MovieChat Forums > The Cassandra Crossing (1977) Discussion > The Music.

The Music.

posted 16 years ago by buckaroobanzai50
8 replies | jump to latest

The music sounded so much like the score of The Omen. Jerry Goldsmith must have been writing them at the same time.

[–] scruffy58 16 years ago

They were actually written right about the same time - "The Omen" in 1976 and "The Cassandra Crossing" in 1977. However, I don't hear much similarity between the two scores. They are actually very different. "The Cassandra Crossing" score has more in common with his action scores from that period such as "Capricorn One" and "Twilights Last Gleaming".

"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

[–] alxnrth 15 years ago

Rhythmically, I hear Caporicorn One, not the Omen. In '77 Goldsmith was still viable and the dramatic cues here are pretty excellent to me. I'm sorry to say I didn't appreciate his later work. There was a time I would purchase a Goldsmith soundtrack album without hearing any of the music beforehand. That ceased to be the case after hearing the likes of the much-admired Supergirl, which I play about once a year to confirm that I still hate it. Haven't yet for 2010.

Dale

[–] snowleopard 15 years ago

One of Jerry's "weaknesses" was in his choice of films to score. He would score great ones (Omen, Patton, LA Confidential, Alien, etc.) and for some reason also score turds (Supergirl, Leviathan, King Soloman's Mines). He almost always made scores better than the poor films though, but sometimes, like Cassandra Crossing perhaps, he dipped into the well at the same time and repeated himself a bit.

Still, compared to composers today (such as Zimmer and Horner) who frequently face this criticism, Goldsmith gave pretty consistently original work his entire career.

[–] scruffy58 14 years ago

It wasn't so much his choice. He was scoring top flight, A-list films in the 60s and into the 70s. Films like "The Sand Pebbles", "In Harm's Way", "The Blue Max", "Patton", etc. Once John Williams became THE name in film scoring, he then received all the big projects. Composers aren't able to choose the projects they want - they can petition for them, but it is up to the producer and director as to who gets the film. Goldsmith, still to this day, has got to be the most original of the post-Golden Age composers. His score to "The Cassandra Crossing" is incredibly inventive and engrossing. He always took each project - no matter how awful - very seriously. That made him the complete professional that he was.

"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

[–] ScopeWatcher 14 years ago

Actually, Goldsmith composed the scores for both THE OMEN and THE CASSANDRA CROSSING in 1976. While CASSANDRA didn't see release in the USA until 1977, the picture was distributed abroad the year before. For one thing, it seems I even had the Japanese-import soundtrack LP in hand before the end of '76.

And for anyone interested, as of March 2011 I think a double-disc CD release of this complete soundtrack music is still available, as XPCD 165 on the Prometheus label. Disc 1 contains the entire score in mono plus alternate mixes of a few tracks (62:00 in all), while Disc 2 is the content of the shorter original album in stereo. You could try www.intrada.com or www.screenarchives.com.

So many of Jerry Goldsmith's film scores remain incredibly good -- even when one outshines the picture for which he wrote it. (And by the way, to that earlier poster: SUPERGIRL is hardly typical Goldsmith and certainly not a great score, but that lousy movie couldn't have been very inspiring.)

[–] scruffy58 14 years ago

The double disc release is superb and a dream come true for this Goldsmith and "Cassandra" fan. There is some incredible writing in this score. One of the very best Goldsmith scores for a terrible (but still enjoyable film - does that make sense?) has got to be "Damnation Alley".

"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'

[–] ScopeWatcher 14 years ago

Hey, scruffy58 -- if you love his DAMNATION ALLEY, I hope you got a copy of that limited "Jerry Goldsmith at 20th Century-Fox" 6-disc box set which quickly sold out shortly before he died. That might be as much of the ALLEY score as we ever see released.

By the way, this thread made me listen again to some of CASSANDRA last night; and I recognized what the Original Poster meant by claiming that it "sounds so much like THE OMEN" (even though he/she implies greater resemblance than there is). The final five or six seconds of the cue "Break-In" end with a few notes and rhythm in common with the end of "The Dogs Attack" from THE OMEN.

To me it's an overkill charge. Many of the viewers who take any notice of film music at all might STILL be unaware of the incredible pressures on its composers -- not only commonly tight deadlines, but often having to deal with conflicting instructions from director, producer, and studio executives. In a nearly 50-year career, Jerry Goldsmith wrote so MUCH excellent, dramatically brilliant music that I find it petty to read him criticized over essentially exercising his own style.

[–] scruffy58 14 years ago

Hi Scope - I do indeed have that set and LOVE the suite from DA. Great stuff indeed. I will say this about Goldsmith (it is also an observation one can make about John Williams or John Barry). When I listen to "Magic" I can hear strains of other scores from around the same time such as "The Boys from Brazil" for example. What you say is very true concerning the time constraints - some scores are sure to bleed over into others. I think that is safe to say about "The Omen" and "Cassandra".

"Thus, we began our longest journey together."
Adult Scout, 'To Kill A Mockingbird'