Critics have labeled Robert Redford’s role in The Last Castle as a reprise of the character he played in Brubaker, so I guess it’s only fitting that Jerry Goldsmith would turn in what sounds to be a rehash of any number of his “military” film scores, including Patton, MacArthur, and Twilight’s Last Gleaming. There’s that trademark Goldsmith solo-trumpet theme, with its poignant taps-like permutations, surrounded by menacing military cadences from the percussion section. The drums are not-too-subtly enhanced by the use of synthesizers, a standard gimmick in today’s movie composing. In fact, so many of Goldsmith’s innovations have become part of the stock-in-trade of film composers that his use of them now makes him sound like one of his many imitators.
Quite a few of these tracks begin quietly and seem to be describing variations of the same despairing scene. Like many of today’s scores, there’s precious little premium placed on melodic and harmonic invention, which is disappointing coming from the composer of such masterpieces as Planet of the Apes, The Omen, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Accordingly, if you left out John Hammond’s “Get behind the mule” and Dean Hall’s “Chiseled in Stone”, you probably could substitute The Last Castle soundtrack in the film Gladiator, resulting in little if any incongruence. Oh well, maybe Redford fans will want this as a memento of this actor’s waning career.
