Two primary themes, an ascending four-note motif for
Timothy Dalton's villain, and a descending set of phrases akin to Alan
Silvestri's
Back to the Future time travel motif are used almost
constantly in
The Rocketeer. The main theme embodies the magical
elements of the rocket and its aviator, serving as the basis for almost
every action cue. With concert arrangements of this theme bookending the
score, its consistent, extended statements do beg for some variation,
and Horner provides some changes in tempo in the score's two ambitious
action highlights. In "The Flying Circus" and "Jenny's Rescue"
(alternately named "South Seas Send Up"), Horner offers the kind of
explosive thematic expositions that made
Willow so engaging.
Here, he augments the long, brassy performances of the theme with an
active percussion section, using cymbals, chimes, tambourines,
triangles, and other light metallic elements to highlight the positive
spirit and metallic technology of the story. In "The Flying Circus," the
rhythmic action motifs mirror Horner's early
Star Trek and
Aliens writing, but he translates them into their most flighty
forms. Late in that cue, some hoedown attitude from
Fievel Goes
West appears in the form of banjo, fiddle, and other instrumentation
meant almost as a parody of such sounds. For your money, however, "South
Seas Send Up" is easily the more enjoyable cue, partly because of the
bass-staggered counterpoint performance of the title theme two minutes
in. The more fluid performances of the identity in the opening and
closing suites feature more of the magical atmosphere, however. The
tingling sensation starts immediately, accompanying the film's opening
takeoff sequence with an elegant combination of light electronic tones
(closer to Jerry Goldsmith's style than Horner's) under a gorgeous solo
piano introduction of the theme. The storybook personality continues
through both suites and moments in between; Horner's theme is so fluid
and aerodynamic that it's built upon drawn-out peaks and valleys meant
to accentuate the thrill of flying. Detractors often attack the
perpetual use of this theme in the suites and beyond, though Horner does
adequately shift its performances between all four corners of the
orchestra, often with grand results. More troubling could be the
trademark Horner finale at the end of the film, a progression first
introduced with a bang at the end of
Star Trek II: The Wrath of
Khan, although its performance concluding
The Rocketeer is
among the better variants, especially in its emphasis on snare.
The love theme in
The Rocketeer also soars with
innocence, and it easily eclipses the quality of many of the romantic
string themes that Horner provided for films later in the decade. Heard
in the form of short interludes in the two suites and during the action
cues, this theme receives a lengthy performance in "Jenny" (aka "Love
Theme"). From the solo horn to the full string ensemble, this theme
moves as gracefully as any in Horner's career, and its strikingly
gorgeous layering amidst so much enthusiastic action material will
remind of the same role the love theme played in Horner's early score
for
Krull. Its appeal in
The Rocketeer is much the same,
serving also as a tie to the source music of the era that is performed
on screen by the love interest herself. The villain's theme is perhaps
one of the weaker points of the work, never developing with the kind
convincing menace that you would hope from a score that delineates good
and evil to such extremes. The rising four note motif is cartoonishly
rendered at times and melds into the bland underscore in several cues
before finally making an impact in the latter half of "Zeppelin," in
which the theme's layering is reminiscent of the Queen Bavmorda material
from
Willow's climax. Overall, critics often lump
The
Rocketeer in with
Willow and
The Land Before Time as
simple, adventuresome children's music of significant orchestral volume.
But there is one major difference between
The Rocketeer and those
other efforts. This movie's character is a larger-than-life comic hero
and therefore falls under a different classification of fantasy. Horner
appropriately bloats every element of his score to create the needed
level of bright fantasy; the major key is brutalized, the brass play a
little louder, the strings perform themes at a slower tempo, and the
percussion section is absolutely exhausted of every metallic resource
imaginable. Together, part of
The Rocketeer seems slightly
exaggerated, and that is the key to its success. The original,
relatively short album with 50 minutes of score and the two decent
recordings of vintage jazz vocals ("Begin the Beguine" is as fluffy as
it gets) was a rarity in the early 1990's before later re-pressings. A
limited, 2016 2-CD set from Intrada Records added over twenty minutes of
largely incidental score, but the remastering and restoration of the
major action pieces to their original lengths made the expanded album an
easy recommendation. The label re-issued the same contents in 2020,
altering the film version to make it match the original album's mix, and
it quickly sold out as well. On any album, only a flimsy villain's theme
and the inevitable lack of variation in tone keep
The Rocketeer
one short burst of flame from the highest rating.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
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