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Small
Soldiers
Small Soldiers marked Jerry Goldsmith's eighth feature
film collaboration with director Joe Dante. Goldsmith's score
is an exciting take on familiar "Gremlins" territory
in a story where small toy soldiers come to life and battle each
other while terrorising a small town.
One of Goldsmith's
main ideas centres around the Spanish American War song of "When
Johnny Comes Marching Home" and used primarily for the Commando
Elite leader Chip Hazard. Though electronic elements, like a
guitar effect, also figures for Hazard and his soldiers. The
music uses exciting brass and fast paced string writing for the
sneaking around and plotting of the soldiers. Some of the more
interesting music in the score is in the mystical/regal sounding
passages for the Gorgonites, the peaceful toy "enemies"
of the Commando Elite, slightly reminiscent of Goldsmith's writing
from period films like First Knight and Lionheart.
The album contains some exciting action cues, like
the music in the scene where Archer, the leader of the Gorgonites,
swings himself onto a telephone pole to save his friend Alan
while his other creatures do battle with the Commandos in the
backyard. It is one of the only parts in the score where that
mystical idea now becomes a jaunty trombone led march for the
Gorgonite heroes. The album contains perhaps one of
the most lyrical finales from the Dante/Goldsmith collaboration
since Innerspace or even Explorers. Goldsmith uses
a beautiful English horn melody for the farewell scene at the
end and is a new thematic idea for the friendship of Alan and
the Gorgonites. |
