Finally... a new frikken' post!

All hail Jerry Goldsmith!

It's hard to believe it, but Jerry's been dead for three years now. My question is... where the hell is the next great composer and why the hell is it taking him so long to rear his(or her... not to be a misogynist, after all!) head dammit!

For the last part of his career Jerry seemed to be stuck in the musical ghetto of a never-ending stream of crappy movies not worthy of someone as monumentally talented as Jerry but even then he turned out some incredible work.

It actually became sort of a joke amongst Jerry-philes: "What piece of garbage is Jerry gonna score next that I don't want to watch but am eagerly waiting to buy the score for?"

The 13th Warrior? Creighton crap... but an amazing action score. The M(d)ummy? Garbage of the worst order... but probably one of the best scores of the 90's. Going back even further you can point the wagging finger of shame at The Haunting, Along Came a Spider, City Hall, Sleeping With the Enemy... the list seems to go on; forgettable (at best) movies that all had one thing going for them-- a score that they didn't deserve.

Of course for each of his "why Jerry, why?" movies we thankfully have some of the greats to remember him by. You may be reading this rant thinking, "Good God, what the hell obscure fool is this moron going on about?" but you know the movies (and maybe even the tunes): Patton. Star Trek--The Motion Picture. Alien. The Omen. LA Confidential. The Ghost and the Darkness. Gremlins. Planet of the Apes. The list goes on. Even television is full of his work: The Waltons, Barnaby Jones, Room 222 (alright, I'm guessing I'm the only one who remembers THAT one!).

Meanwhile, John (I may as well have died after Shindler's List) Williams continues to defile his own greatness with pathetic pieces of pandering poop like the Star Wars prequels (don't even start with me on those, Joe!) and Munich. James Horner's automatic regurgitron never seems to break down, providing a whole host of films with a kind of Bravehearty/Legends of the Fally/Titanicy pablum that makes me yearn for the glory days of Wrath of Khan.

But I digress.

On the brighter side, there are some newer talents that may, just may some day become great composers on a par with Jerry and younger, much, MUCH younger Williams's and Horners. Guys such as Christopher Young ( the otherwise godawful TV remake of On the Beach), Richard Harvey (TNT's Animal Farm) and Klaus Badelt (the theme for The Time Machine is probably the only good thing about that flick!) but they seem to be having a tough time competing against the "heavy hitters" that Hollywood just loves to throw money and work at.

In the meantime I guess we still have the James Newton Howard Shore's to deal with (don't get me wrong... I loved Howard Shore's work on The Lord of the Rings [particularly for The Two Towers] but he's hardly proven any great consistency as yet).

Maybe someday soon we'll get our next great composer. Maybe he'll even be somebody that's currently working who just hasn't 'clicked' yet. But until then, I sure do miss Jerry.

(image courtesy of fantascienza.com)