: (Alan Silvestri) It is perhaps
fitting that when the Oscar ceremonies rolled around in 1995, the
anticipated battle for the top awards pitted Robert Zemeckis'
. There could
exist no two films more different in tone and style, one wholesome and
tender, the other profane and disgusting. Ultimately,
prevailed and took home statues for six of its thirteen Oscar
nominations, including the top four awards. It was also remarkable in
both its ability to win over critics and audiences, not only receiving
top marks from even the most cynical writers but also grossing a
stunning $330 million domestically, a sum that easily placed it in the
top ten films of all time. The film's story was one of honesty and
redemption, using Tom Hanks' mentally impaired title character to offer
perspectives on life and love that audiences found appealing. One of the
ways that Zemeckis further extended the emotional grip on his viewers
was with a wide selection of period songs and Alan Silvestri's score,
the latter gaining the veteran composer a much deserved first Academy Award
nomination. The constant song usage, which eventually spawned a 2-CD
compilation soundtrack, was one of the film's few detractions. Zemeckis
employed his songs so liberally that they are a distraction in the
finished picture and put Silvestri at a distinct disadvantage. The
composer was particularly excited about this assignment; this long
collaboration often (though not always) provided him inspiration above
and beyond his other works. He and Zemeckis sat down to discuss how they
would incorporate his thematic material throughout the film. The
director, however, made it clear that the assignment would be
accompanied by significant song placements. So while Silvestri did use
as an opportunity to draft some of the most elegant
and appealing thematic ideas of his career, the rendering of these
themes is often less thorough than desired.
As Silvestri progressed through the picture, he found
himself in a situation where he was required to pen a new motif to meet
the specific needs of each scene; he eventually concocted four major
themes in sum and applied them in predictable statements for each
general emotional purpose in the story. The opening theme, sometimes
referred to affectionately as the "feather theme," is the one that
Silvestri immediately wrote upon viewing the film for the first time. It
was this idea that the composer and director had difficulty adapting
into other situations in the film (which remains a curiosity given that
it seems as though it would be flexible enough to be adapted for at
least two of the other general thematic identities), and it therefore
leaves the screen after "I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump" until its return
in "I'll Be Right Here." This theme, while utilizing a style of meter
and instrumentation that firmly roots it in the career sound of
Silvestri (especially in its secondary string performance), features a
soft, underlying rhythm that has hints of Rachel Portman's related sound. The
score-only album for
Forrest Gump conveniently offers the four
major themes in the first four successive tracks, so the second one is
heard in "You're No Different." Also performed on piano in sensitive
tones, this theme represents the title character's innocence and, in
this specific scene, his childhood. It's even further connected to
Silvestri's standard sound for romantic dramas in its similarity to his
later theme for
Contact. The third track offers the next theme,
one of sadness for the bittersweet relationship between Forrest and
Jenny. Slower in tempo and featuring lower woodwind performances, this
theme barely punctuates cues like "You Can't Sit Here" and "Jenny
Returns," though a compelling string interlude helps. It's a
surprisingly distant representation for a love that is everlasting,
though anything sweeter may have exposed an excess of sugar.
The most obvious (and arguably famous) theme from
Forrest Gump is the one that accompanies Gump's running. Heard in
"Run Forrest Run," "The Crimson Gump," and "The Crusade" (as well as the
overarching summary in the suite at the end of the album), this theme is
arguably overrated. Its rhythmic structure owes much to Jerry
Goldsmith's
Rudy from the previous year, a score that has
obviously defined the concepts of sports and competition with fantastic
success. While each of these themes is satisfactory in their application
to
Forrest Gump, the insertion of the songs in scenes that
Silvestri should have scored causes a dissatisfying lack of development
of his ideas throughout the score. The statements of each theme are
static, reprising themselves in nearly identical form every time. By the
end of the picture, Gump may have completed a fantastic journey, but
Silvestri's music is still making the same statements as at the start.
Perhaps this consistency is an intentional comment about the level
headed character of Tom Hanks' portrayal, but on album you need no more
than the 40 minutes of material provided. Silvestri had a habit of doing
this in films that inserted songs regularly (
What Women Want
specifically comes to mind, for some reason), and in all reality, all
you need to hear from
Forrest Gump to satisfy yourself is the
nicely arranged suite at the end and a few select cues from the actual
score. In terms of tone, Silvestri's score for the film is an absolute
triumph. If you try to think about it too hard, though, you'll find
nagging problems with derivative emulation and a lack of maturation
during its running time that will sour the experience. Those who
continue to question Zemeckis' extensive song use in the film will have
compounding complaints. Many film music collectors believe that
Silvestri should have taken home an Academy Award for his work here; as
a result,
Forrest Gump is one of the more significantly overrated
scores of its era. It's lovely and undemanding, but by no means a
classic.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For Alan Silvestri reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.48
(in 42 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.34
(in 40,098 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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