Intrada Soundtrack Forum

6/27/2021

Be here this Tuesday and consider ordering Intrada’s new CD of John Powell’s absolutely splendid score for 20th Century Studios’ The Call Of The Wild, starring Harrison Ford. Powell melds outdoor splendor with rousing excitement in this evocative telling of Jack London’s famed canine classic. On a totally random note, my movie viewing these last few days included Last Train From Gun Hill, a 1959 feature now available as part of the Paramount Presents line of Blu-ray titles. John Sturges directs, Kirk Douglas and Anthony Quinn star, albeit Earl Holliman and Carolyn Jones offer equally superb performances in their secondary roles. Viewers get Sturges helming a western that’s lean and mean. Takes no prisoners, literally. Sturges focuses on the core story of justice and revenge and never strays. Socko! Dimitri Tiomkin provides the propulsive score, fashioned in his busy and frenzied signature style, replete with a vast array of solo colors set within his dynamic orchestra. Watch this one for the players, the western action, the solid story (by Les Crutchfield), that terrific Tiomkin score - or for a great example of John Sturges, just following up on his legendary Gunfight At The O.K. Corral with Douglas this time playing alongside Burt Lancaster, boasting another landmark Tiomkin score. And of course, the following year after Gun Hill, Sturges gave the world his incomparable The Magnificent Seven, with an equally incomparable score by Elmer Bernstein. John Powell’s flavorful The Call Of The Wild fits in comfortably with those prior classics! Check out the contents, artwork and sound samples this Monday eve and add this one to your film music library!