"rustlers, shoot-outs, bounty-hunters and John Williams"
J. Lovins | Missouri-USA | 02/06/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The "American Western", a favorite among Hollywood film-makers and the audiences that flock to see them is still going strong. The director Arthur Penn takes a complex story shared with two major film stars Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson - "Missouri Breaks", a comedy mixing moods of chilling shocking violence. Penn who gave us - "The Left-Handed Gun" "Little Big Man", "Tom Horn", "Rancho Deluxe", provides identification with the criminal element - rangy horse thieves and downtrodden heroes. But the whole venture of cattle rustling, bounty-hunter, ranch, hired-gun, conflict, outlaws, tracking is pulled off, not by the director and stars...but by our favorite composer - Mr. John Williams.Williams was between his Academy Award winning scores "Jaws" and "Star Wars", with "Missouri Breaks" - our composer writes a tuneful often sweeping treatment of the western-canvas - like his scores for "The Reivers" and "The Cowboys". Of course the highlight - "LOVE THEME (FROM MISSOURI BREAKS)", sketched out by Williams with a gentle melody for solo guitar, chimes, electric harpsichord and harmonica - a bittersweet love song between Jane Braxton (Kathleen Lloyd) and Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson) interweave throughout the score. And the bonus tracks (Film Versions) is like finding a goldmine, your first impluse is to yell - "gold, gold, I just found gold".Hats off to the people at Rykodisc - Ian Gilchrist (produced), Dr. Toby Mountain (art director/design/remastered), John Norman (original album engineer), Lukas Kendal (production assistant) and to John Williams (composer)...and for all you "film-score-buffs" and "Williams Fans"...this is a crowd-pleaser!Total Time: 44:21 on 16 Tracks...Rykodisc RCD-10748...(1999)"
Track Listings (16) - Disc #1
