MovieChat Forums > Robinson Crusoe on Mars Discussion > Music score

Music score

posted 16 years ago by scotbpens
5 replies | jump to latest

I'm surprised that no one has commented on RCOM ’s magnificent music score by Van Cleave, which adds so much to the film's story and mood. Every now and then I find myself humming the main title theme, a jaunty, John Williams-like march reminiscent of old Saturday-afternoon adventure serials. And the scene in the mining pit where an ash-like substance rains down from an exploding meteor (I know — don't ask), and Friday protects Draper from suffocating by shielding him with his own body, then carries the unconscious Draper out of the pit — the music for that sequence sounds very Bernard Herrmann-esque. They just don't write music like that for films anymore.

[–] haristas 15 years ago

I think someday we'll have a CD of this score. Paramount is finally starting to release stuff.

[–] thegalaxybeing 15 years ago

The score is definitely fantastic!!

[–] MichaelM24 15 years ago

That would be great. Unfortunately, there was a startling discovery several years ago. A frequent poster on filmscoremonthly.com, who works as a film score soundtrack producer, revealed that the score's master tapes are missing from the Paramount vaults! The boxes that supposedly held the score actually contained a completely different score. This doesn't mean the RCOM score is completely lost for good, but it could be hard to find if it was simply misplaced in the wrong boxes.

[–] BARRON-5 14 years ago

This magnificent score by Van Cleave (and Fred Steiner) was finally located at Paramount and licensed for release on CD in a limited pressing by Film Score Monthly. It became available on March 23, 2011. Look up FSM online to find purchase information.

[–] Orbtastic 14 years ago

It's a good soundtrack too.