Two days after John Williams’ birthday falls the anniversary of the birth of Jerry Goldsmith. Unfortunately, this would essentially become the story of Jerry’s life, as despite being three years Williams’ senior and having cracked the A-list ahead of his younger colleague, Goldsmith often seemed to be caught in Williams’ wake.
Sure, he distinguished himself with some of the great film scores of his time, including those for “The Sand Pebbles” (1966), “The Blue Max” (1966), “The Flim-Flam Man” (1967), “Planet of the Apes” (1968), “Patton” (1970), “Papillon” (1973), “Chinatown” (1974), “The Wind and the Lion” (1975), “MacArthur” (1977), “The Boys from Brazil” (1978), “The Great Train Robbery” (1979), “Alien” (1979, butchered in the sound editing), and “Star Trek: The Motion Picture” (1979). For television, he wrote for “Dr. Kildare,” “The Twilight Zone,” “Gunsmoke,” “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.,” and “The Waltons.”
But by the 1980s, the films began to get weaker. It seemed like Goldsmith was always getting tossed the projects Williams passed on, or cheap knockoffs of Williams’ successes. By his final decade, he was stuck writing for such garbage as “The Mummy” (1999), “The Haunting” (1999), and “Looney Tunes: Back in Action” (2003). A notable exception was “L.A. Confidential” (1997), but rarely were his later projects up to his talent. I can recall many a moviegoing experience in which Goldsmith’s music wound up being the only redeeming quality.
Furthermore, he had a reputation for being able to compose at white heat, so he was frequently called upon to write replacement scores for films like “The River Wild” (1994), “Air Force One” (1997), and “The 13th Warrior” (1999). He composed and recorded the score to “Chinatown,” one of the best of the 1970s, in only ten days.
Criminally, he was honored with but a single Academy Award, for his influential score to “The Omen” (1976).
Goldsmith died in 2004, at the age of 75. If he were to come back today, he would mop the joint with all the Hans Zimmers of this world. Like the John Henry of Hollywood composers, he’d be churning out quality film scores to put all the cheap-ass computer steam-drillers to shame.
Happy birthday, Jerry Goldsmith!
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
Planet of the Apes
Patton
Chinatown
The Wind and the Lion
The Omen
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
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