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FILMTRACKS.COM
PRINTER-FRIENDLY VIEW 
Review of Home Alone (John Williams)
FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:
Buy it... on any of its albums if you seek one of the most
memorable, purely innocent Christmas scores in the history of film
music.
Avoid it... if the hopelessly optimistic, spiritually seasonal nature of John Williams' first cheery children's score reduces it to a once-a-year kind of listening experience.
FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:
Home Alone: (John Williams) This highly popular and
likely overrated children's story written by John Hughes and shot by
Chris Columbus in 1990 tests every limit of plausibility. By the end of
Home Alone, any adult who has raised a child will wonder if an
8-year-old with the wit and composure of Macaulay Culkin's character
actually exists. In the film, he plays a boy mistakenly left at his
upscale home in the Chicago suburbs while his frantic family packs and
departs for Paris, and in the time it takes for the neglectful parents
to realize their error and return home, the boy comically foils a pair
of burglars who attempt to invade the home. The depictions of violence
are as ridiculously dumb and unbelievable as they could possibly be, and
the film attempts to redeem itself with a solid message of Holiday
forgiveness involving an initially frightening but ultimately friendly
neighbor who saves the boy. Despite negative reviews, Home Alone
became the third most successful film in box office grosses in the
history of cinema, though its only Oscar nominations both came for John
Williams' memorable original score and embedded primary song. The
composer had a relatively slow period in his schedule late in 1990 and
had not intended to write another score that year, but he by chance
attended a screening of Home Alone that Columbus had provided to
other Steven Spielberg associates. His enthusiasm for the film caused
him to actively seek the assignment after the production's original
composer, Bruce Broughton, had to bow out due to a scheduling conflict.
It had been a while since John Williams had composed a score
specifically aimed at children (if ever, really) and after raving about
the initial cut of the film to his own circle of associates, he tackled
the new genre with so much zeal that the resulting fruitful friendship
with Columbus would lead to several subsequent endeavors in that genre
(including the Harry Potter films). Not only were the
ramifications exciting for Williams' fans, but the composer approached
the project with a refreshing new enthusiasm that carried over into the
tone of his composition. After a year which included the dramatic, often
tense scores for Presumed Innocent, Stanley & Iris, and
Always, Williams shed all of that weight and provided what
essentially amounts to a perfect comedic Christmas score.
Ever since Home Alone first won the hearts of audiences, Williams' score has existed among the highest standards for Christmas-related music from Hollywood. Not only are the score and Williams' two original songs worthy of a place among established holiday favorites, but the film cleverly combines this music with traditional but rerecorded Christmas carol recordings arranged for this production. Home Alone is an example of a film and score fitting like a perfect glove for a hand, with Williams' music successfully balancing the two sides of the film: the wacky, stupid comedy and the heartfelt sense of family and religion at the holidays. The fact that Williams' own carols for the film will sound indistinguishable from existing pieces for many casual viewers proves, at the very least, that the composer is among the best classically-inclined artists of this period in time. His recordings of traditional carols also maintain a hearty holiday spirit in arrangement and performance, and it's difficult to imagine how the composer could have accomplished all of this during the warm summer and autumn of the film's post-production. The score's greatest weakness is its comical, Carl Stalling-like cartoon music for the battle sequences near the climax of the film. But despite these necessities and the rather simplistic storyline, the underscore for Home Alone is met with the abundance of nuance and unique motifs that you'd expect from Williams for a film of much greater scope and magnitude. More than in many other scores from the maestro, there exist connections between the themes in Home Alone and traditional songs, an intentional method of merging the two given the copious song placements tracked into the film (a usual trait of John Hughes productions). While critics may claim that the Oscar-nominated primary song, "Somewhere in My Memory" is a piece of fluff, it's important to recognize that the pretty and redemptive spirit of the carol is precisely what makes it effective (the complete opposite to, for instance, the lack of character depth which would sink Williams' Sabrina score a few years later). After the theme was written to represent the boy's love of his parents, poignantly accompanying the scenes of longing and reunion, Williams recognized its strength and enlisted his longtime associate, lyricist Leslie Bricusse, to translate the tune into the Oscar-nominated song. Lyrics were also afforded to Williams' other carol and major theme for Home Alone, "Star of Bethlehem," the far weightier representation of the mysterious neighbor and a tool with which to represent Christmas with the gravity of its religious meaning to many. This idea is intriguingly applied as a tool of suspense throughout the score, perhaps imposing that gravity upon the psyche of an 8-year-old who is somewhat overwhelmed by the season's implications. Outside of these two main themes, Williams writes several more and references them almost constantly throughout the score. While also seemingly less sophisticated than Williams' larger dramatic efforts, the choice of instrumentation is what makes Home Alone a great success. The composer spared no expense in assembling every tingling instrument he could find, from chimes, glockenspiel, celesta, and sleigh bells to deep organ accents. At every moment in the score, a tingling element is to be heard, and if you thought that inspiration from "Jingle Bells" was below Williams' standards, think again. The only curious choice in Home Alone is the application of synthetic elements in several places, the iconic opening performance of "Somewhere in My Memory" in the score performed by synthetic celesta. Likewise, the popular "Setting the Trap" cue required the orchestra to perform over pre-recorded rhythms from pop-inspired drum pads. That said, slower performances of the major carols are provided with grand orchestral sweeps and lyrical passages from the various songs, and these sequences do reach back to access the resounding ensemble depth that dates from Williams' 1970's disaster genre scores. The most explosive theme is a classical joust to represent the manic chaos of the boy's parents; for the travel scenes, Williams pulls some obvious inspiration from Tchaikovsky's "The Nutcracker" and infuses it with Aaron Copland "Rodeo" adventure style to embody the hectic task of going overseas with a large family. Though effective, the rambunctious personality of this theme can overwhelm quickly, and at least one of its recordings for the film was ultimately dialed out. The boy himself receives a bubbly little theme to represent his own well-meaning independence early on in "Target Practice/Sledding on the Stairs" and "Scammed by a Kindergartner," usually playfully stated by solo brass instruments over plucked string rhythms. For the two bumbling criminals in Home Alone, Williams offers perhaps his most subtle, but effective motif. Instead of providing an ominous theme with one of the more powerful elements of the orchestra, the villains are accompanied only by woodwinds, an unexpected, but strangely appropriate choice for the idiots that these characters are. The dual performances of a bass bassoon with a clarinet or oboe keep the theme low and mysterious while allowing the flexibility to toy with their quirky personalities. That way, they are never quite that scary to kids in the audience, and Williams can sustain a light atmosphere for even the film's darkest moments. Such usage by Williams goes back to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, and much of the character of this theme carried over to Hook the following year. Originally established as a scary villain by Williams is the neighbor, whose appearances to four distinctive notes (in stinger mode) from "Dies Irae" in "Introducing Marley" and "Drug Store" are proven a clever deception when the character befriends the boy against the same four notes that also form the basis of "Carol of the Bells." Finally, two lesser motifs grace the family's house, the first a prancing rhythmic figure for the home itself in the opening cue and "Banished to the Attic." The latter is a frightening ensemble idea that extends out of that home motif in "The Basement" and "Cleaning Clothes" for the household furnace. Overall, the Home Alone score is a Christmas bonanza and "Somewhere in My Memory" is among Williams' most amicable career songs. Unfortunately, enjoying this music anytime during the rest of the year is a challenge, and on album, the score is so well articulated that it's a seasonal event. The recording's mix is fantastic, those bass woodwinds very prominently highlighted. The original 1990 album contained most of the score and many of the source placements, an identical 2010 re-issue solving availability issues. Also in 2010, La-La Land Records issued an expanded edition of 3,500 units that dropped the pop songs but does fantastic justice to Williams' score. After that album went out of print, La-La Land returned in 2015 to combine both presentations into one, limited 2-CD set, with a few new, film-version song recordings but the same score material. Against all odds, this franchise opener is far more impressive on any album than the disappointingly rehashed sequel music from Williams for Home Alone 2: Lost in New York. Just make sure there's snow on the ground outside before trying to absorb the undeniable magic of the composer's enthusiastic holiday spirit. ****
TRACK LISTINGS:
1990 CBS Album:
Total Time: 57:01
2010 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 78:48
* previously unreleased ** contains previously unreleased material *** contains lyrics by Leslie Bricusse 2015 La-La Land Album: Total Time: 145:46
* previously unreleased
NOTES & QUOTES:
The sparse insert of the 1990 album includes no extra information about
the score or film. The 2010 and 2015 La-La Land albums' inserts contains detailed
notes about both.
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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Home Alone are Copyright © 1990, 2010, 2015, CBS Records, La-La Land Records, La-La Land Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 9/24/96 and last updated 3/22/16. |
