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| Goldsmith |
Supergirl: (Jerry Goldsmith) Rarely are films as
terrible as
Supergirl. Being terrible doesn't necessarily doom a
film if there are either redeeming aspects of its production or a campy
taste to its ambience that causes it to unintentionally become a comedy.
Neither saving grace came to the rescue of
Supergirl, a small
studio attempt to draw earnings away from the concurrent
Superman
franchise. It was originally the intent to explicitly connect the two in
Supergirl, though with Christopher Reeve bowing out of his
cousin's franchise at the last minute, only slight references are made
to establish a connection. In the revised lore of the
Superman
universe, adapted for the convenience of this picture, there were
apparently many survivors of the demolished planet of Krypton, floating
about space in small cities. When a young woman accidentally disturbs
the power source for her little residential utopia, the city's power
source is accidentally lost to Earth and the woman follows it in
pursuit. There, she has to wrestle the power source away from Faye
Dunaway, fall in love with a dork who eventually connects her two
identities, go back to the purgatory where General Zod escaped from and
save Peter O'Toole, and generally look cute in her outfit while doing
all of this. The script was so unsalvageable that the film was edited
several times before its various international release dates. Nothing
could save the film once it decided not to tackle its silly subject
matter with anything other than complete seriousness. Too many dumb
secondary elements and too much self-deprecating dialogue exist in
Supergirl to give it a chance at survival. Someone obviously
failed to alert Jerry Goldsmith to fact that this production was a
disaster befitting of a cheesy score, because the veteran composer
evidently chose to address it with an absolutely straight-laced
adventure scheme. He doesn't offer the same completely serious demeanor
that John Williams attempted to infuse into the more famous superhero's
franchise, but he does stir up a significant amount of power and
thematic grace. That said, the formula that Goldsmith employs for
Supergirl is remarkably similar to that of Williams, dividing the
score between similar thematic components and conveying them with
immense symphonic bravado. Goldsmith's take is still much more
lighthearted, however, exposing perhaps some recognition by the composer
that his endeavors were doomed to accompany a disastrous film. It is
precisely this bouncing spirit that defines
Supergirl as both a
success and failure.
The three primary themes of
Supergirl follow a
predictable pattern of application. The title theme isn't explicitly a
march, but Goldsmith does occasionally use the same rhythmic
introduction on low strings to suggest imminent greatness. His title
theme for
Supergirl is airy and heroic, flighty and optimistic,
performed with all the muscle that brass and percussion can muster
without losing its lofty attitude. Its ultra-positive tone almost
reaches to levels of ridiculous camp, but the power of its performances
retain just enough legitimacy to keep the idea from devolving into pure
silliness. The construct won't necessarily impress, but the rendering
will, for Goldsmith doesn't skimp on the bold counterpoint and other
intelligent instrumental aspects of the performance. An alluring love
theme with the sappiness of some of James Horner's early romantic
identities is a secondary element for high strings that often serves as
an interlude to the title theme. By far the weakest aspect of
Supergirl is Goldsmith's generally anonymous march for the
villains, an elusive piece that is robust in its brass stature, but
never appears with enough continuity to be memorable. A short reference
to John Williams'
Superman theme in one cue is a treat.
Generally, the score's blatantly optimistic tone will either attract or
repel you right off the bat. So pervasive is the major key exuberance in
the title theme and romantic interludes that
Supergirl can be too
sugary at times. This is especially the case when Goldsmith doesn't blow
you out of your seat with symphonic and choral power. Both the chorus
and Goldsmith's electronic elements are underplayed in the score, with
the singing group only providing ambient assistance to a handful of
cues. The electronics are still arguably a detriment to
Supergirl, with a rising pitch effect used to address the fantasy
element consistently throughout the work. It's a distracting effect that
was removed from a few alternate takes that eventually were used in the
film instead. Goldsmith had to record multiple versions of several cues
in
Supergirl for this exact reason, suggesting a possible
identity crisis within the score. A 1993 Silva Screen album of a
whopping 78 minutes of music provided many of these alternate takes,
following a 40-minute CD from Varèse Sarabande in 1985 (a very
early digital offering from the label). On the whole,
Supergirl
is an ambitious and likable score with a massive recording, but its
positive tone is simply too overblown to tolerate in many parts. There
comes a point when superhero music is so blatantly heroic that it
becomes tedious, and
Supergirl occasionally reaches that point.
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| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.26
(in 124 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.29
(in 153,454 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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Both the 1985 and 1993 albums contain notes about the score and/or film.
