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Review of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (John Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the inadequate 1989 album if you are willing to
tolerate substandard sound quality and only half of the impressive but
not overwhelming music written by John Williams for the film.
Avoid it... even on the 2008 and 2024 expanded, remastered editions if you absolutely demand the complete score for the film, because even the longer 2008 set is missing more than 20 minutes of material.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: (John Williams)
With the fourth installment in the Indiana Jones film franchise
long in the works, the final chapter of the story for two decades
remained Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, perhaps the most
humorous entry in the original trilogy. The introduction of Henry Jones
(Indy Jr.'s father) produces laughs sadly missing from Indiana Jones
and the Temple of Doom, while the object of the chasing and
searching in The Last Crusade is nothing less than the Holy Grail
itself. The film would mark the tenth collaboration between director
Steven Spielberg and composer John Williams, and the two were anxious to
move the musical identity of the franchise towards more mature
structures that would further distance it from the reliance on the
famous "Raiders March" theme from the original film. There were plenty
of fresh storylines with which to inspire Williams to write several new
themes and motifs for the never-ending chasing of the Joneses. The
religious elements of the story provide the same opportunity for
grandeur that Williams had employed with great effect for the Ark of the
Covenant in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the presence of Henry Jones
allows Williams to explore the more personal and distantly sensitive
side of the main character, and the Nazis are treated to their own new
and robust theme. Missing no opportunity to make a splash, Williams
writes several cues with stand-alone identities throughout the middle of
the score that themselves have become concert pieces. As such, the music
for The Last Crusade wanders in almost as many directions as
Hook would the following year (though with fewer actual themes,
of course), and there are many similarities in its fragmentation of
attention to the composer's much later Harry Potter and the Prisoner
of Azkaban. In both franchises, Williams would branch out so
effectively from the base identity of the original film that the newly
created identity would share only a few of the aspects that made the
original so memorable.
In The Last Crusade, Williams has lost the magic and sheer enthusiasm of Raiders of the Lost Ark, but has maintained his usual high standard of action writing to such a degree that the score is still entertaining. Williams and Spielberg decided that any extended use of the original march would be a symbolic pushing of the "cheap thrill" button, and thus the only substantial presentation of that theme exists in the customary end credits suite of all the themes from the film. It's easy to understand why the country (and the world, in fact) was becoming tired of the "Raiders March," for it had received endless airtime in concert halls and public address systems through the 1980's. But with its diminished role in The Last Crusade, also absent is the charming and exuberant element of the music's impact on the film. By moving further from that addictive flair, the franchise had almost musically recognized that it was tired, a characteristic that wasn't lost on critics and audiences. To compensate, Williams does try to continue the tradition of putting some humor into the mix, though none of the brighter cues in The Last Crusade can still touch "The Basket Chase" from the original film. Williams marks the early days of Indy's adventures at the outset of the film with a playful theme that shares all too many elements in rhythm and instrumentation with his obnoxious Ewok music from Return of the Jedi. Later, "No Ticket" is a more successful play on sharp, deliberate string rhythms in a stand-alone piece. A somewhat humorous, but fascinating cue remains "Scherzo For Motorcycle and Orchestra," perhaps the ultimate chase cue to end all chase cues for the beloved archeologist. Embodying the more formidable Nazi theme for The Last Crusade, this cue is the highlight of the score in its frenzy of action that perfectly merges the sophistication in movement for Henry Jones, the impending danger from the Nazis, and the light-heartedness of Indy's creative methodology. The Nazis themselves received a somewhat fragmented identity in Raiders of the Lost Ark, and with The Last Crusade taking audiences into the heart of their country and technology, Williams invents a grand motif in the style of a descending fanfare for their posturing. This theme's integration into both the scherzo and later cues is remarkably handled and, in many ways, it is the most memorable aspect of the score. The theme for the Grail, or better yet for its mystique, is appropriately ancient in its progression, but is also quite simple, perhaps an attempt by Williams to mirror the appearance of the Grail and its basic representation of goodness. A sub-theme within the mould of the music for the Grail is actually the Henry Jones theme, which is also a smart move by Williams given that Indy's father is so obsessed with the artifact. Often performed by woodwinds and strings after a statement of the Grail's theme, Henry's theme is sympathetic, but never truly engaging, an effective method of extending the separation within the family. Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the religious music from The Last Crusade is the lack of consistent use of a choral element. While the choir was an incredibly vital part of Raiders of the Lost Ark's "Map Room at Dawn" cue (and other representations of the Ark's power), Williams allows most of the similarly rendered visuals on screen in this film to pass with only the orchestra. His Grail theme is still effective, but the lack of depth, especially compared to the engaging single choral moment in "The Penitent Man Will Pass," is puzzling. More so than in the other Indy scores, Williams seems to introduce snippets of motifs in several places that are never fully realized. In doing so, each major cue has its own personality traits, and some are more effective than others. In the middle of "The Canyon of the Crescent Moon," for instance, Williams utilizes a sudden, soft woodwind solo that is never placed in proper context. Part of this confusion is caused by a general lack of clarity of the Henry Jones material. As is to be expected in any score of this franchise, two chase cues stand out; both "Escape from Venice" and "Belly of the Steel Beast" rely on propulsive rhythms, though neither seems to build the same steam that listeners heard in "Desert Chase" from the first film. The cue for the chase in Venice is playful in its instrumentation, though sparse in the depth of those specialty contributions (the film version of this cue does not exist on either the 1989 or 2008 albums). While "Ah, Rats!!!" intelligently uses whining strings for the rodents, the intriguing part of the music below Venice is Williams' reprise of the Ark's theme from the first film as Indy and Elsa see its likeness inscribed on a wall. On the whole, The Last Crusade is a competent and interesting score, but it fails to extend the bold enthusiasm of Raiders of the Lost Ark and the exotic attractiveness of Temple of Doom. The lack of choral use, as well the absence of a sultry romance theme for the villainess (Williams rarely lets a score like this go by without giving due time to the sloppy kisses), could make you leave the score for The Last Crusade wanting more. Two important detractions from the score on album prior to 2008 are significant to note, because they were factors in some of the problems described above. First, the recording quality of The Last Crusade, especially on the original 1989 album, is very unsatisfactory. There is no dynamic vibrancy to the recording, with the snare drum mixed annoyingly front and center, and with a sound so dry that the effectiveness of the religious climax is sadly flat. Some of this problem could be related to the recording of an 85-piece ensemble in Los Angeles rather than the arguably more accomplished performers and recording studios in London. In several of the most pertinent cues during the score's latter half, the ensemble sucks the life out of Williams' original ideas with performances that contain none of the nobility or grandeur that the writing demands. The most popular piece for concert performances from The Last Crusade is, obviously, the lengthy "End Credits" suite, but if you get a chance to hear several of the other cues from within the middle of the score performed by other ensembles with more current and advanced recording technologies, you will almost always be impressed by those presentations. Some of these problems with The Last Crusade were mitigated upon the 2008 release of a set of all four scores in the franchise (including significant portions of additional, previously unreleased material from the first three scores) by Concord Records, the group responsible for the commercial album for Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. A longtime disappointment for fans of the franchise was the lack of proper treatment of both The Last Crusade and The Temple of Doom on album. The latter never received a full release in the first place, and the hour from The Last Crusade on the commercial 1989 album not only suffers from the aforementioned flat recording quality, but is also missing almost an hour of music from the film (some of which quite memorable). A late-1990's Japanese import of the album offered the same selections, but with improved sound quality. Bootlegs of the complete score began surfacing in 1997, though the sound quality of these, believe it or not, was even worse than that of the commercial product. The Concord set helps alleviate consumer angst, though with some string attached. The set's remastered sound quality for The Last Crusade is clearly superior, finally solving that nagging problem. Roughly 33 minutes of additional material from The Last Crusade is available on the set, 18 of which actually inserted amongst the previously available material for a more rounded listening experience. Some fans will quibble with the arrangement over two CDs or the editing of cues back into their original recorded forms, though the score is still well served by this set. The added material includes notable performances of the Grail theme (in "Father's Study" and "Wrong Choice, Right Choice") and especially the Nazi theme ("Alarm!," "Marcus Is Captured/To Berlin" and the remainder of the blimp scene cues). Otherwise, however, the additional music isn't strikingly memorable. There is still 15 minutes of major cues missing (along with 5+ minutes of other, less significant bridge or source recordings), leaving the door open for another product in the future to clean up the mess and collect more money from fans. Only the primary CD of that 2008 presentation was re-issued by Disney in 2024 as part of a useless and expensive franchise set. Ultimately, some of those fans will cling to their more complete bootlegs, but Concord's 2008 selection of music, despite forcing them to purchase all four scores, was still long overdue and welcome. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1989/1997 Albums:
Total Time: 58:16
2008 Concord Set: Total Time: 91:11
* Previously unreleased ** Includes previously unreleased material (total time reflects only music from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, not the other scores and interview on the set) 2024 Disney Album: Total Time: 76:16
(Total time reflects only music from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, not the other
scores on the set, which totals 370:07 in time.)
NOTES & QUOTES:
None of the inserts for the 1989 or 1997 products contain extra information about the
score or film.
The 2008 Concord and 2024 Disney sets contain bloated packaging with extensive photography and short notes from the composer and director, but they surprisingly contain no analysis of the music itself.
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1997-2024, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved.
The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade are Copyright © 1989, 1997, 2008, 2024, Warner Brothers Records, Edoya (Japan), Concord Records, Walt Disney Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/29/97 and last updated 8/1/24. |
