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| Williams |
Hook: (John Williams) Despite the magic inherent in
its story,
Hook became the epitome of a major studio production
disaster. So much passion was poured into the concept by so many
imaginative minds and yet, in the watered down movie that resulted, all
of that enthusiasm had drained from the spirit of the film and critics
appropriately commented that
Hook seemed mechanical in its style.
Before anything resembling the final picture was undertaken, composer
John Williams and his friend and lyricist Leslie Bricusse (with whom
Williams had collaborated on songs as far back as
Goodbye, Mr.
Chips in 1969) had worked in 1985 on a stage musical of
Hook's story, but the project was cancelled after the two had
completed ten songs. Three years later, director Nick Castle rearranged
the story into a script for the big screen, but TriStar removed Castle
from directing duties after the final re-write of
Hook and
replaced him with Steven Spielberg. The ever popular Spielberg, whose
artistic prowess was slightly diminished after falling from the pinnacle
of success he experienced in the previous decade, was a logical choice
for TriStar. The director had always harbored a fascination with the
Peter Pan story and had intended at some point to direct a sequel
to the tale that very much resembled the premise of
Hook.
Additionally, he obviously had a strong working relationship with
Williams, who naturally adapted much of his work from the failed 1985
concept into the screen translation. Spielberg had also been interested
in the idea of creating musicals, for the
Peter Pan story or
otherwise, but by the time of his involvement with
Hook, the
musical formula had been dumped in favor of a regular live-action
feature with a traditional score. The $80 million budget of
Hook
eventually bought a strong cast and, mostly, spectacular sets. The busy
art direction, however, betrayed the film and became one of its
weaknesses, as did many of the big-name supporting actors. The film
lacked the spark of life that everyone expected from an imaginative
Spielberg offering, and his seeming loss of enthusiasm somewhere along
the line also carried over to several of the other production
elements.
Luckily, one of the few aspects of
Hook not to
suffer from this malaise was Williams' music, despite the fact that the
composer had been forced to abandon the original musical format of much
of his material. Long after the muddled film became an asterisk in
Spielberg's career (as well as one of note for Gwyneth Paltrow, for whom
Hook was her first major studio film), Williams' massive score
endures as one of his fans' favorites. Of the original songs he conjured
with Bricusse, two appeared relatively unscathed in
Hook (and
another became a source piece). Many of the remainder were adapted by
the maestro into themes for various elements of the story, which
explains why so many of his ideas in the score are so lyrical in nature.
As Williams stated in 1992, "I used music which could be also named
'theatrical' or 'ballet music.' When Peter Pan manages to fly, the
orchestra plays music that reminds us of a very fast dance of a ballet.
The same in the Ultimate War sequence. The music follows the rhythm of
the picture, underlines the action. Somebody makes an intense move and
the orchestra follows him with an emphasis, like the strings. Somebody
else is dreaming and the orchestra describes the sense of this dream. In
other words, my music for
Hook doesn't abstain from that of a
cartoon, where the music has to be attached in the picture." In light of
these comments, listeners shouldn't be surprised by frequent comparisons
between parts of this score and Tchaikovsky's tunes for "The
Nutcracker." Still, Williams was no stranger to films that used a dozen
combined themes and motifs, and
Hook went so far as to push
twenty distinct representations. This luxury of specific identity for so
many parts of the story causes the score to be among the most
interesting and sustaining of the composer's career, foreshadowing
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in
complexity. As an adventure score, it romps with some of the most
exhilarating swashbuckling tones to come from Hollywood in the Digital
Age. As a children's score, it moves with the grace and sincerity of
Home Alone. As a dramatic score, it offers extended sequences of
weighty beauty in its latter half. The realm of fantasy obviously
inspires Williams, and Spielberg's involvement only amplifies that
belief. "This area, the area of fantasy," Williams continues, "is the
best one that can exist for music."
The disjointed film, jumping from location to location,
modern to mythical, forced upon Williams the burden of not only using so
many of his previous ideas for the concept, but also required a plethora
of differing styles rolled into those themes. To successfully keep pace
with the frenetic movement and countless characters of the film,
Williams composed an enormous mass of music for the production, and much
of it stylistically previewed several scores still to come from his pen.
Pieces were interpreted from
Home Alone and
Indiana Jones and
the Last Crusade, and much of the underdeveloped material would
later blossom in
Far and Away,
Jurassic Park, and even
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. In retrospect,
Hook seems
as though it was fertile testing ground for countless new ideas from
Williams, some of which reaching a spectacular maturity in the score
while others simply serving as rambling teasers. The two 1985 songs
directly adapted into
Hook include "We Don't Wanna Grow Up" and
"When You're Alone." The first is translated into an obnoxious source
piece for a grade school performance near the start of the film. The
latter earned Williams a surprising Oscar nomination, doubling as the
orchestral theme for the grown Peter's kids. The remainder of the
score's themes have never been entirely confirmed as either being
connected to the 1985 songs or not, but nobody can claim that the
primary title theme for
Hook isn't among the composer's most
impressive creations. Williams translated this theme into a 90-second
fanfare for the film's beautiful and unique, map-traveling theatrical
trailer, a rare occasion when a preview does the honor of introducing
the film's eventual theme in glorious, overture fashion. Williams
doesn't often do this; in fact, the next time he would attempt such a
feat would come ten years later for
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
Stone. The trailer cue is entitled "Prologue" on the albums for
Hook, and it has been argued as being the best minute and a half
Williams has
ever composed, even when included with all of his
more famous efforts. So flighty and energetic is the swashbuckling
attitude of this theme and its rowdy arrangement that it sets an
elevated standard that the rest of the score has difficulty maintaining.
Fortunately, the subsequent music comes close, which is all that's
necessary to earn it the label of modern classic.
Outside of the trailer, the memorable title theme for
Hook exists most prominently at 8:50 into "Remembering Childhood"
(the most powerful ensemble performance on the remainder of the album)
and about a minute into "The Ultimate War." Often associated with the
title theme is Williams' representation of flying. This "flying theme"
is a jovial and often rousing piece that receives its first swell of
excitement from the full ensemble at 5:05 into "The Arrival of Tink and
Flight to Neverland." It had existed previously as an appropriately
slight hint in "Granny Wendy" (at 1:25) before unseating the title theme
as the most prevalent idea in the pivotal "Remembering Childhood" (at
5:10 and 9:10) and "Farewell Neverland" (at 7:55 and 8:55) cues. In the
former, a somber solo piano supplants the "childhood memory theme" as an
equally effective reminder of innocence lost. The nature of this piano
performance suggests heavily that this theme could easily have
originated in song form. The "childhood memory theme" is one of lament
for the older Peter Pan, and it contributes much of the melancholy
melodrama in the score's second half. A flourish of this theme explodes
at the two minute mark in "From Mermaids to Lost Boys" and anchors
"Remembering Childhood" with solo performances passed around the
woodwind section starting at 3:00. A lush string rendition of the theme
exists early in "Farewell Neverland" (continuing for two minutes) and
Williams adapted the idea into a rousing but unused suite-like form in
"Exit Music." A particularly attractive secondary phrase to this theme
also suggests possible song origins. The theme for Peter's kids, as
mentioned already, is the basis for the "When You're Alone" song. The
reminiscing parts of "Remembering Childhood" touch upon this identity
(immediately at the start of the cue) before fragments compliment
"Farewell Neverland" at about 1:00 and again at 7:25. Although the
entire score for
Hook can easily be described as a raucous and
spirited ride, these three softer themes dominate the film's lengthy
reflective sequences. The serious family side of
Home Alone is
prevalent in these portions, but Williams also uses a lofty choir to
punctuate these moments of innermost feelings, a technique rare in the
composer's career. Both "You Are the Pan" and "Farewell Neverland"
provide mesmerizing choral performances that are spectacular
counterpoint to the dynamic action otherwise heard during the
swashbuckling scenes.
Several less important, but sometimes equally compelling
secondary themes exist throughout
Hook. The cute woodwind-driven
theme for Captain Hook and his sidekick Smee is a page taken directly
from the
Home Alone formula for bumbling villains. The slight
waltz rhythm to this theme is very attractively fleshed out in the
entirety of "Smee's Plan" with the kind of emphasis on instrumental
creativity later heard in
The Terminal. A faster and more robust
announcement of this theme bursts with truly cartoonish exuberance at
1:55 in "Presenting the Hook," building to a frenzied ensemble
crescendo, and the full version of "The Ultimate War" concludes with a
glorious end to this idea. After a dedicated kidnapping theme is
introduced in full late in "Hook-Napped," two subthemes for Hook and
Smee's pirate gang exist in "Presenting the Hook." The first, heard at
0:20, is a jolly Irish jig that foreshadows
Far and Away, while
the second, starting at 1:20, is a sly bass woodwind rhythm accompanied
by great viola or fiddle counterpoint (and a touch of owl-like sound
effects). Together, the pirate-related tracks on the
Hook albums
are something of a guilty pleasure because of their affable character
and break of pace. A pretty theme for the film's other major character,
Tinkerbell, is teased at the start of "We Don't Wanna Grow Up" before
its usual xylophone likeness is presented at 1:55 into "The Arrival of
Tink and Flight to Neverland" and at 5:20 into "Farewell Neverland."
This theme truly does shamelessly rip a page from
Home Alone. A
less utilized theme for Wendy, her home, and the concept of redemption
is introduced early and quietly on flute and bells in "Granny Wendy" and
doesn't return in a major role until "Farewell Neverland." Likely a
"redemption theme" more than one specifically for Wendy, this idea is
heard in ensemble performances at 6:00, 8:25, and 9:15 in the finale
cue, the last of which serving as the monumentally dramatic closing of
the entire score. The snowy London setting seen during this cue is yet
another reminder of
Home Alone. Among the many lesser themes, the
"lost boys theme" exists, understandably, throughout "The Lost Boy
Chase" (starting immediately) and the "banquet/food theme" is a playful
tune heard for full ensemble in "The Banquet" and at 1:15 in "The
Never-Feast." The role of the brass in this theme is remarkable,
including a delightful tuba solo at 1:50 into "The Banquet." Other
motifs come and go, including Peter's action theme in "The Ultimate
War," though none is particularly vital.
The action cues in
Hook often extend these
themes to forceful ranks, led by the 20-minute powerhouse "The Ultimate
War," which had to be cut down to eight minutes to fit onto the
commercial album. This rumbling, timpani-pounding action material moves
with the same layered complexity and frantic pace that would prevail in
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, though the perpetually
unpredictable turns of events in
Hook don't allow the themes in
these cues many luxuries of extended performances. Other notable
individual moments in the score include the sound effect of birds at
2:25 in "From Mermaids to Lost Boys" and other creative dubs of similar
things in other places (aided by extensive flute fluttering in the
almost humorous "Pan is Challenged"). The French horn counterpoint in
the early choral part of "You Are the Pan" (featuring a subtheme for the
concept of leadership) is extremely memorable. Less impressive is how
the score begins. In the film, you don't hear any orchestral underscore
for ten minutes, and it's not until the first flight cue that the music
has an appreciable impact. The same can be said about the album
releases, excepting the trailer music, of course. The Dave Grusin-like
urban jazz in "Banning Back Home" is truly hideous and needs to be
ignored, despite the fact that it adds another theme to the list. Only
when the
Harry Potter-like mystery of "Hook-Napped" explores
hints of the title and kidnapping themes does the score really start to
cook. The conversational suspense cues involving Hook ("Hook Challenged
Peter" and "Hook's Lesson") and the simmering development of his themes
are rather tepid as well. Overall, however,
Hook is somewhat of a
hidden gem due to the sinking of the film after a short initial burst at
the box office. Williams did not expect to win an Oscar for his
nominations for
JFK or
Hook, understanding that
Beauty
and the Beast was an unstoppable force that year ("Choosing
Beauty and the Beast was closer to Hollywood tradition and less
risky for all. I'm used to choices like that," he said at the time). The
original Epic Soundtrax album's first pressing was one of the most
flawed endeavors ever to haunt a Williams score, failing to include
technical or engineering information, credits, notes, or even track
titles on the packaging because of its last minute assembly. Fans
unhappy with the 75-minute editing of the score (which really isn't that
offensive in its musical offerings, all things considered), treated
themselves to bootlegs in the late 1990's that extended the music over
several CDs, ranging in sound quality and completeness.
In 2012, La-La Land Records released a long-awaited and
legitimate 2-CD set containing over 140 minutes of music from
Hook, though the product did not come easily and without some
controversy. The contents of this album, as well as its generally fine
sound quality, will satisfy almost all collectors. It sold 3,500 of its
5,000 copies from the label in a single day, an impressive feat for a
$30 offering. Three years of development went into the album, including
painstaking efforts to resurrect and arrange all of Williams' many takes
in the best possible quality of sound. The composer himself became
involved and guided the production through its final arrangements as
well, and with significant support from Sony, fans could rejoice over
this long awaited replacement for the long-standing bootlegs.
Controversy and negative fanboy hysteria involving La-La Land's
Hook arose almost immediately, however. The choice of what music
to include and what to omit became a problem at the time of Williams'
involvement; the composer insisted that music he deemed redundant or
uncomplimentary of the whole (like "Take Me Out to the Ballgame") be
dropped from the presentation. Additionally, to reflect his arrangements
of the original 1990 album, several of the score's seemingly unnecessary
merging of cues into non-chronological suites of like material have been
retained. Williams recorded a number of inserts for
Hook, some of
which quite memorable, and these were not included or mixed in to their
surrounding cues like some fans had hoped. On top of that, the
arrangements and some difficulty with the source used for this product
(which was less than desirable, from several accounts) cause many cues
to suffer abnormally abrupt beginnings or conclusions, most notably the
dissatisfying start of "Farewell Neverland." The "Ultimate War" trio of
cues, the last of which had not been available in really decent sound
previously, experiences several obnoxious fluctuations in volume and
unnecessary loops. The only solution to some of these issues is to
revisit the 1990 product. Some of the default tracks on the 2012 album
are worthy alternates, however, including the impressive addition of
more choral accompaniment to "You Are the Pan." The "Prologue" track on
both albums is still different from the trailer's version, featuring a
different tempo and pitch applied in the editing process. Ultimately,
the 2012 album is a winner (highlighted by the new "Exit Music" track at
its end), but the set is not comprehensive and without audio problems.
Despite lingering concerns about the albums, though, the music for
Hook remains one of the most thematically diverse, robust, and
beautiful scores of the 1990's. It would be the final great children's
score for Williams in the century.
***** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For John Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.8
(in 75 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.67
(in 349,377 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
The 1991 Epic album's packaging is a disgrace. The insert was designed at the
last minute (before the musical contents of the album were even known), causing a lack
of track listings, credits, notes, or engineering information in its sparse pages. The
thick insert of the 2012 La-La Land set contains extensive information about the film
and the score, including a track-by-track analysis. Some track times on its packaging
are incorrect, however.
