Jerry Goldsmith passed away this past Wednesday, July 21st. I was surprised that it merited a fairly long write up in the Dallas paper, as most people cannot name more than two or three film music composers. However, in the world of film music, Jerry Goldsmith had become something of a legend. While his name may not have been familiar to everyone, his music certainly was. In fact, it was once estimated that every minute of every day, someone somewhere was hearing music that was composed by Jerry Goldsmith. His work was that prolific and influential.

I first discovered his music with the film Logan's Run. While not exactly a classic of science fiction, this was the right film at the right time for me. It was released pre Star Wars in an era when there just wasn't much of anything on the screen that could be called science fiction. I loved the film and when I saw the soundtrack album at a mall record store, I decided to purchase it. These were the days before video tape machines, much less DVD players. Part of the appeal of a soundtrack album was that it could let you relive parts of your favorite movie anytime you wished. This was the first soundtrack album that I have ever purchased and as I listened to it, I realized that the music was magnificent, even as a completely separate entity from the film. At that very moment, the music of Jerry Goldsmith began to seep into my psyche. It would influence me for several decades to come.

As the years went by, I began paying attention to the composers of film music. John Williams was the golden child during those years, with scores to seemingly every blockbuster film. He wrote humable melodies and his soundtrack records sold millions of copies. I liked Williams work, but I bristled when people would say that he was the greatest film composer ever. Jerry Goldsmith was a distant second or third in popularity behind Williams and John Barry, but I felt that he was the most important composer of the three. While his scores may not have sold as many albums, his work was much more diverse and daring. For many people, it was difficult to identify a Jerry Goldsmith score. His score for Planet Of The Apes was so different from his score for Patton, which was completely dissimilar to his score for The Omen. His chameleon like ability to get inside the characters of a story and support the narrative, rather than overwhelm it actually worked against his in terms of record sales. Although always respected within the industry, he seemed slow in gaining the kind of popular recognition that other composers enjoyed.

In 1976 he won the Oscar for Best Original Score for his masterpiece, The Omen. This was the only time he won an Academy Award, even though he was nominated eighteen times. I remember being livid when his excellent score for The Boys From Brazil was beat by Georgio Morodor's disco score for Midnight Express. The indignity of a disco score winning over prime Goldsmith caused me to lose any interest in the Oscars after that year. He did not lack for awards, as he took home five Emmys and a host of other music awards.

He was incredibly versatile. While he preferred scoring smaller, character driven films, he became identified with big action pictures, including a large number of science fiction classics. After his score to Total Recall, which he felt was one of his best, was buried under sound effects and explosions, he vowed to stay away from action flicks. However, the offers kept coming and Goldsmith was nothing if not prolific. During his peak he would compose the score for 3-5 films a year and still find time for extra projects such as the TV mini series Masada. He scored five of the Star Trek feature films and his main theme was used for the Star Trek: The Next Generation TV series.

Goldsmiths music can pop up in the most unexpected places. During the 70's and 80's he seemed indefatigable, composing at an unbelievable pace. He turned out classic TV themes, such as The Waltons, Barnaby Jones and Room 222. His list of films is far too long to list here. He seemed willing to take on most any film and composed wonderful scores for films that are otherwise best forgotten. Genre's provided no boundaries for him, as he composed music for westerns (Breakheart Pass, Stagecoach, Rio Conchos, Take A Hard Ride), thrillers (Basic Instinct, Chinatown, L.A. Confidential, Magic), comedies (Fierce Creatures, Mom And Dad Save The World), historical epics (First Night, The Wind And The Lion), action flicks (all three Rambo films, The Shadow, The 13th Warrior, The Blue Max) and of course, science fiction (Gremlins, Twilight Zone: The Movie, Damnation Alley).

Ironically, Goldsmith disdained the obsessive attention that was paid his music by rabid fans (such as myself). He was notorious for editing his soundtrack albums down to short lengths so that they would be "listenable". He dismissivly remarked that some of his scores had "no business" be available on soundtrack albums. He even remarked that he couldn't watch some of the violent films that he scored and that he sometimes had to have someone describe the scenes to him. Like most great composers, Jerry Goldsmith was undoubtedly a complex individual. The great body of music is the legacy that he leaves us.