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| Goldsmith |
First Blood: (Jerry Goldsmith) It has been such a
long road for John Rambo since 1982 that it has become difficult to
recall just how different
First Blood 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
First Blood. 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 twisted 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,
First Blood 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
First
Blood 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
First Blood and the two
1980's sequels also scored by the composer. 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 theme, restricting it to the minor key until a gorgeous setting on
screen and the hopes of meeting an old friend in "Home Coming" allows
the idea its only foray into the major. In this cue, "My Town," and
"It's a Long Road," the composer conveys the theme with decidedly light
instrumentation, ranging from extremely high strings in the former 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 of the film)
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 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 unfortunately 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. To the delight of
many film score collectors, however, 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 a experience made all the more magnificent by
incredibly crisp and well balanced sound quality. This score has never
sounded remotely as good as it does on the 2010 Intrada set, a 2-CD
product of unlimited pressing that should immediately replace the
previous products for any and all Goldsmith enthusiasts. While the label
may be teased about using the word "Bullseye!" to enthusiastically
endorse film score albums too frequently, this one truly is just that.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.26
(in 124 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.29
(in 153,454 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The inserts of all the albums include information about the score and/or
film, though that of the 2010 Intrada set is the most thorough (and includes lyrics
to the song).
