Jerry's score is aging like a fine wine and is getting only more and more interesting when compared to the film music of today
Yep. Today's scores all sound the same, making Goldsmith's R:FBII even more special. There's so many different themes in the score, it reminds me of John Williams' Star Wars score ie that kind of grandiose sounding, classical sweeping score full of rich textures and layers with all the different motifs and such.
You can hear that in all these unique themes from FBII -
Opening Titles (this is just amazing):
https://youtu.be/Hdj2agJ1B84?t=31sNew 'kick ass' Rambo theme:
https://youtu.be/Hdj2agJ1B84?t=13sAnother new heroic Rambo motif, heard throughout FBII:
https://youtu.be/UdSIV5xMACk?t=4sThe jump from the plane:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5xPVq56aboClassic Rambo Theme:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXsY8wHR0kUPart me thinks Jerry's music in this series deserves its own fan-film documentary. With various interviews of the musicians involved, the sound engineers, film producers and maybe even short snippets of an interview with Sly,
Agreed. It's such an iconic score. I think it's the best score of his career. The most important thing is that Jerry Goldsmith really bought into the Rambo character, he understood him and what he meant. Critics dismissed Rambo as generic violent action fodder, but Goldsmith recognized the genius of what Stallone had created with Rambo. Rambo was the first true ultimate warrior in cinema history, one who had the same distinctive traits of the mythical Greek gods. Rambo was like an 80s incarnation of Hercules and Tarzan but with a brand new twist. He was larger than life in every sense of the word, he was heroic but, most importantly, he was also very humanized and very sympathetic (which wasn't the case with other heroes). Goldsmith thus took that set up and produced a one in a million score that embodied that character and also that period of 80s pop culture.
It's a truly special score.
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bad_habitt
8 years ago
Agreed! If you watch the special features on the part 1 DVD/BluRay, you will hear the producers talk about how they wanted Jerry specifically to do the score as they were lifelong fans. I think when Jerry knew this, he naturally gave himself more time to create the score that he wanted, and felt secure and comfortable to do exactly what he wanted with it. This I feel was a big part of the success of the score. John Williams also has a lot of freedom and comfort from Spielberg to do what he wants with his scores, which is another reason I think his scores are so rich and defined.
Rambo III had the biggest budget of all time at that point for a movie, so again, Jerry would have had a lot of time to do exactly what he wanted to do with the music, which is why the Rambo III score is again a rich blend of militaristic themes embellished by middle eastern instrumentation.
Hopefully there is a lot of music from the Rambo III score that we haven't heard.
Signature: To any BluRay/DVD distribution company: please release No Retreat No Surrender sequels on BluRay!
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Hendry_William_French
8 years ago
you will hear the producers talk about how they wanted Jerry specifically to do the score as they were lifelong fans. I think when Jerry knew this, he naturally gave himself more time to create the score that he wanted, and felt secure and comfortable to do exactly what he wanted with it
Exactly. He knew he was valued and they knew he was the right one to bring Rambo to life - perfect combo. They pulled off a masterstroke getting Goldsmith in. He's the only composer who just 'got' Rambo, anyone else and it would not have been the same film. His score was a huge part of why the films were so distinctive and successful.
Here's my all time favorite piece from Jerry's Rambo II score, it has everything in a one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJNGBMqEDxM Rambo III had the biggest budget of all time at that point for a movie, so again, Jerry would have had a lot of time to do exactly what he wanted to do with the music, which is why the Rambo III score is again a rich blend of militaristic themes embellished by middle eastern instrumentation
I've heard that there's a lot of music for Rambo III that was cut out, I'd like to hear the full score if that's the case. RIII's score is pretty special as well. It's not as good as First Blood or Rambo II's score, but Jerry's pieces for RIII such as 'Another Time', 'The Game', 'Under and Over', 'Night Fight', 'The Money' and 'First Aid' are all fantastic, they have Goldsmith signature touch on them.
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