AIR FORCE ONE (REJECTED SCORE)

RANDY NEWMAN

Rating:

Original Review: A rejected score is difficult thing to review. Do you try to make comparisons to the score which eventually replaced it - in this case a bravura, flag waving epic by Jerry Goldsmith - or do you try to judge it on its own merits? Do you try to fit it to the film from which it was removed, or do you treat it almost like a classical piece, written without a visual stimulus? Whatever the case may be, it is without question that Randy Newman's rejected score for Air Force One is a superb piece of work, especially considering that Randy is still mainly associated with Disney comedies and his own brand of light hearted satire.

The main theme, given its first airing in the second track 'Don't Touch This', is a wonderful piece of rousing Americana, but one which retains just a little hint of having a tongue firmly implanted in its cheek. There is an almost Sousa-style heroism to it that smacks slightly of Randy having a quiet musical joke at the expense of Wolfgang Petersen's straight as an arrow representation of presidential bravery and, with the benefit of hindsight and having now heard both scores, it is not too difficult to see why Petersen preferred Goldsmith's staunchness to Newman's lighter fare. It is possible to envisage that Randy's over the top theme might have been misconstrued as being too much of a parody, undermining the film's intended seriousness, whereas Jerry effectively captured the intended gravity of Petersen's picture with a much more straightforward score.

Having said that, it is still interesting to hear Newman's first attempts at scoring a full-blown action movie. Hans Zimmer was once quoted as saying that, despite being best known for action music, he felt he had "never written an action cue as good as any of Randy Newman's in Air Force One". It has to be said that some of Newman's efforts in this arena are simply stunning. Cues such as 'Hijacked', 'Pod Deployed', 'No Landing', 'Fight', 'Missile', 'Crossed Wires' and the superb 'Kill Korsh' reverberate to massive brass fanfares and swirling string lines, underpinned by an incessant set of trilling snare drums, hammering anvils and low-end pianos to give it a forward-thrusting internal rhythm. It's almost as though Newman extracted all the best elements of the three action masters - Goldsmith, Horner and Poledouris - and distilled them down into one breathless, all-encompassing style.

There is a great deal tense, low-key string writing for the confrontational scenes in cues such as 'Where's The President', 'Bridge', 'Call to the White House', 'Countdown' and others. A mock Slavic march for Gary Oldman's character crops up in 'Mother Russia' and 'Prez Gets Idea' (which, bizarrely, seems to feature a speeded up version of the Force Theme from Star Wars!), while some of Newman's familiar Americana appears in the shape of a lovely string motif representing the president's relationship with his family in 'Alice and Grace'.

Ultimately, Randy Newman's Air Force One is a great score, but one in desperately need of a film to accompany - if for no other reason than for it to be available for more people. As it stands, the only way to hear Randy's music at the moment is with this "private" CD which, despite its shady origins, actually boasts excellent sound quality on a par with many legitimate releases. You may have trouble finding it, but it is well worth a search.

Track Listing: Running Time: 63 minutes 13 seconds

Private Release (1998)

Music composed and conducted by Randy Newman. Orchestrations by Don Davis. Trumpet solos performed by Malcolm McNab. Recorded and mixed by Frank Wolf. Score produced by Randy Newman.

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