: (John Williams) This highly popular and
likely overrated children's story written by John Hughes and shot by
Chris Columbus in 1990 tests every limit of plausibility. By the end of
, any adult who has raised a child will wonder if an
8-year-old with the wit and composure of Macaulay Culkin's character
actually exists. In the film, he plays a boy mistakenly left at his
upscale home in the Chicago suburbs while his frantic family packs and
departs for Paris, and in the time it takes for the neglectful parents
to realize their error and return home, the boy comically foils a pair
of burglars who attempt to invade the home. The depictions of violence
are as ridiculously dumb and unbelievable as they could possibly be, and
the film attempts to redeem itself with a solid message of Holiday
forgiveness involving an initially frightening but ultimately friendly
neighbor who saves the boy. Despite negative reviews,
became the third most successful film in box office grosses in the
history of cinema, though its only Oscar nominations both came for John
Williams' memorable original score and embedded primary song. The
composer had a relatively slow period in his schedule late in 1990 and
had not intended to write another score that year, but he by chance
attended a screening of
that Columbus had provided to
other Steven Spielberg associates. His enthusiasm for the film caused
him to actively seek the assignment after the production's original
composer, Bruce Broughton, had to bow out due to a scheduling conflict.
It had been a while since John Williams had composed a score
specifically aimed at children (if ever, really) and after raving about
the initial cut of the film to his own circle of associates, he tackled
the new genre with so much zeal that the resulting fruitful friendship
with Columbus would lead to several subsequent endeavors in that genre
(including the
films). Not only were the
ramifications exciting for Williams' fans, but the composer approached
the project with a refreshing new enthusiasm that carried over into the
tone of his composition. After a year which included the dramatic, often
tense scores for
, Williams shed all of that weight and provided what
essentially amounts to a perfect comedic Christmas score.
Ever since
Home Alone first won the hearts of
audiences, Williams' score has existed among the highest standards for
Christmas-related music from Hollywood. Not only are the score and
Williams' two original songs worthy of a place among established holiday
favorites, but the film cleverly combines this music with traditional
but rerecorded Christmas carol recordings arranged for this production.
Home Alone is an example of a film and score fitting like a
perfect glove for a hand, with Williams' music successfully balancing
the two sides of the film: the wacky, stupid comedy and the heartfelt
sense of family and religion at the holidays. The fact that Williams'
own carols for the film will sound indistinguishable from existing
pieces for many casual viewers proves, at the very least, that the
composer is among the best classically-inclined artists of this period
in time. His recordings of traditional carols also maintain a hearty
holiday spirit in arrangement and performance, and it's difficult to
imagine how the composer could have accomplished all of this during the
warm summer and autumn of the film's post-production. The score's
greatest weakness is its comical, Carl Stalling-like cartoon music for
the battle sequences near the climax of the film. But despite these
necessities and the rather simplistic storyline, the underscore for
Home Alone is met with the abundance of nuance and unique motifs
that you'd expect from Williams for a film of much greater scope and
magnitude. More than in many other scores from the maestro, there exist
connections between the themes in
Home Alone and traditional
songs, an intentional method of merging the two given the copious song
placements tracked into the film (a usual trait of John Hughes
productions). While critics may claim that the Oscar-nominated primary
song, "Somewhere in My Memory" is a piece of fluff, it's important to
recognize that the pretty and redemptive spirit of the carol is
precisely what makes it effective (the complete opposite to, for
instance, the lack of character depth which would sink Williams'
Sabrina score a few years later). After the theme was written to
represent the boy's love of his parents, poignantly accompanying the
scenes of longing and reunion, Williams recognized its strength and
enlisted his longtime associate, lyricist Leslie Bricusse, to translate
the tune into the Oscar-nominated song.
Lyrics were also afforded to Williams' other carol and
major theme for
Home Alone, "Star of Bethlehem," the far
weightier representation of the mysterious neighbor and a tool with
which to represent Christmas with the gravity of its religious meaning
to many. This idea is intriguingly applied as a tool of suspense
throughout the score, perhaps imposing that gravity upon the psyche of
an 8-year-old who is somewhat overwhelmed by the season's implications.
Outside of these two main themes, Williams writes several more and
references them almost constantly throughout the score. While also
seemingly less sophisticated than Williams' larger dramatic efforts, the
choice of instrumentation is what makes
Home Alone a great
success. The composer spared no expense in assembling every tingling
instrument he could find, from chimes, glockenspiel, celesta, and sleigh
bells to deep organ accents. At every moment in the score, a tingling
element is to be heard, and if you thought that inspiration from "Jingle
Bells" was below Williams' standards, think again. The only curious
choice in
Home Alone is the application of synthetic elements in
several places, the iconic opening performance of "Somewhere in My
Memory" in the score performed by synthetic celesta. Likewise, the
popular "Setting the Trap" cue required the orchestra to perform over
pre-recorded rhythms from pop-inspired drum pads. That said, slower
performances of the major carols are provided with grand orchestral
sweeps and lyrical passages from the various songs, and these sequences
do reach back to access the resounding ensemble depth that dates from
Williams' 1970's disaster genre scores. The most explosive theme is a
classical joust to represent the manic chaos of the boy's parents; for
the travel scenes, Williams pulls some obvious inspiration from
Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" and infuses it with Aaron Copland "Rodeo"
adventure style to embody the hectic task of going overseas with a large
family. Though effective, the rambunctious personality of this theme can
overwhelm quickly, and at least one of its recordings for the film was
ultimately dialed out. The boy himself receives a bubbly little theme to
represent his own well-meaning independence early on in "Target
Practice/Sledding on the Stairs" and "Scammed by a Kindergartner,"
usually playfully stated by solo brass instruments over plucked string
rhythms.
For the two bumbling criminals in
Home Alone,
Williams offers perhaps his most subtle, but effective motif. Instead of
providing an ominous theme with one of the more powerful elements of the
orchestra, the villains are accompanied only by woodwinds, an
unexpected, but strangely appropriate choice for the idiots that these
characters are. The dual performances of a bass bassoon with a clarinet
or oboe keep the theme low and mysterious while allowing the flexibility
to toy with their quirky personalities. That way, they are never quite
that scary to kids in the audience, and Williams can sustain a light
atmosphere for even the film's darkest moments. Such usage by Williams
goes back to
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and much of the
character of this theme carried over to
Hook the following year.
Originally established as a scary villain by Williams is the neighbor,
whose appearances to four distinctive notes (in stinger mode) from "Dies
Irae" in "Introducing Marley" and "Drug Store" are proven a clever
deception when the character befriends the boy against the same four
notes that also form the basis of "Carol of the Bells." Finally, two
lesser motifs grace the family's house, the first a prancing rhythmic
figure for the home itself in the opening cue and "Banished to the
Attic." The latter is a frightening ensemble idea that extends out of
that home motif in "The Basement" and "Cleaning Clothes" for the
household furnace. Overall, the
Home Alone score is a Christmas
bonanza and "Somewhere in My Memory" is among Williams' most amicable
career songs. Unfortunately, enjoying this music anytime during the rest
of the year is a challenge, and on album, the score is so well
articulated that it's a seasonal event. The recording's mix is
fantastic, those bass woodwinds very prominently highlighted. The
original 1990 album contained most of the score and many of the source
placements, an identical 2010 re-issue solving availability issues. Also
in 2010, La-La Land Records issued an expanded edition of 3,500 units
that dropped the pop songs but does fantastic justice to Williams'
score. After that album went out of print, La-La Land returned in 2015
to combine both presentations into one, limited 2-CD set, with a few
new, film-version song recordings but the same score material. Against
all odds, this franchise opener is far more impressive on any album than
the disappointingly rehashed sequel music from Williams for
Home
Alone 2: Lost in New York. Just make sure there's snow on the ground
outside before trying to absorb the undeniable magic of the composer's
enthusiastic holiday spirit.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For John Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.68
(in 91 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.54
(in 363,499 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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