: (Jerry Goldsmith) In a rare return
to acting without directing at the same time, Robert Redford places
himself in the role of a decorated American general who refuses to obey
an executive order and is thus sent to a military prison called "the
castle." His stubborn will to resist the unreasonable actions of the
prison's warden in 2001's
earn him the respect of
the men, and only through his sacrifice in an uprising can he bring
proper justice to its confines. The Rod Lurie film was undoubtedly too
long in running time, dragging its story out for over two hours and
hitting the patriotism and redemption buttons too frequently. Audiences
showed no patience for sitting through the film, making it one of the
year's biggest fiscal disasters for a major studio. While making use of
classical music insertions and a few blues songs during that bloated
time,
was among the last five scores written and
recorded by the legendary Jerry Goldsmith, taking advantage of the
composer's rich history of creating uplifting patriotic works. Forgotten
by some listeners in the composer's late string of ethnically powerful
action and solemn mystery scores was the fact that Goldsmith was still
very capable of assembling a rousing, country-first score for brass and
percussion. Thirty years prior, his military marches for
burst into movie music history, establishing
Goldsmith as an artist with a mastery of pompous and even arrogant
military music. That style of writing from Goldsmith would turn
bittersweet in his three
scores, producing a haunting theme
for a fallen soldier that remains atop his resume. In the 1990's,
Goldsmith's military-related work had more of a swashbuckling edge, with
works such as
melding
patriotism with all out adventure. All of the aforementioned scores are
dominated by lead performances by brass instruments, with noble themes
that often graced the composer's compilations and concerts.
In
The Last Castle, as the gritty, court-martialed
general leads his insurrection, Goldsmith returns to emotional territory
that is closest in relation to the complexly vengeful
Rambo
scores, but with a prominent role for trumpet and rolling motif usage
that will very obviously remind even mainstream listeners of
Patton. For a film that was advertised as having a substantial
amount of action,
The Last Castle is treated to an introspective
score, exploring the wits of personality and patriotism within the
context of tense resiliency. Only in a handful of cues does a fully
rousing performance of defiance break the mostly reflective underscore.
The tone for
The Last Castle, while it may contain the same basic
elements as all of the scores mentioned above and yet serve a film for
which a highly dramatic advertisement campaign was launched, was among
Goldsmith's most reserved in years. Many cues are opened and closed by
rapid snare bursts, with minimal strings and electronic rhythms to set
the necessary militaristic atmosphere. On top of that, two or three
brass motifs repeat unwaveringly throughout many cues, very predictably
and with a consistently sorrowful and frustrated mood. The rising and
falling statements of this main theme for the imprisoned general
function almost like a slow ostinato for various brass layers, which is
where the comparisons to Goldsmith's echoing trumpet call in
Patton become inevitable. The second phrase of the theme is
rarely called upon but offers overdue resolution by ending on key,
expanding into a melancholy string identity of its own by the height of
"The Flag." The short bursts of actual, ballsy action music resemble
very much the composer's
Rambo III score from 1989, as well as
Executive Decision to a lesser extent. Goldsmith takes the
figures of the general's theme and alters them for an attractive action
variant in "The Rock Pile" (most notably), "Full Alert," and late
rebellion cues. The use of the timpani to pound out the bass region of
Goldsmith's action material had become a staple, as had the deliberate
tempos and emphasized spacing of brass whole notes.
When you compare all of Goldsmith's patriotic action
themes over the years, it becomes evident that the meter and placement
of lengthier accent notes in his themes are typically pretty much the
same. This similarity causes the themes to have that "Goldsmithian"
sound that is always enjoyable, if not superb in their nobility. Many
point to
First Knight as a prime example of this. But the sound
was also growing old and predictable by the 1990's, and Goldsmith again
in
The Last Castle failed to take any chances with his
established structures or instrumentation. No substantial secondary
themes exist, and the electronic effects, often Goldsmith's tool for
creativity, are largely diminished. Only the application of a flute and
clarinet for one doomed secondary character deviates. When not engaged
in development of the primary theme and its action variant, the score
often meanders aimlessly with only the help of slight bass string tones.
The remarkable predictability and lack of experimentation in this score
caused it to pass by very quickly on its original 2001 album, though
part of that comment results from the existence of under 35 minutes of
score material on that product. Because long sequences in the film exist
without Goldsmith's music or apply classical or blues insertions, the
score has less of an impact outside of the most intentionally poignant
scenes. For the collectors of the composer's works, there's nothing to
really catch your attention once you've established that
The Last
Castle is an extremely stereotypical military score for Goldsmith.
It is the kind of derivative, patriotic music with a melancholy heart
that many had come to expect from the composer for portrayals of
rebellious patriots. As usual for the era, the engineering of the score
is marvelous, especially enhancing the few full performances of the
primary theme on trumpet with resounding harmony from bass strings. This
positive attribute especially assists the "Taking Command" cue, which
has a passage in its second minute that requires the trumpets and horns
to alternate rhythmic duties to denote the battle of intellects shown
between the two leads; the standard mix of Goldsmith's recordings from
this period works wonders with this material.
Ironically, it was the terrorist attack on America in
September of 2001 that caused the score's album to be of memorable
consequence. With the attack occurring in the waning days of
The Last
Castle's post-production, Goldsmith re-arranged the end credits
rendition of the general's theme and labeled the recording "September
11, 2001." Interestingly, the superb trumpet performances by Malcolm
McNab and the seemingly more inspiring orchestral accompaniment for this
rendition of the theme, led by muscular piano, are a remarkable aspect
of an otherwise solid but average Goldsmith score. Only three minutes in
length, the tribute to the victims of the attack is a noteworthy move by
Goldsmith, especially given how close it came to the time of his death,
and he was fortunate enough to record the piece for an already patriotic
film due to awkwardly lucky timing. (Imagine him trying to work
something like this in to
Along Came a Spider!) The 2001 album
unfortunately contains two bluesy songs among the score, and although
they fit the prison environment quite well, the final one significantly
diminishes the mood of the attack tribute, a memorial cue that
undoubtedly should have been presented as the final track on the album.
In 2020, Intrada Records expanded the presentation to 55 minutes,
offering similar sound quality and including several alternate cues,
classical source pieces recorded or licensed for the film, and the
original album arrangement to form a robust 2-CD set. The additional
cues from the score proper include contemplative renditions of the
general's theme early, led by the impressive expression of defiance for
the idea in "My Mission." Several bleak underscore cues now occupy the
middle of the work, though the climax finally features the "Battle for
the Castle" cue largely written by orchestrator Mark McKenzie, who
followed Joel McNeely's
Air Force One methods in competently
referencing Goldsmith's motific and rhythmic figures for an exciting six
minutes. The alternate versions of "The Flag" are also of interest, the
cue clearly posing difficulties in tone for the composer and filmmakers.
On the whole, while
The Last Castle is certainly stronger than
Goldsmith's other 2000 and 2001 scores, collectors of his work over many
decades will find very little music that doesn't reflect or repeat the
composer's previous patriotic efforts.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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