Rambo's speed of movement
on screen. This motif carries over significantly into
Rambo: First
Blood Part II, where it serves the same purpose. The action material
in
First Blood is relatively anonymous compared to what would
follow, highlighted by pounding percussion and rambling xylophone in
"First Blood," full ensemble versions of the sneaking motif in "Hanging
On" and others, and the outstanding opening forty seconds of "The Truck"
that culminates into an excellent brass statement of the main theme. The
most memorable action cue comes in "The Razor," when Rambo escapes his
initial confinement over a bed of powerful percussion and is treated to
another briefly muscular, heroic brass rendition of the primary theme as
he commandeers a motorcycle. Ultimately, the action music in
First
Blood, while more than decent when compared to the composer's
similar writing of the era, is not as engaging or lengthy in performance
as in the sequels. As such,
First Blood is a score to appreciate
for its evocative and sorrowful performances of the "It's a Long Road"
theme. Excluding the song and pop interpretations of this theme, there
exists about six minutes of extremely enticing performances of its
melancholic beauty in sum, and it serves as good counterpoint to the
heightened activity level and straight forward bombast of the
sequels.
Sadly, the "It's a Long Road" recording made by
Goldsmith for the end titles sequence of
First Blood was replaced
by the Dan Hill vocal version, which is a basically acceptable very
light pop rendition of the same material. The theme remains a pivotal
part of the opening few minutes of
First Blood, however,
producing a highlight that matches the confluence of aural and visual
beauty in the opening scene of
Hoosiers. The album treatments of
First Blood through the years were not initially kind to
Goldsmith's composition. Intrada Records produced a 1988 CD that added
the relatively unimportant "No Power" track to the LP's presentation,
bringing the running time to just about 40 minutes. Answering that
eventually out-of-print product was Varèse Sarabande, which
pressed the identical contents with different cover art in 2000. On both
of these CDs, however, there are issues with the sequencing choices of
Goldsmith himself (sometimes leading to rough edits) and inconsistencies
in sound quality caused by the same poor source for the two products.
Not only are the cues out of chronological order, but there is
distortion in the keyboarding in "The Razor," a gain spike at exactly 2
minutes into "It's a Long Road," and several poorly executed edits
within cues in the action material. Thankfully, Intrada revisited the
music in 2010 and finally found superior multi-track masters from which
to press the entire score, along with a few bonus cues and the previous
presentation for good measure. Hearing the entirety of the 45 minutes
from
First Blood in film order is an experience made all the more
appreciable by incredibly crisp and well-balanced sound quality. This
score's improvement in sound quality on the 2010 Intrada set is
considerable, a 2-CD product of unlimited pressing that promised to
immediately replace the previous products for any and all Goldsmith
enthusiasts. Still, the label was unsatisfied with the playback speed
and sound artifacts on that album and remastered it in 2025 with a
slightly different presentation. While the label was teased about using
the word "Bullseye!" to enthusiastically endorse film score albums too
frequently, their efforts for
First Blood are truly just that.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.2
(in 146 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.22
(in 155,505 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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