Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,234
Written 4/19/97, Revised 12/19/17
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Buy it... if you smirk when hearing Frederic Talgorn's campy,
romantic style of thematic development or the brassy fanfares that often
accompany this particular genre's gladiator-like duals.
Avoid it... if the cheese factor in these simplistic B-film scores,
including somewhat sparse and imprecise orchestral performances, is just
too great to overcome.
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| Talgorn |
Robot Jox: (Frederic Talgorn) There was a time in
the 1980's when giant robots were the hottest thing around, and the
father/son team of Albert and Charles Band brought several movies about
them to the big screen. While many of these mecha-genre films were
animated at the time (The "Transformers" television cartoon seemingly
spurred them all into production at once), advancements in film
technology made live-action robot films possible by the outset of the
1990's. One of the first was Robotjox (at one time named
"RoboJox" and eventually renamed Robot Jox for legal reasons),
directed by famed sci-fi, action, and horror master Stuart Gordon. The
concept of this plot was as ridiculous as any of the other giant robot
films that would follow. There always has to be some far-fetched reason
why there are huge robots fighting each other over flaming ruins, and in
the case of Robot Jox, the story tells us that fifty years after
the nuclear holocaust, war has been outlawed and all battles between the
two superpowers (Soviets against Americans, of course) are settled by
huge robots in arena duels. One such giant robot dual, as per usual
involving one person controlling each machine from within, involves the
ownership of Alaska. That should give you enough information to make the
proper judgment that Robot Jox is an intellectual wasteland. They
even made one of the robots in the film into a giant transformer capable
of becoming a tank; indeed, there are reasons why the director and
screenwriter battled endlessly during this much-delayed production. Poor
sets, clumsy stop motion robot effects, and other difficulties with the
low-budget renderings of the robots caused the film to be laughable,
especially compared to the equivalents that would greatly improve their
visual effects as early as 1995. Movies like Robot Jox were
typically plagued by cheap, synthetic scores, and in reality, this film
could have been decently served by one as well. But Gordon found himself
a worthy collaborator for these projects in French composer Frederic
Talgorn, and enough funding was allotted for him to conduct a rousing
performance by the Paris Philharmonic Orchestra for portions of the
film. The composer spent all of his personal fee on ensuring the
orchestral integrity of the work, a move made in part to launch a career
in Hollywood through the product. To a degree, this investment paid off,
as Talgorn did enjoy some relatively mainstream projects in the 1990's,
including further work for Gordon.
Still, it's relatively depressing to realize that much
of Talgorn's music exists in such wretched films,
Robot Jox near
the top. The Paris recording is dated and a bit sparse, but the intent
of Talgorn to plunder the space opera craze of John Williams is yet
undeniable. While there exist errors in the performances, the effort in
this low-budget environment is what really counts. There is sure
campiness in this diverse recording, to be sure, and half of the score
consists of either solo percussionists or outright synthetics for the
futuristic side of the robots. These portions will likely be discarded
immediately by enthusiasts of the orchestral half, and rightfully so.
Talgorn's usual strong development of thematic ideas is well utilized in
rather simplistic fashion in this film, perfect for the contrasting
characters and their underdeveloped dimensions. Three major themes
exist, and all are given valiant treatment by the ensemble. Talgorn's
main fanfare, heard first in "Can I Go Now, Dad?" and exploding four or
fives in the score as the announcement piece for the duels, is a heroic
affair for brass over a sharp, Western-inspired rhythm. A softer string
theme is presented as an interlude to this fanfare in "Robot Jox into
the Sunset." Sadly neglected throughout the rest of the score, this
romantic string identity with noble brass counterpoint is the highlight
of the work, possibly a general nod to the human side of the story. A
third theme is presented for the Russian champion robot fighter, an
entertaining, militaristic piece for brass culminating in "Achilles into
Space" and "Achilles' Robot Transforms." Detractions from the score
exist in two significant doses, however, and both involve Talgorn's use
of synthesizers. He approached the female fighter's character with
synthetics in mind, both in a conversational setting ("Achilles'
Bedroom") and in her fighting fanfare ("Fanfare for Athena"). The source
cue, "The Jock Strap Bar," is a highly annoying light 80's disco rock
deviation from the rest of the score. After the film bombed, a score
release was pushed back to 1993, when Prometheus pressed it (as
"Robotjox") for a limited specialty audience. The enthusiastic
performance by the Parisian ensemble is mixed with an ambient wet sound
on this album that fits the larger-than-life subject matter well. That
ambience is dried out a bit on a 2017 release by Intrada Records that
restores the recording back to its original ordering and adds a few
incidental extra cues. Some listeners will prefer the somewhat hacked
and embellished presentation, including a fake "Overture" that was
simply a copy of the finale, on the Prometheus album. In either case,
Talgorn collectors and fans of 1980's high brass action will appreciate
this flawed but fun capsule in time.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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