Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #706
Written 6/15/98, Revised 2/25/10
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Buy it... only if you have already established a liking for John
Williams' highly repetitive, subdued character scores of relatively
simplistic development.
Avoid it... if you have become accustomed to the inherent warmth
and sense of magic that emanate from the complexities of Williams' many
superior character scores.
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| Williams |
The Accidental Tourist: (John Williams) A film
about both depression and laughter, The Accidental Tourist
reunited director Lawrence Kasdan with actors William Hurt and Kathleen
Turner. Having established themselves in Body Heat several years
earlier, they turned their attention to this adaptation of Anne Tyler's
novel. Hurt's character writes travel books for people afraid of
traveling, and upon his son's death, he falls into a hopeless depression
that causes his wife, Turner, to leave him. Through his dog, the only
connection he has to the outside world is the quirky Geena Davis, who he
meets at a kennel. Davis begins the task of bringing the author back to
life, and she manages to slowly accomplish this through humor and
determination. The Accidental Tourist certainly dwells in the
lengthy scenes of Hurt's character's loneliness, and much of John
Williams' score for the film mirrors that introverted reflection. But
the integration of the humor into the story, as well as Kasdan's ability
to make the characters likeable even through their troubles, launched
The Accidental Tourist to critical success. Coming at the end of
a relatively sparse period in Williams' career in the mid-1980's (he had
become heavily involved with the Boston Pops at the beginning of the
decade and that took time away from his composing duties), The
Accidental Tourist would achieve yet another Academy Award
nomination for Williams, whose work received awards recognition more
often than not at the time. The score also became one of the composer's
first debuting works to be offered to fans on the new CD format. His
restrained character scores, while obviously not the most memorable in
his career, were still considered top products at the time. Debate
between Williams collectors continues, however, about the merits of
these character works; The Accidental Tourist shares many traits
with Stanley & Iris, Stepmom, and Williams' half a dozen
other subdued efforts, and to adequately rate them against each other,
there are intangible factors of warmth and magic that come into play.
Somewhere in the middle of that list, The Accidental Tourist
resides.
The structure of this score follows very similar lines
as
Stanley & Iris, although
The Accidental Tourist as a
film differs from
Stanley & Iris in one important way; whereas
Stanley & Iris never seems to mature from beginning to end,
The Accidental Tourist builds up to a revelation in both the film
and its score. The masses of both underscores suffer from a considerable
amount of repetition, though. Williams' theme for
The Accidental
Tourist is an exact, note-for-note prediction of the title theme for
Stanley & Iris and a subtheme for
Home Alone, making it
instantly recognizable for a Williams collector, but disappointing at
the same time. From start to finish, Williams regurgitates this theme
endlessly, from the overdrawn sequences of loneliness during the first
half to the one strong ensemble performance in "A New Beginning." Unlike
Stanley & Iris, the performances of
The Accidental Tourist
have a fuller orchestral sound, even in the moments of contemplation.
Still, in cues such as "Macon Alone" and "The Healing Process," Williams
fails to assert his themes with a rhythm or other twist of memorability
beyond the very simple elegance of the many piano solos. In a handful of
cues, the otherwise flat demeanor of the music (much like Hurt's
character) peeks out of its shell. First, in "Trip to London," and then
in the concert piece from the score, "A Second Chance," Williams finally
bows to some of the playful humor that Davis' character brings into the
equation. As mentioned before, "A New Beginning" offers the overplayed
theme in the appropriate, but long awaited orchestral crescendo, quickly
identifying itself as the highlight of the score. A longer album than
that of
Stanley & Iris compounds the problem of listenability,
for a person could lose patience with this score long before that
finale. The original printing run of Warner's CD for
The Accidental
Tourist was not very long, and the album fell badly out of print and
became a high collectible for Williams' fans. Film Score Monthly
acquired the rights to the score in 2008 and pressed an identical
presentation (without usual unit limitations) to alleviate availability
issues. As with Williams' other character scores that have suffered from
exorbitant prices through the years, be absolutely sure that you will
find relaxation or other satisfaction in
The Accidental Tourist.
Otherwise, it could leave you surprisingly cold.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For John Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.68
(in 91 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.54
(in 363,716 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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