Intrada Soundtrack Forum

So, what is the official word on this. I've read that Goldsmith's engineer reports a score was recorded. I've seen pictures posted of the actual score and someone at FSM even posted a midi-representation from one of the score sheets. So why hasn't this no-brainer been released by any of the major companies?

Or has the internet broken my heart yet again?

Doug? Roger? Any insights from an insider's perspective?

Perhaps you should ask The Soundtrack Doctor.

Of course all Goldsmith fans are dying to know the answer to this...

Yavar

I have a textbook called "First Time Director", by Gil Bettman (a former TV director for Universal who now teaches film directing). His book takes the reader through the various stages of production -- and on the section which covers music scoring, he offers an anecdote about what happens when a composer delivers a score which is unsatisfactory. The example he uses is The Public Eye.

According to this book, "Universal paid Oscar-winning composer Jerry Goldsmith top dollar to write and record a score for this film, but when [Howard] Franklin heard it playing against the picture he was certain it would ruin his movie."

Whether the whole score was recorded or Franklin pulled a "Torn Curtain" before the sessions were finished is unclear. But apparently Goldsmith did write an entire score.

I've never watched this movie. Can anyone here say whether the film is worth anything, even without the score which director Franklin was certain would ruin it?

I'm pretty sure that according to Mike Ross-Trevor who worked on it, the score was recorded as well. And I'm not sure if it was a cue specifically composed/recorded for the trailer, but one of the film's trailers does feature a bit of original Goldsmith music in it.

Yavar

Howard Franklin has 3 director credits on IMDB, Jerry Goldsmith has 249 composer credits. The Public Eye didn't do too well at the box office. The director should have been grateful Jerry Goldsmith accepted the assignment instead of second guessing and trying to make him the patsy for his own failure. That's how it seems to me.

_________________
"I used to worry about losing my mind. Now that I've lost it I don't worry about it anymore." -Wavy Gravy

Thanks for that information, lawandorder. If PUBLIC EYE has a letterboxed DVD release I might watch it someday -- without expecting a film about a photographer as good as, say, UNDER FIRE is. (By the way, I think Miramax released some of the better pictures of the '90s, even if it proved to be a hostile work environment if you were an attractive female.)

I can't recall right now who wrote this; but essentially someone once observed that considering the flood of films for which a score was rejected, none was ever a success even when released with that "problem" score replaced. The point being, of course, that quality issues were inherent in the movie itself, while the music was just a director's convenient scapegoat.

Eventually I realized one exception: CHINATOWN. I could also count THE GETAWAY, except that's different because Jerry Fielding's work was yanked not by director Sam Peckinpah but at the preference of star Steve McQueen, due to the music-approval clause in his contract.

Score rejections seemed to be epidemic the 1990s, and I'm not sure why. But so many composers -- A-list composers -- got the boot during that decade.

Goldsmith of course had scores tossed out of The Public Eye, Gladiator and Two Days in the Valley.

Then there was:

Regarding Henry (Delerue)
The River Wild (Jarre )
Jennifer 8 (Jarre)
White Squall (Jarre)
Ransom (Shore)
Interview With The Vampire (Fenton)
The Indian in the Cupboard (Isham)
I love Trouble (Bernstein)
Last Man Standing (Bernstein)
A River Runs Through It (Bernstein)
The Scarlet Letter (Bernstein and Morricone!)
What Dreams May Come (Morricone)
Stepmom (Doyle)
Year of the Comet (Barry)
The Horse Whisperer (Barry)
Playing By Heart (Barry -- well, most of his score)
The 13th Warrior (Revell)
Night on Earth (Takemitsu)

And yet, a score like Goldeneye was not rejected!

Goldeneye is a masterpiece compared to anything Jackman and Balfe has ever done and yet nobody rejects their crap.

_________________

"The latest M:I score managed something special, which is to be completely hollow despite the massive orchestra."

No kidding. I don't know why they didn't bring Joe Kraemer back as he did a superb job on MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: ROGUE NATION.