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Review of Forrest Gump (Alan Silvestri)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you regularly relax to the soft tones of piano, strings, and woodwinds playing consistently conservative, but lovely melodies.

Avoid it... if you believe the hype that this score is a classic, because while it serves its purpose very well, its derivative and repetitive nature is a significant detraction.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Forrest Gump: (Alan Silvestri) It is perhaps fitting that when the Oscar ceremonies rolled around in 1995, the anticipated battle for the top awards pitted Robert Zemeckis' Forrest Gump versus Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction. There could exist no two films more different in tone and style, one wholesome and tender, the other profane and disgusting. Ultimately, Forrest Gump prevailed and took home statues for six of its thirteen Oscar nominations, including the top four awards. It was also remarkable in both its ability to win over critics and audiences, not only receiving top marks from even the most cynical writers but also grossing a stunning $330 million domestically, a sum that easily placed it in the top ten films of all time. The film's story was one of honesty and redemption, using Tom Hanks' mentally impaired title character to offer perspectives on life and love that audiences found appealing. One of the ways that Zemeckis further extended the emotional grip on his viewers was with a wide selection of period songs and Alan Silvestri's score, the latter gaining the veteran composer a much deserved first Academy Award nomination. The constant song usage, which eventually spawned a 2-CD compilation soundtrack, was one of the film's few detractions. Zemeckis employed his songs so liberally that they are a distraction in the finished picture and put Silvestri at a distinct disadvantage. The composer was particularly excited about this assignment; this long collaboration often (though not always) provided him inspiration above and beyond his other works. He and Zemeckis sat down to discuss how they would incorporate his thematic material throughout the film. The director, however, made it clear that the assignment would be accompanied by significant song placements. So while Silvestri did use Forrest Gump as an opportunity to draft some of the most elegant and appealing thematic ideas of his career, the rendering of these themes is often less thorough than desired.

As Silvestri progressed through the picture, he found himself in a situation where he was required to pen a new motif to meet the specific needs of each scene; he eventually concocted four major themes in sum and applied them in predictable statements for each general emotional purpose in the story. The opening theme, sometimes referred to affectionately as the "feather theme," is the one that Silvestri immediately wrote upon viewing the film for the first time. It was this idea that the composer and director had difficulty adapting into other situations in the film (which remains a curiosity given that it seems as though it would be flexible enough to be adapted for at least two of the other general thematic identities), and it therefore leaves the screen after "I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump" until its return in "I'll Be Right Here." This theme, while utilizing a style of meter and instrumentation that firmly roots it in the career sound of Silvestri (especially in its secondary string performance), features a soft, underlying rhythm that has hints of Rachel Portman's related sound. The score-only album for Forrest Gump conveniently offers the four major themes in the first four successive tracks, so the second one is heard in "You're No Different." Also performed on piano in sensitive tones, this theme represents the title character's innocence and, in this specific scene, his childhood. It's even further connected to Silvestri's standard sound for romantic dramas in its similarity to his later theme for Contact. The third track offers the next theme, one of sadness for the bittersweet relationship between Forrest and Jenny. Slower in tempo and featuring lower woodwind performances, this theme barely punctuates cues like "You Can't Sit Here" and "Jenny Returns," though a compelling string interlude helps. It's a surprisingly distant representation for a love that is everlasting, though anything sweeter may have exposed an excess of sugar.

The most obvious (and arguably famous) theme from Forrest Gump is the one that accompanies Gump's running. Heard in "Run Forrest Run," "The Crimson Gump," and "The Crusade" (as well as the overarching summary in the suite at the end of the album), this theme is arguably overrated. Its rhythmic structure owes much to Jerry Goldsmith's Rudy from the previous year, a score that has obviously defined the concepts of sports and competition with fantastic success. While each of these themes is satisfactory in their application to Forrest Gump, the insertion of the songs in scenes that Silvestri should have scored causes a dissatisfying lack of development of his ideas throughout the score. The statements of each theme are static, reprising themselves in nearly identical form every time. By the end of the picture, Gump may have completed a fantastic journey, but Silvestri's music is still making the same statements as at the start. Perhaps this consistency is an intentional comment about the level headed character of Tom Hanks' portrayal, but on album you need no more than the 40 minutes of material provided. Silvestri had a habit of doing this in films that inserted songs regularly (What Women Want specifically comes to mind, for some reason), and in all reality, all you need to hear from Forrest Gump to satisfy yourself is the nicely arranged suite at the end and a few select cues from the actual score. In terms of tone, Silvestri's score for the film is an absolute triumph. If you try to think about it too hard, though, you'll find nagging problems with derivative emulation and a lack of maturation during its running time that will sour the experience. Those who continue to question Zemeckis' extensive song use in the film will have compounding complaints. Many film music collectors believe that Silvestri should have taken home an Academy Award for his work here; as a result, Forrest Gump is one of the more significantly overrated scores of its era. It's lovely and undemanding, but by no means a classic.  ****

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 39:23

• 1. I'm Forrest... Forrest Gump (2:41) • 2. You're No Different (1:00) • 3. You Can't Sit Here (2:26) • 4. Run Forrest Run (2:14) • 5. Pray With Me (0:58) • 6. The Crimson Gump (1:08) • 7. They're Sending Me to Vietnam (2:23) • 8. I Ran and Ran (1:43) • 9. I Had a Destiny (1:19) • 10. Washington Reunion (0:45) • 11. Jesus on the Main Line (2:00)

• 12. That's My Boat (1:16) • 13. I Never Thanked You (0:47) • 14. Jenny Returns (2:43) • 15. The Crusade (2:01) • 16. Forrest Meets Forrest (1:41) • 17. The Wedding Guest (1:48) • 18. Where Heaven Ends (1:33) • 19. Jenny's Grave (1:26) • 20. I'll Be Right Here (0:49) • 21. Suite from Forrest Gump (6:34)

NOTES & QUOTES:

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