: (Jerry Goldsmith) Some
feature films were better destined for small screen debuts, and 1975's
British thriller
was exactly that kind of B-rate picture. Effectively
ending its director's career at the helm of theatrical projects, the
movie is a convoluted hostage plot in which aggressively discontented
men take hostage both a commercial airliner and, separately, the British
ambassador to a fictitious Scandinavian country named... wait for it...
Scandinavia. (Yeah, the movie's that bad.) The first hostage situation
involving the airliner is complicated when a rough landing at the
country's airport damages the plane. That group of presumed villains
demands a hookup with the terrorists that took the British ambassador
hostage, and the entire affair has to be managed by the country's
security head. That unenviable dupe is none other an annoyed Sean
Connery in this case, which is essentially why the movie exists. Of
course, the whole plot is a contrived scenario meant to propel all these
characters towards a shootout. At least the filmmakers were able to
finish shooting the picture; the owner of the Boeing plane rented for
the filming tried to repossess the aircraft when the production missed
its payments on it. Like many troubled cinematic projects, this one
hired composer Jerry Goldsmith to help fix its ills, and he did as well
as he could. There has never been a significant amount of music released
from his efforts for
, with much of the film left without
music and the very short score presentations saddled with repeated
tracks on album, suggesting that the filmmakers simply reused several
cues throughout the narrative. Still, what Goldsmith did record for this
movie is extremely compelling, its thematic tapestry fascinatingly
complex, its instrumentation better varied, and the tonalities more
accessible than in many of his other action works at the time. While
there is synthetic accompaniment and electronically keyboarded
instruments throughout, the demeanor of
is tough and
orchestral in a traditional sense. The interesting coloration of the
music combines with unusual rhythmic and melodic formations to create
one of the composer's more intriguing works of the decade.
Goldsmith's standard orchestral base in
Ransom is
augmented by a synthetic harpsichord and keyboarding for a touch of
contemporary flavor, but more prominent is the use of an oboe for
melodic solos and underlying string plucking that sounds Eastern
European. That cultural hint doesn't really match the actual Norwegian
location of the film, but it does present some unique characteristics to
the composer's normal palette. A rambling piano in the background of
melodic action is a particular point of interest, that instrument's
undercurrents in "Sky Chaser" a distinct highlight. The sense of drama
from the ensemble is not always convincing in depth but achieves
resonance in "Peeping Tom." There are times when the composer's sense of
anticipated harmony in his shifting chords is really fabulous in
Ransom, a technique that augments all of his three themes for the
film. These ideas are all very well developed throughout the work and
two of them are in constant battle with each other, suggesting the
interplay between the two hostage-taking groups involved. The main theme
of
Ransom, however, is for Connery's lead protagonist, and it's
one of Goldsmith's more compellingly attractive ideas from the era.
Introduced at 0:59 into "Main Theme" on oboe and transitioning to lofty
strings, this theme is translated into loungey source music in "Standard
Issue" for trumpet, including the theme's secondary lines. It's not
offensive music, though wayward synthetic counterpoint lines might be
annoying for some listeners. That main theme appears on lonely keyboard
at 0:30 into "No Alternative," twisted to slight agony on violins before
passing the main melody back to the oboe. The highlight performance of
the theme comes on trumpet and later strings at 0:47 into the ambitious
"Sky Chaser," the only true action expression of the main theme in the
score. The bed of elegant piano rhythms and keen counterpoint make this
performance spectacular, among the best singular moments for Goldsmith
in any score of the 1970's. Later in the cue, the composer shifts the
idea to worried strings over forceful cello plucking at 2:26, and the
string performance at 4:32 transfers the underlying rambling action
lines to deep, blurting brass. The theme unfortunately receives no more
unique development from there, "No Alternative (Reprise)" being an
identical repeat of "No Alternative" and "Ransom - End Credits" the
exact same as the earlier main theme performance.
The other two themes by Goldsmith for
Ransom
don't receive the same amount of attention, but they represent the
score's robust core. A fanfare action motif for the entire tale consists
of five ascending and descending notes, usually on brass and grandiose
in size, and this idea opens and closes "Main Theme" on brass, its
secondary resolving phrase ending the cue. This motif can function well
as a quick stinger, striking at 1:02 and 1:21 into "Mission Aborted" but
diminished at 1:52 on harpsichord. It mingles with the third theme, that
of conspiracy, early in "No Alternative" at various levels of intensity.
Exploding at the start of "Sky Chaser" and returning at 2:18, 2:40, and
3:01 against the main theme, its second, resolving phrase follows at
3:05 and the primary motif takes the spotlight at 4:11 in several
different variants on rough brass. This action fanfare is subtle on low
keyboards in "Course of Action" before handing off to brass, including
the second phrase, and it mingles with the conspiracy theme in lesser
guises until clearer piano layering near the cue's end. It provides
hints of peril to the first half of "Peeping Tom" amongst the conspiracy
theme as well. That third theme is the score's hidden gem in many ways,
a distinct cyclical formation from the fanfare action motif with a
prominent descending final phrase. Adjoining this conspiracy theme is
sometimes a three-note crash down an octave for timpani and/or piano.
This theme dominates all of "Queen's Messenger" in a massive brass and
piano-pounding outburst, eventually giving way to an ominously pulsating
string section with the underlying chords only. In this cue, the
descending octave motif is in full force while woodwinds explore a
creepy line that meanders around key, and the whole tone of this
recording sounds as close as Goldsmith got to emulating James Bond
action during this era. The conspiracy theme then flows out of the
action motif at 1:06 into "Mission Aborted," rambling on piano and
plucking on strings like the sneaking material from
First Blood.
Wood block, chime, and brass rhythms preview Goldsmith's early 1990's
suspense techniques here. Piano and cellos provide fragments of the idea
against the action motif at the outset of "No Alternative," and the
descending octave motif punctuates 4:01 into "Sky Chaser" and subsequent
action theme, closing out the cue in softer shades. The melody of this
theme returns at 0:42 into "Course of Action" on extremely quirky piano
and synth tones, and they stand apart in a way that almost reminds of
Shirley Walker's bizarre villain music for
Escape From L.A.
decades later. That cue then shifts to trumpets and melodramatic violins
over continuing, wild piano lines.
The conspiracy theme of
Ransom opens "Peeping
Tom" on more dramatic string layers (though obnoxiously distorted on the
early album releases), building to its own, cymbal-crashing climax that
is among the best moments in the score. Prior suspense rhythms pound
away in the middle of the cue before the conspiracy melody returns on
abrasive oboes at 1:29 and secondary phrasing for brass is assisted by
the emulation of a ticking clock. On album, "Just Sit Tight" is an
identical repeat of "Queen's Messenger." Aside from these three major
themes, Goldsmith occasionally strays into unique diversions, including
a sneaking motif at 3:45 into "Mission Aborted" that is somewhat clunky
and almost humorous on piano and woodwinds. But the brevity of the score
doesn't allow it to really explore much territory outside of the tightly
woven tapestry of the major themes. Goldsmith's mingling of these ideas
is impressive, and the score makes you wish that all of this material
received more extensive development. Another big issue is the score's
wretched sound quality. The master tapes for the recording have long
been considered lost, requiring its two digital albums to use a backup
cassette and the original LP record release itself as sources. The sound
quality of these albums is muffled and distorted at times, tremendously
dissatisfying in both the passages taken from the cassette and the LP.
The stereo spread of the strings is fairly decent, but the rest of the
ensemble has serious deficiencies in presence. More than most Goldsmith
works,
Ransom deserves the kind of reconstructive treatment
received by
The Salamander, and collectors can take solace in the
choice by producers of that score's 2013 re-recording to include an
arrangement of "Sky Chaser" and "Main Theme" from
Ransom in the
presentation. It's a competent and enjoyable performance in perfect
sound, and the only downside of that inclusion is the lack of any
representation of the conspiracy theme. ("Peeping Tom" would have been a
fantastic addition, though "Queen's Messenger" would have been good as
an alternative.) Regardless, listeners at least have a solid performance
of "Sky Chaser" to appreciate. In its original form, the
Ransom
score was released by Silva Screen in 1991 on a CD paired with
Goldsmith's earlier
The Chairman, and for this presentation,
Silva opted not to include the LP's repetition of redundant cues or the
"Standard Issue" source performance of the main theme. For its 2005
follow-up, Prometheus Records provided the full LP presentation but in
the proper chronological order. Either option is adequate to appreciate
how much Goldsmith overachieved for this assignment, but don't expect
much satisfaction from the very poor sound quality.
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- Music as Written for the Film: ****
- Music as Heard on Album: ***
- Overall: ****
| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.24
(in 132 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.27
(in 154,087 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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