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| Goldsmith |
Players: (Jerry Goldsmith) One of the rare
mainstream feature films to involve the game of tennis,
Players
was a 1979 effort to merge the tale of an underdog in the sports arena
with elements carried over by the producer and lead actress of 1970's
popular
Love Story. The plot was relatively simple, building upon
the chemistry of its leads to produce drama from a love triangle that
contained the still red-hot Ali MacGraw as the source of attention from
both an older, wealthy tycoon and a younger, rising tennis star. With
the romantic aspect of
Players rather predictable and mundane
(with the exception of one notable sex scene), the tennis scenes were
left to carry the load. Cameos by real-life stars of the sport and an
exposition of the Wimbledon tournament were interesting, but infrequent
enough to classify
Players as a qualified sports genre entry. The
production was met with scathing critical reviews and poor performance
in theatres, reducing it to the level of a footnote in the careers of
many big industry names behind the camera. One such crew member for
which
Players was mostly forgotten was Jerry Goldsmith, who was
coming off of an extremely strong year of composition in 1978 and in the
midst of another year of high profile assignments. At a time when
Goldsmith (and much of Hollywood) was emerging from an era of gloomy
topics,
Players joined
The Great Train Robbery as a sudden
ray of sunshine for the composer. While they could not compete with
Alien and
Star Trek: The Motion Picture in terms of public
attention (neither of the two fluffier scores would receive
comprehensive album treatment for decades), they were nevertheless an
optimistic breath of fresh air compared to Goldsmith's lengthy series of
grim (though technically impressive) works of the late 70's. In the case
of
Players, the assignment also showcased Goldsmith's first
attempts to capture the competitive spirit of sports scenes in a
dramatic context, a technique that would eventually mature into classic
and fan favorite music, respectively, for
Hoosiers and
Rudy. Ultimately, however, there is very little full-ensemble
propulsion for the matches in
Players, with the only two of the
tennis scenes depicted in the story containing any Goldsmith material at
all. This leaves the 1979 score as one mostly comprised of pretty,
straight-forward romance of both troubled and redemptive tones for
conversational scenes. A large ensemble for the whole of the recording,
aided by several acoustic guitars, gives the work considerable depth in
even Goldsmith's least involving cues.
Two love themes occupy the majority of the running time
in
Players, one a listless and somewhat tragic reminder of the
woman's loveless tethering to the older man and the other a warm,
budding, and eventually flourishing theme of classic Goldsmith
attraction. The first theme is remarkably omnipresent in the score, a
constant reminder of the woman's obligations to her rich partner. Its
primary identity on trumpet, along with a few noir-like progressions,
will definitely remind listeners of
Chinatown. Its subtle
reminders throughout the score, led by "A New Life," eventually become
naggingly persist until the film throws the other love affair in doubt
in "The Boat," the melancholy establishment theme driving with the force
of a similar lover's traveling scene cue by Goldsmith for
Basic
Instinct. The lighter love theme, developed as an interlude for the
album arrangement of the first cue, blossoms in "New Freedom," almost
always beginning on woodwinds and sometimes developing into sweeping
string arrangements. There is a sense of innocence in this theme that,
along with the orchestration, reminds of the composer's loftier early
1990's light drama themes (and
Forever Young, especially). The
intensity of the theme's performance in "The Bedroom" (the
aforementioned sex scene) emphasizes the piano's role in this theme. The
fanfare for the select tennis scenes rounds out the thematic identities,
previewed in "Players" before occupying "Winning Streak" and closing out
the last few seconds of the film. With ambitious French horn lines and
accompanying tambourine rhythms, this theme is most reminiscent of
Goldsmith's career material for scenes showing fox hunts (culminating in
The Final Conflict). Broad, low brass and thumping electronic
bass accents lend force to this timpani and xylophone-assisted theme,
though it's truly an exhibition for rowdy trumpet and horn performances
of significant difficulty. Unlike Goldsmith's later sports scores, this
theme in
Players is impressive, but not game changing. One
additional aspect of the score worth noting is the multitude of acoustic
guitar performances that not only address some of the locale
considerations but also serve as a bridge between the score and the
numerous pop songs heard in the film. On the whole,
Players is,
outside of the two tennis cues, an easy half hour of listening, lovely
at its most intimate and lonely at its most contemplative. But it may
not live up to expectations for those who have eagerly waited thirty
years for an album release. Intrada's 2010 product is comprehensive,
decent in sound despite some high range (seemingly gain-related)
distortion in brass and an occasional wobble in pitch. The score's two
romance themes are a pleasant surprise, but the tennis theme is likely
overrated; the abundance of the former element makes the album a safe
recommendation for Goldsmith enthusiasts.
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| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.29
(in 113 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.31
(in 143,742 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert includes extensive information about the score and film.
