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Review of Ransom (The Terrorists) (Jerry Goldsmith)

1991 Silva Screen

2005 Prometheus

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you seek a surprising compelling thriller score from Jerry Goldsmith, complete with fascinating thematic tapestry, robust instrumentation, and accessible tonalities.

Avoid it... if you expect to find any satisfying album presentation for this music, its two albums featuring extremely poor sound quality due to the loss of the recording's masters.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Ransom (The Terrorists): (Jerry Goldsmith) Some feature films were better destined for small screen debuts, and 1975's British thriller Ransom, known internationally as The Terrorists 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 Ransom, 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 Ransom 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.

• Music as Written for the Film: ****
• Music as Heard on Album: ***
• Overall: ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

1991 Silva Screen Album:
Total Time: 24:15

• 1. Queen's Messenger (2:40) • 2. Mission Aborted (5:05) • 3. No Alternative (2:23) • 4. Sky Chaser (5:38) • 5. Course of Action (2:56) • 6. Peeping Tom (2:40) • 7. End Title - Ransom (2:46)

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2005 Prometheus Album:
Total Time: 33:56

• 1. Ransom - Main Theme (2:41) • 2. Standard Issue (1:49) • 3. Queen's Messenger (2:39) • 4. Mission Aborted (5:05) • 5. No Alternative (2:23) • 6. Sky Chaser (5:40) • 7. Course of Action (2:59) • 8. Just Sit Tight (2:39) • 9. No Alternative (Reprise) (2:24) • 10. Peeping Tom (2:39) • 11. Ransom - End Credits (2:38)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The inserts of both albums include information about the score and film.

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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 Ransom (The Terrorists) are Copyright © 1991, 2005, Silva Screen Records, Prometheus Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 8/23/24 (and not updated significantly since).