James Horner - RASCALS AND ROBBERS (1982) Soundtrack Suite

Please note: This suite was created by DJReBorn1980 and myself. Hope you all enjoy this early Horner stuff. ;-)
RASCALS AND ROBBERS is another tv movie from a major film composer, this time in different circumstances -- James Horner wasn't (quite) yet a major film composer at the time he scored Rascals and Robbers, a Mark Twain-inspired children's adventure story. I'd never even heard of it, it wasn't even well-received at the time, but here we are with the soundtrack, almost thirty years on. Horner recorded the score immediately before starting work on the film which was to launch his career, and which remains his masterpiece, Star Trek II. Somewhat improbably, there are certain characteristics of this score which would find their way into that, particularly the action music.
That style is mixed with Horner's own brand of Americana -- it's not exactly intimate like Goldsmith's in the previous score, but is still beautifully soft and colourful. Again, there's a great main theme, initially heard for solo trumpet. It's a kind of nostalgic, adventurous melody which seems to be yearning for the good old days -- of course it is, the film's about Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn! But while that may be predictable, the full-bodied action music later on does not (Horner makes his 37-piece orchestra sound enormous at times). Fascinating to hear him honing his techniques -- and ticking off parts of later, classic scores as they crop up here!
It's certainly not all warm and cosy, this one -- it turns very dark and eerie towards the end (as befits tracks called "In the Cave", "Den of Snakes" etc) -- Horner making very clever use of a bass harmonica to produce a very unsettling effect. The score as a whole is perhaps a little incoherent, but again there's quite a lot packed into a relatively brief running time. For a Horner fan, it's great to hear this very early music unearthed, remarkable just how assured he was even then. He was 28 when he conducted this music on a big Hollywood soundstage -- truly astonishing when I think what I was doing when I was 28. This is a fabulous release from FSM. (James Southall)
Source: www.movie-wave....