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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Patton (Jerry Goldsmith)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on the 2010 Intrada 2-CD set to experience a
comprehensive treatment of Jerry Goldsmith's original two recordings of
this memorable but varied martial score.
Avoid it... on any of the presentations of Patton's original 1970 recordings if you demand resounding sound quality, in which case the outstanding, vibrant re-recording conducted by Goldsmith in 1997 is a satisfyingly faithful alternative.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Patton: (Jerry Goldsmith) After decades of
production difficulties, 20th Century Fox finally told in 1970 one of
the most successful character studies from any war. Famous for George C.
Scott's painstakingly realistic portrayal of the title character,
Patton enjoyed resounding critical praise and has since been
elevated to the designation of a classic. The complexities of U.S.
General George Patton were examined both thoroughly and without bias,
glorifying the pompous nature of the man and his many triumphs on the
battlefield while also exploring his strangely romantic religious side
and exposing his vulgar, obsessive, and mean-spirited tendencies. Few
men could justify a three-hour film dedicated to only a brief portion of
their lives, though Patton is successfully absorbing in all of
its parts, especially when considering the wide variety of locations in
which the film had to show massive military movements. The advance of
his American tanks and troops is followed from North Africa all the way
through Europe, with lengthy pauses to contemplate the role of
reincarnation in life and supply some Scott's best career-delivered
one-liners. The film won Academy Awards for nearly all of its major
players, with composer Jerry Goldsmith being an unfortunate exception.
After collaborating with director Franklin Schaffner for the highly
praised Planet of the Apes two years prior (a partnership and
close friendship that would eventually yield several more great scores
over the next two decades), Goldsmith would luckily wiggle out of his
commitment to score the sequel of that film in order to tackle
Patton. Goldsmith had written many scores for World War II topics
already in his short mainstream career, but none would prove as
memorable in any part as the march from Patton, a concert hall
staple for the composer throughout his career. Despite the dominance of
this theme and the fact that only thirty minutes or so of music was
employed in such a long picture, the effect of his score on the film is
far more complicated than many people may realize. While the famous
march, with all its bravado from brass, flutes, and snare, easily
represents the identity of the character and war, Goldsmith's work for
the film actually spends more time dwelling on the deeper meanings of
life that the general himself explored.
The pompous main theme for Patton is only applied sparingly to represent the massive, victorious ego of the general while subtle, secondary ideas often slowing the pace of the score to a crawl. That march opens the film, occupies the "Enr'acte" in the middle, and is featured prominently in the later battle sequence in which Patton's relentless movements are successfully waged. Film enthusiasts will likely grasp onto the triplet techniques on trumpets as their favorite aspect of the score. Serving on the surface as a call to war, these triplets were run through what was called an "echoplex" box, a tool that essentially contained tape loops that took the three-note motif and repeated it in a way that later synthesizers could eventually accomplish with ease. The sound was so creative for the time that it became a catchy target for parody as well, heard frequently as a call to arms in Goldsmith's own, largely obscure comedy classic The 'Burbs in 1988. By echoing these trumpets, Goldsmith more specifically addressed the concept of reincarnation, the central theme in Patton's personal interests. Also of use is a distantly mixed organ, representing the general's deeply rooted religious beliefs. A significant amount of relatively uninteresting underscore exists in Patton, causing most of the cues in the first half of the film to meander at minimal and somewhat intimate levels. Light timpani and woodwind expressions of the score's themes sometimes devolve into lengthy periods of near silence. Leading this material is a contemplative theme of restrained nobility that is touched upon in "No Assignment," "The Hospital," and "End Title;" film score collectors will find interesting connections between the progressions of this idea and one presented by John Williams for a similarly religious purpose in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Only in the second half of Patton do the famous portions really come to light, with snare-driven marches abounding. In these scenes, Goldsmith also explores a subtheme for the German army that is briefly treated in "German Advance" but was largely cut from the finished film. The composer did arrange a standalone concert arrangement of this march that was recorded later for the Patton album. Dedicated Goldsmith enthusiasts will notice an interesting similarity between the rhythmic performances here and those in the composer's 1980's and 1990's works. In particular, "Winter March" is an intriguing foreshadowing of Small Soldiers late in Goldsmith's career. For forty years, Patton never received the best of treatment on album. Three full recordings were conducted by Goldsmith throughout his lifetime, and for a long time, only two of them had been released in digital format. He recorded the score twice during the film's initial run; as was customary at the time, an album version featuring more palatable arrangements and harmonious tones was recorded separately from the film version. This London recording for the LP record was easily more listenable than the comparatively sparse film version, though it never made it onto CD before Goldsmith's death in 2004. To help rectify this situation, Goldsmith re-recorded the score again in 1997 as part of the Varèse Sarabande label's series of albums featuring the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. With a vibrant and crisp quality to the updated recording, as well as Goldsmith's own conducting of that performance, the 1997 version (reviewed separately at Filmtracks) has always been a superior alternative to any of the offerings of the prior recordings. It also features a great performance of Goldsmith's lesser known but equally effective music for Tora! Tora! Tora! as well. Die-hard Patton enthusiasts have exclaimed, though, that hearing the famous trumpet triplets of the score performed acoustically rather than through the echoplex on that 1997 re-recording is wholly unsatisfying, an opinion considered rubbish by those not bothered by the minute differences between the techniques. By then, the film recording of Patton had been released a couple of times on CD, but not in convincing fashion. In 1992, the Tsunami label of Germany released the score alongside A Patch of Blue. Generally considered a bootleg, this label's sound quality was always suspect on its products, and their version of Patton was no exception. In its favor, the album did feature much of the opening dialogue to the film, including Scott's spirited performance of the famous opening speech ("No bastard ever won a war by dying for his country. He won it by making the other poor dumb bastard die for his country."). In 1999, Film Score Monthly released the film version of the score with Frank DeVol 's exciting The Flight of the Phoenix on an album widely considered at the time to be the best entry in the label's young Silver Age Classics series to date. That album improved the sound quality of the film recording, taking the audio from the same sources used for Fox's 1997 laserdisc issue of Patton to provide a complete and ordered presentation of the music. It should be mentioned that the Film Score Monthly album, while making the majority of its waves for treating the Patton score with respect, is more often cited as a success in retrospect because of the presence of The Flight of the Phoenix on the same product. With 40 minutes of the underappreciated and diverse DeVol score finally made available, the FSM album was a great success overall, beautifully produced for the time and setting the standard for all labels' limited expansions for years to come while essentially hitting two birds with one stone. Veteran collectors flocked to the limited edition item mostly because of the DeVol work, though, for the Varèse album from a few years earlier had provided such a resounding rendition of Patton that the necessity for the original film version was diminished. It sold out and became a hot collectible before long, representing the only CD presentation of The Flight of the Phoenix until Intrada Records nicely expanded it in 2021. True enthusiasts were still holding on to the original 1970 LP recording of Patton from London, however, and, for these folks, Intrada thankfully alleviated their pain in 2010. Their 2-CD set finally provided everything available from the two 1970 recordings on one comprehensive Patton product, not only offering superior treatment of the music but doing so on an commercial pressing of unlimited numbers that relegated the 1999 album to usefulness for only enthusiasts of The Flight of the Phoenix. The first CD of Intrada's set contains the same contents of the FSM product but pads that music with the addition of two bonus tracks: the solo bugle salute and a raw echoplex recording session. The quality of sound here is not noticeably improved, though it will seem expectedly hollow compared to the second CD in the set, which is where the goldmine lies. The full LP recording has been cleaned up and sounds great, the "End Title" included in stereo and without Scott's dialogue. Those who love the dialogue, however, will be pleased by the addition of the mono/speech version of "End Title" and the famous "Patton Speech" at the start. All around, Intrada finally gave Patton the treatment it deserved, and as a regular retail album, it was accessible to all. Still, some collectors will continue to pursue the FSM version for The Flight of the Phoenix and the resounding re-recording of Patton from Varèse, the latter a great companion to Intrada's set. As for the hapless 1992 Tsunami album, don't hesitate to melt it down and use it to grease the treads of your tanks.
TRACK LISTINGS:
1992 Tsunami Album:
Total Time: 60:45
1999 Film Score Monthly Album: Total Time: 76:24
2010 Intrada Album: Total Time: 77:45
* contains performances by George C. Scott
NOTES & QUOTES:
The 1992 Tsunami album contains no extra information about the film or score. The Film
Score Monthly album includes the usual excellent quality of pictorial and textual information
established in other albums of FSM's series, with extremely detailed notes about the films
and scores relevant to that product. The same can be said of the Intrada set's insert, which
contains more than the label's usual quantity of technical discussion.
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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 Patton are Copyright © 1992, 1999, 2010, Tsunami, Film Score Monthly, Intrada Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 3/30/99 and last updated 5/25/21. The war's over now, so it's okay to shovel shit in Louisiana. |
