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Review of The Lonely Guy (Jerry Goldsmith)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... only if you seek to complete your collection of 1980's
Jerry Goldsmith film scores, the comedy tones here far less mature than
in the composer's genre works just a few years later.
Avoid it... if you have little tolerance for Goldsmith's lighter and upbeat synthetic mannerisms of the 1980's, their presence largely dominating the otherwise pretty orchestral presence.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Lonely Guy: (Jerry Goldsmith) It took several
cinematic attempts for comedian Steve Martin to translate his stage
success into box office grosses, and 1984's The Lonely Guy was
one stumbling block along that journey. The accomplished television and
stage star had the misfortune of starring in a few total duds before
finding his stride on the big screen, and in The Lonely Guy he
conveys the role of a prototypical "lonely guy" in the big city, a
hopeless bachelor who suffers terrible luck with women. He's one of
countless such men in the population, and The Lonely Guy
comedically pilfers all the stereotypes of such nice but unlaid
malcontents across New York City. Martin's character, after several
failed relationships, eventually writes a book about and for lonely guys
everywhere, propelling him to stardom that, ironically, brings him
plenty of sudden attention from the ladies. It's a throw-away movie with
a few moderately humorous gags but ultimately fails as a romantic comedy
because of its insufferable generalizations and insistence upon
remaining far more charming than its vulgar competition. More
importantly for film score collectors, though, The Lonely Guy
represented composer Jerry Goldsmith's first foray into the realm of
silly comedy since the 1960's. While he soon tackled the genre in the
latter half of the 1980's with both zeal and success, the assignment to
this 1984 film was a massive and sudden departure for a man who had
written some the most serious and orchestrally powerful film scores of
the previous ten years. Perhaps more than most other projects, The
Lonely Guy frustrated Goldsmith during the recording process, his
short score experiencing several re-writes at the behest of the
filmmakers and the composer's own dissatisfaction with the product. The
actual unique score material appearing in the movie only amounts to just
over twenty minutes in length, but that didn't stop Goldsmith from
tinkering extensively with the few prominent cues he did manage to get
into the film.
Not surprisingly, The Lonely Guy made use of several song placements, and these formed the basis for the LP record album release that existed at the time of the film's release. Alongside album arrangements of two Goldsmith cues on that brief presentation was "Love Comes Without Warning," the pop song he wrote for the main titles of the movie and performed by the band America. Nearly everything contained in Goldsmith's score is structurally related to that "Love Comes Without Warning" song. Its performance by America is so disparate (and badly dated now) in style from the composer's own instrumentals that some listeners may not pick up on all the melodic connections. The tone of Goldsmith's score is chipper and upbeat in most cues, utilizing a moderate orchestra but relying very heavily on his developing electronics at the time. The synthetic harpsichord and other keyboarded tones are joined by his standard drum kit, a few sound effects like a barking dog and siren interspersed but not always making the picture. The synthetics in The Lonely Guy are recognizable to Goldsmith's palette but nowhere near as refined as they would be in The 'Burbs, serving more of a testing ground for Gremlins but less comfortable against the symphonic portions. There are passages of romantic string, woodwind, and pop-oriented keyboarding that are as pleasant as any character theme provided by Goldsmith for his slew of 1990's scores of similar stature, but don't expect any of these moments to last long. The song is constructed from three melodies that Goldsmith applies in various guides in nearly every cue of the score. The A phrase is a whimsical and melancholy identity that is the easiest to digest for its somber but pretty applications throughout the work. It blurts through several comedic incarnations during "In Dedication," "House Hunt," and "Joggers Do It" but gains smoother textures by "No Number" and later on. The song's bridge section is a sappier extension of this main character theme, adapted at the ends of "I Understand" and "The Magazines" in the score for the ultimate expressions of desperate want and longing. Much flashier is Goldsmith's accelerated, rhythmic B phrase from the main song, which resembles a preview of his backing for the Gremlins theme and occasionally earns some propulsive keyboarded base presence a la Explorers. Even this optimistic expression of every lonely guy's hope of getting laid ultimately cannot escape its destiny as a romantic string theme from Goldsmith in later passages, becoming buoyant by "The Book." It also supplies the most openly orchestral moment of drama in "So Empty." The action material in The Lonely Guy is totally flimsy, the duo of "The Wedding" and "Abandon Ship" testing your patience in its intrusive pop infusions over the composer's own mannerisms. In the end, it's a score of moderate intellectual interest for Goldsmith collectors but not worth much pursuit. At best, five to ten minutes of the more palatable romantic material could be culled for a smooth experience. The work was never released on its own until a 2018 album from Intrada that contained both the songs and score from the picture. Don't expect much from the songs, and the score presentation is mainly bolstered by a large quantity of alternate takes that the label included to illuminate Goldsmith's struggles on the recording stage to find the right tone for numerous passages. The "In Dedication" cue that parodies Richard Strauss' "Also Sprach Zarathustra" and 2001: A Space Odyssey for the caveman opening of the film received no less than eight variations, and ironically the original options were the best at accomplishing the task. (As fate would have it, the humorous musical poke was entirely dialed out of the film anyway.) The same could be said of the other cues with many revisions; Goldsmith's initial renditions were typically the best. Intrada's limited (and inevitably sold-out) album includes instrumental takes on the song and the original two album arrangements from 1984. The quality of the recording is fine, on par with other Goldsmith scores of the era. It's a curious product that will fill a rare hole in an avid Goldsmith collector's discography from the composer's 1980's years, but it's simply not worth obtaining on the merits of the music alone. Goldsmith achieved far greater heights in the genre not long after. **
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 67:41
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes detailed information about the score and film.
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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 The Lonely Guy are Copyright © 2018, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/30/24 (and not updated significantly since). |
