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Review of The Natural (Randy Newman)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... if you seek the early pinnacle of Randy Newman's career,
one of the most defining, effective, and memorable sports scores of all
time.
Avoid it... if you have little tolerance for Newman's vintage jazz and Aaron Copland sensibilities, both of which saturate the score outside of the bold performances of the primary, inspirational fanfare and its associated theme of redemption.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
The Natural: (Randy Newman) The 1980's saw the
birth of the "sports hero movie" phenomenon, leading to several of the
best entries in the genre during its infancy. Many imitations followed,
some delving off into parody territory, but in the realm of purely
serious, high quality drama in the sporting arena, few (if any) films
can rival the influence of Hoosiers and The Natural. The
latter was the inaugural venture of TriStar Pictures, a 1984 Barry
Levinson adaptation of a Bernard Malamud novel that has often been
considered the best representation of baseball on screen. Overcoming
uncertain early reviews, The Natural became a crowd-pleaser and
gained respect in heavy doses as the years passed. It told of the story
of a man seeking redemption after his early promise of a baseball career
was foiled by a gunshot from a crazy woman. Sixteen years later a
35-year-old rookie on a terrible team, Roy Hobbs, played to perfection
by Robert Redford, leads the team, despite its corrupt ownership's
intentional attempts to lose, to an unlikely pennant. Some argue that
everything after the shooting is a flash of the life he could have had
if not killed at that moment, but that speculation is as dissatisfying
as the book's original downbeat ending (in which Hobbs strikes out to
close out his comeback and succumbs to the bribes central to the story).
His last-strike home run into the shattered lights of the stadium has
become an iconic symbol of triumph, in both the sports world and in
other avenues of life. Much of the success of that famous scene in
The Natural is owed to Randy Newman's memorable score. Not yet
established as a household name (and long before his fame singing for
animated blockbusters), Newman announced himself with a solid score for
The Natural that earned him a well deserved Academy Award
nomination and Grammy Award win the following year. His music became an
integral part of the mystique of the film, utilizing some of the
vintage, jazzy sensibilities that flowed from his Louisiana roots while
also conveying his Americana symphonic habits. Above all, The
Natural features Newman's most potent career fanfare.
A touch of Aaron Copland is met with an obvious influence by Vangelis' Chariots of Fire in the performances of the score's two primary themes, but the true treasure of The Natural is Newman's heroic incarnations of his title theme. This triumphant and deliberate brass theme, aided by the magic of tingling percussion and electronic bass enhancements, has become an anthem for sporting perseverance in the decades since, often used at baseball events to introduce players. It even joined Jerry Goldsmith's equally popular music for Rudy on American Senator John McCain's doomed 2008 presidential campaign as the official introduction music of divisive Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin. Such tarnishing was unfortunate, but at least royalties were supposedly paid. While the disparate tone of the various themes used by Newman to address the facets of the story is clearly evident when hearing the score for The Natural apart from the film, he managed to consistently instill enough instrumental representation of magic to keep the entirety tightly cohesive. Understandably, attention goes to the heroic brass fanfare and its accompanying theme of redemption, but the most frequently employed and manipulated melody in the score is the Elmer Bernstein and Copland-inspired representation of the baseball player's roots on the farm (and the associated simple life often discussed in the character interactions). Heard as the anchor of "Prologue 1915-1923" and opening "The End Title," this wholesome theme for strings and solo trumpet receives considerable attention in between. It informs the love theme for Hobbs and his eventual partner in "Iris & Roy" and "A Father Makes a Difference" as well. It is in this Americana theme that Newman conveys the sentimental heart of The Natural, and while it doesn't hold the kind of memorable characteristics as the main fanfare, it is the glue that ensures the score's appropriate period tone. At times, as in "The Whammer Strikes Out," the Western sound will remind too much of Copland for many listeners' comfort. Joining it are a handful of roaring vintage, big band jazz pieces that make the score more original, including "The Majors: The Mind is a Strange Thing" and "Winning." This tone is boiled down to solo woodwind performances of slight sleaze in "Memo." In the end, though, it's the fanfare and adjoining theme that make The Natural a classic. From its initial pair of rising notes on brass in unison, this theme is as inspirational as any in film music. After the bold and heroic fanfare comes the "feel-good" melody of the picture, the redemptive piece that connects the immensity of the fanfare and the period of the other main theme to audiences. The famous "The Final Game" cue utilizes the fanfare and theme with brilliance, imitating the sparks from the shattered lights with tingling percussion rhythms that have played an important role in setting up that one moment throughout the rest of the film. A blend of what listeners would later recognize as Jerry Goldsmith's synthetic ramblings and James Horner's opening of The Rocketeer, this percussive effect, achieved with piano, woodwinds, metallic percussion, and possible electronics, gives the score its sense of magic and the inevitable. Newman's employment of the technique is masterful; at 2:14 into "The Final Game," he builds it from a single piano stroke into its full rhythm to match the awe and disbelief of the conclusive home run. The gradual clarification of this idea from the moment lightening hits the family tree in the first cue until the climax is an intangible highlight of the score. The presentation of Newman's contribution to the film on album has always been neatly succinct, running only a little over half an hour when removing the source performance of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" (with a few sound effects from the game in the mix) and the concert suite of the main theme from the equation. That latter piece, titled "The Natural," is the obvious result of Chariots of Fire, an electronic sports score still fresh in mainstream minds at the time. This synthetic version of the fanfare and redemption theme is easy listening, though its echoing stereo effects to mark each measure are a bit too close to Vangelis territory to ignore. This recording was not heard in the original print of the film. A better summary of the score remains "The End Title," which touches upon all of the main themes in full symphonic glory. Overall, The Natural still eclipses Randy Newman's many accomplishments in the decades to follow, a splendid and extraordinarily effective combination of period theatrics and inspirational victory in the sports genre. *****
TRACK LISTINGS:
Total Time: 34:23
* not contained in the film
NOTES & QUOTES:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
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