Filmtracks Traffic Rank: #2,333
Written 12/15/24
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Buy it... only to complete your collection of early Danny Elfman
music, this score a cheap shadow of the composer's other light
orchestral comedies of the 1980's.
Avoid it... if you want anything genuinely unique from the
composer, though the finale cue does offer a few minutes of nice
orchestral redemption, albeit from an undersized ensemble.
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| Elfman |
Summer School: (Danny Elfman) At the height of
totally senseless high school comedy films, Carl Reiner's Summer
School was a travesty of hideous proportions, showing teachers
engaged in behavior that would have them sacked and in jail if the
film's plot took place in real life. Mark Harmon plays a physical
education teacher at a Los Angeles beach area high school, and he is
forced to teach a summer course of remedial English or lose his tenure
at the school. His oddball collection of misfit, flunk-out students
makes this task nearly impossible, and he twists the advice of another
teacher handling remedial classes, played by Kirstie Alley, to teach in
unconventional (and entirely illegal) ways. When the vindictive
administration of the school presses the academics of the students, they
pull their act together to do well enough on their exit exams to save
both themselves and the teacher. There's a future romance on the side
between the two teachers as well, of course. With its cheap humor,
Summer School was met with critical indifference at best but
still managed to make a decent amount of money, likely because of the
various young actresses showing more than a necessary amount of flesh.
Most of the music in the 1987 film was a collection of rock and dance
songs of the era, and this group was led by a Danny Elfman performance
of the song "Happy" with his band, Oingo Boingo, which wasn't allowed
proper credit due to contractual issues. Elfman also composed the
original score for Summer School, and the tone of "Happy" fits
well with the score's more contemporary parts. The score is very short,
its lone album padding some of its running time with extended fade-outs,
near silence, and a prank ending. It's a hybrid orchestral and synthetic
effort that combines the composer's mannerisms from the prior few years,
blending obvious callbacks to Back to School with the modern solo
styling of Wisdom and conveying a demeanor that would be expanded
upon in Pure Luck four years later. Most of the contemporary,
looped style is confined in the "Driving Test" and "Extra Credit" cues,
the former adding breathy female vocal effects and while the latter are
likely Elfman's trial demos. "Extra Credit A" is essentially an extended
variant of "Driving Test" on synthesizer with James Horner influences,
and both recordings preview the opening riff of Beetlejuice on
marimba effects. Meanwhile, "Extra Credit B" is an early romance idea on
synths with Giorgio Moroder tones in the bass.
The bulk of Elfman's score for
Summer School
uses his maturing orchestral comedy techniques with Steve Bartek's help,
a sound that had defined
Back to School and
Pee-wee's Big
Adventure. The ensemble isn't big enough to make it convincing,
though. Faux-classical cues use harpsichord with somewhat sparse strings
and brass, woodwinds arriving later. A variety of very short, one-off
moments guide the work, the action stinger in "Killer Rabbits" a cheap
tool of comedy, a slight preview of Batman action formations in "Shoop
Wears Suit," and suspense stingers in "Denise's Big Moment" in "Broken
Fender" flirting with harmonica in the latter for additional hints of
laziness. The only really dark moment comes in the dissonant thuds late
in "Chainsaw's Dream," Elfman's lone nod to the horror-oriented
sub-story of the film. Earlier in that cue, cheery rhythms on wood
blocks and thumping piano remind of his Pee-wee music. There are a few
themes running throughout
Summer School, and they represent the
meat of the score. The main theme for Harmon's character is somewhat
generic with repeated descending phrasing, hinted as a rhythmic device
in 0:14 into "Driving Test" but a bit lost in the layers of action. It's
developed on keyboards against strings in "Peanut Butter" and is
conveyed by lighter piano over woodwinds at the start of "Class Goes
Home," where it is interrupted by sleazy harmonica and saxophone humor
for a personality that continues into "Sad Dog." This theme is provided
a sad keyboarded moment in "I Failed" but expands in its largest form
for the whole ensemble at 1:02 into "Tenure" with tolling chimes.
Carried by strings in several performances throughout the rest of the
cue, the idea's secondary lines are finally extended nicely for the
highlight of the score. A pair of supporting themes contribute a few
times in the work as well, including an uppity, formal school theme with
stuffy demeanor in "Animal Farm." It's difficult for Elfman to carry the
desired spirit with such a small orchestra, but the idea returns in
"Study Montage" in a lesser stately form with
Back to School-like
piano. A harpsichord runs with tuba in the latter half of the cue for
laughs. Silly, high school-appropriate marches occupy the remainder of
the score, performed by marching band instruments in "Football Lesson"
and adapted into a different set of progressions over the same
instrumentation early in "Tenure." It's impossible for any consistency
to result from this haphazard blend, and Elfman collectors will be best
served seeking only the "Tenure" finale for compilations. A 16-minute
album from 1984/Rusted Wave in 2023 with a hidden movie quote at the end
is the only release of this small asterisk in Elfman's career.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
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Bias Check:
For Danny Elfman reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.12
(in 95 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.26
(in 154,830 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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