Big Wednesday (Limited CD)
Sound:
B Music: B
Big Wednesday (1978) is as atypical and
personal a film from John Milius as Telling
Lies In America (1997) was for Joe Esterhas, both writers known for the
politically incorrect, uncompromisingly tough screenplay writing that was
looked down upon by Hollywood but often sold tons of tickets and was more
artistic than will ever be given credit for.
Not only has Milius’ film finally come out on DVD, but Film Score Monthly’s
FSM soundtrack label has issued the film’s music, which happens to be a
breakthrough work of composer Basil Poledouris.
As this
is a single CD, all the hit songs heard in bits and pieces in the film are not
here, but what cannot be heard even on the DVD is how full this music really
is, the kind of fullness associated with Poledouris’ work. Part of that has to do with Greig McRitchie, and
like Poledouris, McRitchie had briefly worked on television. He did the arrangement on an episode of Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-74),
specifically the show considered the best in the series, Horror In The Heights. He
also was involved with the original Charlie’s
Angels series. That was a good omen
of the many great genre pieces he would do, usually with Poledouris.
Of
course, this is a more personal film and took more consideration of the world
of three young men and their obsessions with surfing. This means eschewing the clichéd music
associated with “happy beach” scenes in everything form travelogues to the
“beach film” cycle to the slate of many current offerings on both sports and
travel television networks that echo the same sentiments. Big
Wednesday was shot in widescreen Panavision for very big screen application
and presentation, and the Poledouris/McRitchie team deliver a naturalistic, thoughtful
score that makes sense and has helped make the film the cult item it is
today. Though the film does not always
work on a narrative level and the cast of William Katt (now best known as TV’s Greatest American Hero), Gary Busey,
and Jan-Michael Vincent (with their too-public lives of some tragedy) has
turned the film to some extent into something contextually new that was never
intended. By having such solid music
that endures as it does, the film is actually saved to the extent that what
Milius is trying to say is re-centered by it.
The result is an underrated score and artist breakthrough for what
became a very prolific teaming of composer and orchestrator.
The PCM
2.0 Stereo is usually from half-inch three-track soundmasters, but three of the
tracks are form two-inch 16-track soundmasters, all of which sound good. While the DVD only offers Dolby Stereo, we
get a much fuller sound here that fans of the film, its music and die-hard
surfing fans will want to own badly. The
clarity and depth is good for its age and this is the debut of the music
score. The sonic quality extends to the
10 bonus tracks that are added after the main music is done, which has never
been heard before. You can go to www.filmscoremonthly.com for even
more details and how to order. The
pressing is limited to only 3,000 copies, so fans will want to get their copies
quickly.
- Nicholas Sheffo
