Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #1,103
Written 6/15/98, Revised 11/8/11
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Buy it... only if you are completely prepared for the mundane
personality of James Horner's minimalistic atmosphere maintained by
quiet piano, sax, and synthesizer.
Avoid it... if your interest in Horner's work only rises when the
composer significantly rearranges his own formulas and emphasizes
emotional development in his dramatic efforts.
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| Horner |
Class Action: (James Horner) While many of director
Michael Apted's films have a longevity of popularity because of their
usual high quality, Class Action isn't one of them. That's not to
say that the 1991 film isn't without its fair share of merits, earning a
fairly positive critical response despite yielding disappointing
audience support at the box office. A father and daughter tandem of
lawyers, played by Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, finds
themselves on opposite sides of the bar and arguing a large,
contemporary class action case against each other. The father is more of
the radical, sleazy type of attorney who jumps at the opportunity to
serve a case against an automaker whose 1985 station wagons have a nasty
tendency to explode. His daughter represents the big business interests
in defense, and the case allows the entire family to interact in such
ways as to expose and deal with each character's flaws. Apted seems to
enjoy making films about people immersed in their journeys towards
self-discovery, and in the case of Class Action, it is
Mastrantonio's portrayal of the growing up and coming to terms with
Hackman's (and her own) flaws that highlights the movie. In these
regards, screenwriters Carolyn Shelby, Christopher Ames, and Samantha
Shad nicely avoided the pitfalls of cliche in a project that otherwise
had cliche written all over it. As for the score for the film, Class
Action marked the second of three notable collaborations between
composer James Horner and Apted, ranging from Gorky Park way back
in 1983 to Thunderheart in 1992, the latter respected as one of
the better scores to ever exist in an Apted film. The director would
then jump around between composers before settling upon David Arnold as
his usual collaborator multiple times in the late 1990's. On Horner's
part, Class Action is as basic of a contribution to a film that a
score can be. With so much attention placed on the dialogue and acting
in the film, the music serves only the minimal purpose of filling dead
air in the film. With an obvious minimalistic approach in mind, you
can't really blame Horner for the lack of enthusiasm inherent in this
kind of safe conversational drama music. At the very least, it makes for
an extremely consistent listening experience outside of context.
From the opening to closing notes of
Class
Action, there does not exist even one inspiring moment of meaningful
emotional depth. Horner's cost-efficient performing ensemble consists
mostly of himself, with a piano and synthesizer array joined
occasionally by a saxophone for a touch of contemporary flavor. With his
own piano performances carrying much of the load for the score, as well
as a rather low gain mix on the album as a whole, it's easy to forget
that any music is playing at all. Only one primary theme exists in
Class Action, and its introduction in the first bars of the "Main
Title" cue leads to insufferably countless repetition of that idea
thereafter. The opening and closing performances of that theme are the
most developed instrumentally, backed by light, meandering keyboarding,
a synthetic high-tone choir, a few magical swishes of metal, an electric
bass sound, and the sax over the top. A lazy, slightly jazzy swing
defines the theme's attitude, although the contemporary instrumentation
of the piece is betrayed by the lack of power necessary to establish a
realistic presence for this "big court case" topic. The theme is
essentially based on ideas also developed for
Unlawful Entry and
Sneakers, but with all the life sucked out of the latter's
performance emphasis. Straight piano solos for subsequent cues in the
score simply reshuffle and repeat this theme countless times, with
little genuine emotion or any emphasis in performance that would give
listeners any reason to maintain interest in it. A secondary motif
involving descending keyboarded figures accompanies the main theme at
times but also serves as the de facto suspense identity in the score's
mid-section. The lifeless tone of the music continues during the entire
length of the score and is interrupted only by a high-class piano piece
not from Horner and the cues "Stolen Files" and "The Trial" as the film
nears its climax. A slightly heightened rhythm in "Stolen Files" is
joined by a familiar, light tapping of percussion that would hint at
some of the suspense in
The Pelican Brief. For "The Trial,"
Horner employed a lengthy series of dissonant keyboard chords to
maintain an unpleasant atmosphere of tension. But aside from these
slight variations,
Class Action contains little deviations from
its steady course. Without the several very casually appealing sax
performances of the main theme, this score would sink down to
Unlawful Entry levels of total disinterest. Fortunately, it has
remained relatively easy to obtain over decades for those desiring a
complete James Horner collection.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.15
(in 108 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.23
(in 203,515 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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