TOMBSTONE

BRUCE BROUGHTON

Rating:

Original Review: I bought Bruce Broughton's score to Tombstone during my psychotic shopping trip to London. I had been after some Broughton music for a while, and when the time came it ended up being a straight choice between this and Silverado. I plumped for this, and now I'm sure I made the right decision. It begins with 'The Cowboys', which starts off with some quirky newsreel footage, but then turns into a menacing action cue with low, distinctive brasses and a heavy percussion beat. The score maintains a typical western feeling, right down to the long lustrous strings first used in the 1920s and 30s when the cinema sound of the Wild West was first defined, although Broughton does employ some innovative orchestrations in his music, like the Hungarian cymbalom, the contrabass sarrusophone and trombone. I really like the first three cues 'A Family', which contains a lovely string/flute theme; 'Arrival in Tombstone', which presents the first statement of the testosterone-charged main melody, although here it contains an unexpected Irish element with fiddles, bodhran drum and tambourines; and 'Josephine', the film's romantic theme: a gorgeous flute solo. The best renditions of these themes come in the epic 8-minute end titles cue, 'Looking For Heaven', which starts off with a wonderful arrangement of the Encounter theme before hurtling off into the Tombstone theme with unbridled ferocity and passion. After the hilarious 'Thespian Overture', the music tends to become a little more dour and dissonant in nature, lifted only by the wonderful 'Fortuitous Encounter', a free-spirited, lively and beautiful waltz-like cue which underscores the first meeting between Wyatt and Josephine as they race across the Arizona desert on horseback, and a deathly rendition of the Tombstone theme in 'O.K. Corral', which after almost six minutes of quiet launches into a thrilling, violent action theme with metal percussion and heavy drums pounding above a low restatement of the Tombstone theme. Much of the rest is rather dark, low, heavy, brooding music which creeps along on its belly through the dust in a threatening sort of way: it contains lots of blatting trumpets and drums and grinding strings. This briefly lifts during the first moments of 'Brief Encounters', when a slower, more poignant rendition of the Encounters theme on high strings is presented, and again during 'Finishing it', which eventually becomes a frenetic, loud, rhythmic action theme, ending with a flashy rendition of the Tombstone theme. Although the middle section of the score, between cues 8 and 15, does tend to drag a little, Broughton's thematic genius won me over. I love the way in which he intermingles his four main themes, especially during that End Credits cue, and for this reason I recommend Tombstone to all.

Track Listing: Running Time: 66 minutes 44 seconds

Intrada MAF-7038D (1993)

Music composed by Bruce Broughton. Conducted by David Snell. Performed by The Sinfonia of London. Orchestrations by Bruce Broughton. Recorded and mixed by Mike Ross. Edited by Patricia Carlin. Mastered by Joe Tarantino. Album produced by Bruce Broughton and Douglass Fake.


Home Page | Soundtracks | Soundtrack Reviews | Composers | Soundtrack Links

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.