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| Williams |
Midway: (John Williams) World War II movies of the
1970's were much different from the ones that had come two decades
before. Gone were the blindingly patriotic undertones of the classic
films and in vogue was a more documentary-style examination of the
famous battles and personas of the war through a neutral lens. The scope
of these films, however, had not diminished, and with 1976's
Midway, Universal Studios and director Jack Smight enlisted a
stunning cast of A-list veterans that included Charlton Heston, Henry
Fonda, James Coburn, Glenn Ford, Toshiro Mifune, Robert Mitchum, Cliff
Robertson, and Robert Wagner, all as commanding officers. The telling of
the actual battle of Midway, a pivotal moment in the war during which
the Americans gained the upper hand in the Pacific over the Japanese,
was rather sloppy, mixing the seemingly obligatory amount of distracting
character development in with battle scenes that relied far too heavily
on archival war footage and therefore were somewhat confusing. In
retrospect,
Midway is an ambitious failure, one that lacks the
sincerity of those that had come before. The representation of the
Japanese angle of the narrative is especially puzzling, failing to give
the commanders of the enemy fleet a convincing reaction to the unfolding
events. At some point, too, you end up with too much star power for the
good of one film, and
Midway is a bit distracting in its deep
collection of talent. Smight had worked with composer Jerry Goldsmith
several times before (and would do so again), and despite Goldsmith's
award-recognized experience in this genre, the director received the
services of John Williams, whose track record with Universal was likely
a determining factor in his involvement with
Midway (Williams and
the studio had hit the jackpot with
Jaws the previous year).
Williams, though not as famous as he would be after another year, was
already a two-time Oscar winner, a veteran of disaster films that had
become the blockbuster standard in the first half of the decade.
This production was another opportunity (like the more
noteworthy
Earthquake) for Williams to score a film that would
utilize "Sensurround," a Dolby Digital 1.1 format that essentially took
a monaural mix and added a subwoofer for increased range. Generally,
Williams' score sounds good in the film despite the fact that the
Sensurround didn't do much more than provide indiscriminate hums in the
lowest region. For a film of well over two hours in length,
Midway actually did not avail itself of much music from Williams.
His contribution was limited (by intent) to just a fraction of the
movie, inhibiting his ability to make a significant or cohesive impact
on the narrative. He wrote two themes for
Midway, both likely to
be recognized by fans of the composer from their many concert variations
that he has conducted through the years. The primary military fanfare
for the film is a march with slight John Philip Sousa inclinations that
was itself likely inspired in part by Goldsmith's
Patton, though
almost obnoxiously enthusiastic bridge sections of the theme root it
firmly in Williams' stylistic corner. This idea, while heard exclusively
in the end title sequence, didn't really fit with the tone of the
majority of the film and therefore its usage in the actual score is
quite rare, limited to fragments of mostly its primary phrase in the
cues "Red Parks Fighters," "Good News for Nimitz," and "Matt Takes Off."
The second theme is summarized in the concert arrangement "Men of the
Yorktown March," a construct more frequently used for Nimitz's on screen
moments and in nostalgic moments such as "Missing the Flatlands,"
"Ensign Gay Afloat," and the finale just before the conclusion of the
film. This theme, very pastoral in the flowing strings that Williams
would employ many times to represent the best of America in subsequent
years, is more frequently utilized in the score. The closing of its
concert version, with pulsating high brass, is a highlight of the entire
score. The best moments of underscore from
Midway come in cues
like "Good News for Nimitz," in which Williams creatively merges the two
themes by using the primary march as counterpoint to the Yorktown
theme.
Unfortunately, outside of these two themes,
Midway is a surprisingly dull work, quoting sequences from
Williams' disaster epics and frequently neglecting to establish a
direction in any of its many short cues. The "Main Title," for instance,
slowly builds to a classic Williams-style crescendo of power, but this
piece's ambitious, driving rhythm in the final minute doesn't have
anything in common with the rest of the work. The music for the Japanese
is particularly disappointing; though respectful, its barely audible
woodwind solos and piano and harp figures do not do justice to the
weight of the Japanese commanders' dilemmas. And only in "Hiroshima
Harbor" do you hear Williams make any attempt to provide the Japanese
with an ethnic musical element. The action music in
Midway is
satisfying in short bursts but fails to maintain energy for long. The
entire score suffers from a lack of overarching character development in
the thematic structures. It is thus a disappointingly anonymous score
compared to Williams' other epics of the period. Long unreleased in its
original recorded form,
Midway was commissioned by Varèse
Sarabande for a re-recording with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra
(under the direction of Rick Wentworth) to coincide with the film's
first DVD offering in 1998. The crystal clear digital sound is welcome
and the performances are strong, but the score didn't need this
treatment as badly as Williams' underappreciated 1979 score for
Dracula, which would have been a far worthier candidate for a
complete re-recording. Some listeners will find that the wet ambient mix
of the re-recording obscures too many of the intricacies of
Midway, though given that this was, for more than a decade, the
only non-bootlegged version of the score available, some leeway had to
be given. The mid-range brass especially benefit from the resounding
reverb effect, with French horns very satisfying in their fuller,
harmonious statements in "Main Title" and "Matt Takes Off." The actual
original recording of the score was finally released by Varèse on
a 3,000-unit pressing in 2011, though master tapes were lost for several
key cues, forcing partial restoration from inferior secondary sources.
On the whole,
Midway is a sufficient score with a pair of famous
concert pieces. Just don't expect the remainder of the work to match the
same level of appeal.
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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 363,495 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert of the 1998 album includes notes about the score and film,
but not much information about the re-recording process. That of the 2011 album
includes extensive information about all aspects of the film, score, and albums.
