The Shoes Of the
Fisherman
(Limited Edition CD set
with extra scores)
Sound: B Music:
B Extras Soundtrack Music: B-
In the late 1960s, especially under the temporary
ownership of Seagrams and Time Life, M-G-M kept on track with attempts at many
larger budget event films, usually dramas, but sometimes adventures. The dramas did not always work as well, but
one exception was that has lasted is Michael Anderson’s The Shoes Of The
Fisherman from 1968. Anthony Quinn
is a religious figure who lands up being a Soviet political prisoner for two
decades. We will wait for the DVD of
the film before further comment, but will add that Anderson is one of the most
interesting journeyman directors of his time and his 1976 Sci-Fi actioner Logan’s
Run is about to be remade. His Around
The World In 80 Days was recently disemboweled in an atrocious remake with
Jackie Chan (!?!) that bombed as expected.
We reviewed the limited edition Logan’s Run soundtrack here on
the site (http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=191&filter=L),
though the semi-basic DVD is old and deserves a deluxe reissue to match (and
surpass) the old 12” LaserDisc set.
A big highlight of Shoes Of The Fisherman is a
strong score by the well-loved and admired Alex North, and fans will especially
be pleased with this CD set, because the music spans two discs and beyond the
music itself. 20 tracks are the
essential score, then you get no less than 8 alternate tracks, then 8 more
source music tracks are offered beginning on CD 2. That gives us an outstanding look at the music and North’s
approach to taking on such intriguing material. The film ran about 160 minutes.
What is always great about North’s scores is that they are
as large in feel as al the blockbuster scores of today, but they are more
substantial and no where near as manipulative.
That is not easy, but North was an original. This is the kind of score that was made to match films that
expected its audience to have serious attention spans and I truly respect and
admire that. M-G-M was going all out
and they made sure that the music was as epic as the film. I have no favorite tracks and referring to
them would actually spoil the film for those who have not seen it, so you will
have to go to the Film Score Monthly website at www.filmscoremonthly.com for more
information about the tracks and how to order.
You should also know that the CD set is limited to only 3,000
pressings, but there are even more tracks here from two other great M-G-M
action epics. We have covered the
Limited Edition FSM CDs on Ice Station Zebra (http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=201&filter=I)
and Where Eagles Dare (http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review.php?id=972&filter=W)
on this site as well, but this set has additional tracks that would not fit
onto the original FSM releases and offer more music never before released. We get 3 demo tracks from Zebra by
Michel Legrand, who did the score, including two variants on the final main
theme. This runs about 10 minutes. Eagles is Ron Goodwin’s LP version of
the music for the film, which is very similar, but is NOT the music you hear in
the actual film. FSM dubbed this disc
“M-G-M 1968 Widescreen Spectaculars” and that hype is lived up to for a change. The nearly 41-minutes-long LP score is
complete here and the booklet that is included offers exceptional detail, text
and other goodies on all three. Had how
solid and consistent the PCM 2.0 Stereo is on all three scores and you have one
of the best FSM CD sets to date.
- Nicholas Sheffo
