THE JACKAL

CARTER BURWELL

Rating:

Original Review: After years of "indie" films, Carter Burwell finally scored his first Hollywood action movie in 1998: a remake of Frederick Forsythe's Day of the Jackal, directed by Michael Caton Jones, who previously employed Burwell to score such diverse works as Doc Hollywood, Rob Roy, This Boy's Life. The Jackal stars Bruce Willis as a seemingly unstoppable assassin homing in on an unknown political target, and Richard Gere as the imprisoned IRA terrorist sprung from jail by the combined forces of the FBI and the KGB to help them catch him. With sterling support from Diane Venora and Sidney Poitier, The Jackal turned out to be one of the more watchable thrillers of its year, with plenty of globe-trotting action to keep viewers happy, even if Bruce Willis did go a little bit overboard with his bottle of peroxide.

It's always an important turning point in a composer's career when he gets his first "big" action movie, although to be honest I never really expected that Burwell would succumb to the lures of the summer blockbuster. For starters, he never seemed to be the type of composer that would feel at home competing with squealing tyres and explosions, especially when you consider that the majority of films to date were low-key dramas like Waterland and Storyville, or thrillers with a quirky edge like Kalifornia and Fargo. However, succumb he did, and although the majority of the film going-public never noticed anything had changed, Burwell began to emerge from his independent cocoon and embrace the studio system.

Unfortunately, none of Burwell's score featured on MCA's commercial release of The Jackal soundtrack, which instead became a vehicle for a plethora of techno acts like Massive Attack, The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim and Moby. Score fans were left in the dark about the extent of Burwell's musical contribution to the film, and watching it didn't help as most of the time the music was buried underneath squealing tyres and explosions. C'est la vie. This new "private release" of Burwell's score finally lifts the lid on The Jackal, and proves that, given the opportunity, Carter has the musical nouse to compete with the action movie big boys on their own terms.

This is not to say that Burwell has abandoned his roots entirely, or that he has he lost his personal musical style, as the opening cues show. In 'Moscow' and others, the dourly familiar bass-heavy string themes are overlaid with sonorous oboe solos and the occasional percussion loop to underscore the opening scenes of the KGB's attempts to ensnare a drug dealer. But, as the score progresses, it is obvious that Burwell is making a determined attempt to not be "quirky". This is a comparatively straightforward action score, with obvious intentions and very little in the way of subtlety. The only concessions to the eclectic nature of Burwell's past come by way of the continued use of a cimbalom, tinkling away in the background of many cues and adding a touch of ethnic mystique to the action, especially during 'Arrival in Montreal' and the recurring 'Assassination Theme'.

Weaving in and around these sleights of orchestration are the brooding brass motif for 'Declan', the soaring string theme in 'Sailing', which is possibly one of Burwell's all-time best, and the superb but sadly brief theme for Valentina the KGB agent, which is first heard in the unnamed ninth and tenth tracks, and reaches an almost operatic climax in 'Valentina's Death'. And then there are the action and chase cues, some of which are highly structured and quite stately (the tom-toms and electric guitars of 'Jackal Followed/The Parking Garage', the throbbing percussion of 'Continuing With The Mission' and 'Spotting Jackal'), while others are more dissonant (the haunting, howling 'Assassination Attempt').

Although it may seem somewhat contradictory to say it, The Jackal is a departure for Carter Burwell, but which still somehow sounds like all his other scores. The stylistics are there, and the familiar instrumentations are still in place, but he uses them in a new and refreshing manner that is highly pleasing to the ear and - more importantly - fits the film. Fans of Burwell's earlier works will undoubtedly get a kick out of hearing how Carter has managed to work his musical round pegs into the Hollywood square hole, while those new to his scores will undoubtedly be pleasantly surprised.

Track Listing: Running Time: 45 minutes 05 seconds

Private Release (1997/1999)

Music composed and conducted by Carter Burwell. Orchestrations by Sonny Kompaneck and Michael McCuiston. Recorded and mixed by Michael Farrow. Remixed by Danny Saber and Ged Lynch. Edited by Angie Rubin. Score produced by Carter Burwell.

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