Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #2,268
Written 2/6/24
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Buy it... if you take solace in Mark Isham's softer, understated
dramatic writing for smaller orchestras, this score achieving a
sensitive country demeanor without any unnecessary dramatic
extroversion.
Avoid it... if sparsely rendered, slowly enunciated themes cannot
sustain the emotional punch you demand for a story of this interpersonal
gravity and stargazing whimsy.
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| Isham |
October Sky: (Mark Isham) Celebrated for years in
the Appalachian region for its recognition of the struggles of youth in
coal country, the 1999 drama October Sky is the mostly true
autobiographical tale of a young West Virginia man who in 1957 rejected
his future in the coal mines to instead pursue a future in rocketry. The
launch of the Sputnik satellite by the Soviets inspired him and a group
of like-minded space dreamers to use whatever means available to launch
their own amateur rockets. At the heart of the story, however, is the
teenager's strained relationship with his father, a dedicated coal mine
manager. After initially rejecting the boys' plight, both the families
and the townspeople at large come to support the endeavor. The lead
character eventually moves on to a career in engineering that landed him
at NASA. While Joe Johnston's movie did change some of the events from
the source book from which it was adapted, the wholesome father-son
element survived and drove the narrative. Although the director had a
fruitful working relationship with composer James Horner to that point
in his career at the helm of feature films, he spent the next two
decades rotating between major composers, starting with Mark Isham on
October Sky. Johnston had extensively temped the picture to
Isham's music and hired the composer because of that affinity for the
music's style. Isham, like all composers, was accustomed to hearing (and
often disregarding if necessary) the temp scores in a new project, but
he admitted that his music worked rather well on this movie right from
the beginning. He took a different tact with the final score, and his
music had to contend with a significant amount of 1950's pop songs
sprinkled throughout the movie. His score was comparatively very
conservative, applying a small orchestra of strings, woodwinds, rare
brass depth, and a few percussive accents to supply a hearty base for
the characters. A solo violin is the centerpiece of the ensemble,
lending a folksy, timeless country demeanor. This group performs very
respectfully with the intent of avoiding any semblance of sappy
Hollywood presence in the music. Isham clearly preferred understatement
here, generating a rather sparse and restrained score that strives
unsuccessfully to push the dramatic element when sometimes needed but is
otherwise non-offensive in each of its parts.
The subdued Americana spirit in Isham's approach to
October Sky conveys a sufficient but at times odd sense of
hopelessness in the location and circumstances of the story. For the
concept of a dying coal town and familial struggles, this choice makes
sense, but it also robs some of the dramatic potential from the work
overall. There is some stewing in sparsely pleasant anonymity ("Miss
Riley") that especially hurts the narrative of the score. The thematic
handling is very simplistic, with no counterpoint and tempos
excruciatingly slow. While Isham devised two primary themes and one
secondary theme for
October Sky, none really captures your
imagination. A father-son theme serves as the main identity, one mostly
for the relationship in turmoil. It opens and closes "Coalwood" on solo
violin, becomes fragmented in "The Rocket Book" and barely cohesive in
the chords of "I Was Lucky to Know Him," and shifts to woodwinds in "It
is a Thing of Glory." This main theme provides the solo violin in a more
whimsical state in "The Dreams of Boys," opens "This One's Yours" in
kind emotion, and returns to the solo violin at the outset of "October
Sky," where it resolves to a dramatic new identity by Isham's intent.
Alternating extensively with this theme is what the composer calls the
"Wonder of Sputnik theme," with more ascending, hopeful phrasing that
highlights the score. This idea is romanticized on full strings in the
middle of "Coalwood," shifts to woodwinds and strings over flowing harp
in "Sputnik!," and offers some muted enthusiasm with rambling plucking
in "Cape Coalwood." After a fuller rendition in "Splitting the Sky," the
wonder theme is more redemptive but still subdued in "Rocket Boys"
before building to nice full passage. It finally alternates with the
main theme more formally in "This One's Yours" to denote acceptance and
love. A secondary motif that Isham deems appropriate for scientific
triumph is optimistic with metallic percussion in "The Search for AUK
13," returns with that liveliness and percussion in "Range and
Altitude," and is smoothed out for a more dramatic effect at the height
of "Rocket Boys." While these themes basically function and are somewhat
pretty, they lack punch and memorability. Still, despite this nagging
flaw and an album that switches distractingly between the incongruent
songs and the score regularly, Isham's music for
October Sky
maintains a faithful following. Though sparsely rendered, there is a
consistent sense of kindness that prevails from start to finish, and
with that sensitive country demeanor, the composer achieves his aim.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Mark Isham reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.84
(in 26 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.88
(in 9,975 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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