COURAGE UNDER FIRE

JAMES HORNER

Rating:

Original Review: Although Courage Under Fire is by no means the most exciting or innovative score in James Horner's folder, it has more than its fair share of moments of beauty and excitement. The film was about an investigation into the death of a female Gulf War hero and it begins with the beautiful string-based 'Hymn', a lovely emotional piece which is effectively a spin off from Glory, sans the Boys' Choir. In fact, the whole score is very reminiscent of many other scores: it recalls the drumbeats and dangerous pre-battle motifs from Braveheart; the racing violin solos recently heard in Titanic, and the epic sounding string cues from Legends of the Fall and In Country. But this is not to say that the score completely lacks in originality. 'Al Bathra/Main Title' begins with the sound of helicopter rotors spinning in the distance, which slowly become enveloped in a steady drumbeat and synthesised chords - in my opinion, a very clever piece of timing and use of effects. 'The Elegy' rises to a wonderfully emotional crescendo over the course of its four minutes; 'Monfriez's Suicide', which employs a metal percussion section to put the listener firmly on edge; and the epic 14-minute finale, 'A Final Resting Place', one of those cues which seems to go on forever and concludes on a wonderfully dramatic note with a final restatement of the beautiful battle hymn. Elmo at the James Horner Shrine said that he considered Courage Under Fire to be a test run for later scores, and I am inclined to agree. It's almost as though Horner was practising, tweaking and fiddling with his melodies to get the music right for later. The music worked perfectly in this film, and it sounded great, so I say why hold it against him? Everybody's got to practice somewhere!

Track Listing: Running Time: 54 minutes 38 seconds

Angel Records 7243-8-53105-2-2 (1996)

Music composed and conducted by James Horner. Orchestrations by James Horner. Recorded and mixed by Shawn Murphy. Edited by Jim Henrikson. Mastered by Patricia Sullivan. Album produced by James Horner.


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These web pages were designed and maintained by Jonathan Broxton copyright 1997. All opinions and views expressed on these pages are my own and are in no way intended to reflect those of my employer, the Trent Institute for Health Services Research, or those of the University of Sheffield.