The Planet Of The Apes And Escape From The Planet Of The Apes
 
 

Planet Of The Apes remains one of the most memorable movie moments in the history of cinema. Not only because of Franklin J Schaffner's remarkable adaption, or the incredible make-up affects but because of Jerry Goldsmith's ground breaking musical contribution. The score to POTA has quite rightly passed into legend and deservedly holds a classic status. Critically acclaimed from all quarters and nominated for an Academy Award, Jerry Goldsmith's soundtrack has become a film music standard, now properly preserved on this Varese Sarabande CD.

Goldsmith opens his avant-garde score, after a deep space prologue, introducing his bizarre Main Title for the apes themselves through some dissonant percussion and a mischievous flute melody, that darts round the screen, supported by piano and the 'whooshing' sound of those horns. Crash Landing is a lengthy action cue as the survivors escape their sinking ship. This exciting highlight features both moaning strings and jagged trumpet motifs, ala North, and crisp snare drum rallies as the ship sinks, but the crew escape.

The Searchers, The Search Continues and Clothes Snatchers deals with the Astronauts trek across the hostile alien landscape and their first encounter with the primitives. Goldsmith creates a chilling post apocalyptic vision through echoed plucked strings, bass slide whistle and a multitude of percussive effects, including the inspired use of those mixing bowls, as the Astronauts tumble down a hillside. Clothes Snatchers introduces some rhythm and tension with more plucked strings, snares, piano and low end brass before The Hunt ensues and introduces the apes themselves. Goldsmith's shocking cue is an unforgettable tour de force, utilising violent Stravinskyesque woodwind figures, cuika and most memorably, ram's horn as the Gorillas are first seen on horseback.

New Mate and Revelation deal with the Astronaut's captivity, generally requiring more subdued scoring, though Revelation does encounter some fierce brass, which in turn leads to the monumental action cue; No Escape, as Taylor makes a break for it through the ape city. Goldsmith's vigorous Piano driven piece gets support from drums, brass and strings before the whole orchestra builds to a frenzied climax as Taylor is captured and strung up. The Trial is an ominous piece dealing with Taylor's appearance at an ape court featuring both bells and the unusual water drop bars, while A New Identity captures the rage of the imprisoned Taylor with shrieking brass figures as he realises his only surviving colleague has been lobotomized.

Freed by Zia and Cornelius to a burst of orchestral mayhem and a swaggering trumpet motif (A Bid For Freedom), Taylor returns to The Forbidden Zone and an archaeological dig (The Cave), revealing the planet's earlier civilisation, and questioning the ape's dominance over humans. Goldsmith returns to the menacing scoring of the first act with more piano, high pitched strings and more cuika as the Gorilla soldiers arrive (The Intruders). Revelation Part II closes the film with the infamous downbeat ending as Taylor rides off only to discover the half buried Statue Of Liberty. Goldsmith's subtle exit music takes in more 'whooshing' horns, flute and a crucial echoing guitar-like coda, before the composer falls silent and the ambient sound of the ocean takes over.

To even the musically literate, Goldsmith's remarkable score would have been impossible to decipher had it not been for the proper examination of his manuscripts, which has allowed historians to document Goldsmith's bizarre instrument usage. These included harmonics in the strings, various bowing techniques and French horn players reversing their mouthpieces and blowing air through the horns.

Instrumentation highlights included xylophone, vibra slap and cuika, a Brazilian drum head device with a rod inserted in the middle, that produced the startling ape imitations. The final ingredient to this wild concoction was none other than stainless steel mixing bowls, which Goldsmith once said came from his own kitchen. At the time it was often thought Goldsmith had also hosted a number of electronics to create his weird and wonderful sounds cape. But this wasn't the case, with only the Echoplex engaged to essentially create the echoing effects of the pizzicato strings. The Echoplex would find further use two years later with Goldsmith's legendary score to Patton, which produced the echoing trumpet triplet.

Goldsmith missed out on scoring Beneath the Planet of the Apes, due to his commitments on Patton, but returned for Escape From The Planet Of The Apes; a poorer cousin to the first movie in most respects. But in the case of music it did allow Jerry Goldsmith to write a completely different score for the movie's odd time travelling adventure as both Zira and Cornelius visit early 70's USA. Goldsmith provides a quirky pop styled main theme with cool drum rhythm and electric guitar, but with a symphonic edge highlighted by legato string playing.

Goldsmith's relatively short score focuses on the drama of the apes experiences of modern day America, with both Zia and Cornelius getting a delicate melody all to themselves. However, agitated electronic sounds, along with sitar, signal the darker aspects of the score, and the violent third act. Here Goldsmith utilises dramatic scoring for guitar, percussion and suspenseful brass before the score reaches the movie's downbeat finale and signs off with a melancholy variant on the main theme.