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Review of Cast Away: The Zemeckis/Silvestri Collaboration (Alan Silvestri)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you seek only the necessary material from Cast Away, as well as samples from the previous nine scores that comprised the collaboration between Alan Silvestri and Robert Zemeckis at the time.

Avoid it... if you seek the full twenty or so minutes of material from Cast Away, most of which is redundant and some of which wasn't even composed by Silvestri anyway.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Cast Away: The Zemeckis/Silvestri Collaboration: (Alan Silvestri) Collaborations between directors and composers can often span six or seven films over many decades, and while it is no record, the highly acclaimed 2000 film Cast Away represented the tenth pairing of director Robert Zemeckis and composer Alan Silvestri. Even though their first project together was highly disappointing Romancing the Stone, Zemeckis and Silvestri became famous with their monumentally successful Back to the Future and its sequels. The remarkable result of Forrest Gump was unparalleled critical praise for the two, and that praise once again arose for Cast Away. Zemeckis and Silvestri are very close friends, and the trust that the director has for the composer is evident through the wide diversity of the genres that the two tackle together. Even while they were preparing and recording What Lies Beneath in early 2000, they were hard at work with Cast Away, which figured to be the blockbuster hit of the holiday season that year. And, without a doubt, Cast Away was a success. Tom Hanks' portrayal of a man stranded on a small island for an extended time was equaled by the sensitivity of Helen Hunt's short performance as his grieving wife. Even more interesting for film score fans is the fact that Zemeckis chose to include less than 15 minutes of music for the entire duration of the film (a film which is, surprisingly, quite long). It was an effective choice, enhancing the feeling of alienation that Hanks' character experiences on the island. Only once he begins his attempt to leave that island does the slight string, woodwind, and piano theme begin. When he loses Wilson (a ball he has desperately befriended) on that journey, the theme announces the arrival of the emotionally traumatizing final act.

A few of Zemeckis' choices for Cast Away weren't as clear; the plane crash itself went unscored, which was a more curious choice. But in the last half hour of the film (the extended epilogue), Silvestri's score makes just a few select appearances. In these late scenes, it works brilliantly, proving that sometimes, less is indeed more. The theme for Cast Away is very simply constructed. It's not particularly noble; instead, it's appropriately humbling and detached. There are progressions and sensibilities that could be compared to the feather theme of Forrest Gump. The "End Credits" cue repeats the same statement of theme heard in the actual film, but it is in this slightly longer performance that the piano joins the woodwinds and strings for an additional layer of elegance. Roughly half of this cue actually consists of interludes that solely feature the sounds of crashing waves and whispering winds through the trees. This mixing of Silvestri's on and off again strings with the sound effects is a thoughtful touch in "End Credits." It is equally delightful, therefore, that the full performance of theme and subsequent mixing of those sound effects were made available on a album released in 2001 by Varèse Sarabande. The seven and a half minutes presented on that product offer the essential music from the film, since earlier performances of the title theme are practically the same (lacking the piano). The much-requested Russian choral piece heard near the start of the film was not composed or even recorded by Silvestri, so it doesn't appear on this album. It is a traditional Russian song written by Lev Knipper called "Oh, My Field" ("Polyushka, Polye") and it is available on various collections of Red Army hymns.

To fill out the album, Varèse Sarabande producer Robert Townson compiled original selections from each of the ten scores that Silvestri has written for Zemeckis films. These are the actual, original soundtrack recordings from each film, so the album acts as a very effective tribute to their collaboration. The lighter Romancing the Stone and Death Becomes Her are a glimpse of the composer's pop and comedy side, while Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a flamboyant score that was long difficult to obtain on its original Touchstone album. The three Back to the Future scores are well-represented, though it's easy to say that any fan of the original film and score would rather have heard something other than the suite that was already available on the film's commercial song compilation. The beloved Forrest Gump and Contact both feature wonderful and delicate themes, and their back-to-back appearance on this compilation provides for over sixteen minutes of uninterrupted beauty. Just before Cast Away, What Lies Beneath is certainly the weakest score of the ten, and an unfortunate detraction from the listening experience on this compilation (but since the album is a chronological presentation of each collaboration, it has to be there). Overall, the Cast Away "End Credits" cue is a pleasant listening experience, albeit short. Fans who seek the complete 20-minute score for Cast Away on bootlegs aren't likely to find anything substantially different (other than the Russian material not by Silvestri). Most of the other selections on this compilation have their virtues, but since they cross over several genres and are placed chronologically, they don't always flow well into each other. Nevertheless, it's a competent compilation of Silvestri's work and merits some consideration.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 59:05

• 1. Romancing the Stone: End Credits (5:20) • 2. Back to the Future: Theme (3:18) • 3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit: Suite (4:59) • 4. Back to the Future, Part II: Suite (4:35) • 5. Back to the Future, Part III: End Credits (4:03) • 6. Death Becomes Her: End Credits (5:49) • 7. Forrest Gump: Suite (8:52) • 8. Contact: End Credits (8:00) • 9. What Lies Beneath: End Credits (6:36) • 10. Cast Away: End Credits (7:30)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes a note from producer Robert Townson about the collaboration between Zemeckis and Silvestri. The theme for Cast Away appeared in a 2003 spoof advertisement of the film for FedEx. It was also used by the 2008 presidential campaign of Barack Obama in some of the biographical films produced on his behalf.

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