Customer Reviews

Islands In The Stream: Original Motion Picture Score

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Jerry Goldsmith, in "Islands In The Stream," proved to me that film music can be as beautiful, complex and lasting as classical music. I can not imagine the movie without Goldsmith's music; the actions and characters so woven togther in the themes written for them. Beyond all the action of the film, always, a constant sea theme, a rising and falling of waves, powerful and subtle at the same time, dwarfing almost the human story. Yet Goldsmith is so masterly that he weaves the themes of the Boys, the Woman, the Journey, and the theme of deep loss and regret. There are strains of the folk song "Jamaican Farewell," that is magically turned into the threat of a shark attack. I have many favorite Goldsmith film scores and this is the one I admire the most; it stands on its own, carries the movie, under-rated by the way. I can't imagine how viewers could'nt respond to its themes of love, family, loss, redemtion, mortality, and all brilliantly underscored by Jerry Goldsmith's unforgetable music score. He has scored so many varied works that it is easy to lose track of his great body of musical works. If you have to buy a few of Goldsmith,s film scores, I highly recommend starting with this, "The Islands In The Stream," a score that captures the raptures of nature and tones of regret like no other piece of film music I've listened to in years.

Jerry Goldsmith raises the impact of an already stunningly perfect film with such hauntingly majestic themes that you'll long remember the melodies. The music of this soundtrack transports you into world of an aging man as he attempts to deal with loss and change.

"The Island" puts you right on a South Pacific beach with lilting clarinet breezes and tantalizing tastes of the main theme that weave in and out of an ocean of melodies.

"Marlin" gets you right in the thrill of deep sea fishing. Initially the mood is exciting and new, but danger begins to reveal a darker theme as the adventure becomes more difficult than expected.

"It's All True" leaves you daydreaming as the major themes whisper to your heart. The strings drift your mind to better times gone by... and you dread the ominous change that you know will soon come. But the music seems to tell you there is still hope.

This movie tells the eternal tale of a man coming to terms with his own mortality as he seeks to leave a legacy... to have made a difference somehow. Jerry Goldsmith has given us a legacy with this beautiful work!

A Goldsmith personal favorite score that he digitally re-recorded for Intrada in 1986 is now available in it's original form on this Film Score Monthly CD. The original tapes are nicely remastered in stereo and slightly more complete than the Intrada sessions, but purists will want to have both CDs. An often lilting, lovely masterpiece from a composer who's had more than his share of those.

What an extraordinary effort to a movie no one has ever seen. This is one of Goldsmith's last, purely symphonic scores, before he started to integrate synths into his work. To give you an idea, this, along with his own Legend, are cited by Mr. Goldsmith himself as being his favorite of his own scores. Every note in this gem just swells with emotion. You'll be humming the gorgeous themes from this thing for days. This is definitely one that you have to be careful not to overdue, because you will want to listen to it again and again.

Islands In The Stream showcases the near incredible surfing talents of Donovan Franenreiter, Hawaiian-borne Tamayo Perry, the very highly skilled Mark Healey, among other expert surfers. We are treated to the beautifully magnificent waves of Tahiti and the filming skills of Wes Brown and T.J. Barrack have produced a true classic that will proudly (and aptly) be compared such surfing movie classics as The Endless Summer; The Endless Summer II; and The Endless Summer Revisited. Enhanced with surfer bios and a "Rest In Peace" music video, this is a wonderful addition to any personal or community library DVD collection, no dedicated surfing enthusiast should miss seeing Islands In The Stream.

This is some of the most incredible music that I have ever heard. This quality opus was during Goldsmith's super run of the 1970's, to a movie that no one has seen! This is also Maestro Goldsmith's personal favorites of his own work, along with his masterful score to Legend. If you have ever looked down on film music, or didn't pay any attention to it, or think that it isn't as good of music as classical, then let me introduce you to today's classical music. You can't and won't be dissappointed. BTW, the review by that unknown music listener that is above this one was also written by me.

The flow and purpose of the music are immaculate. The orchestrations, the melodies, the textures all give a feeling that there are notes not being played that are there all the same. It is a grand soundtrack. Unfortunately, the main theme is not strong enough to warrant the repetitions as it receives. This hurts the score somewhat, for there are so many other ideas present that deserve greater attention.

In 1966 a young filmmaker named Bruce Brown was able to capture the beauty and power of surfing as had never been done before. That film was The Endless Summer and with it began a never-ending interest in the sport and lifestyle of surfing. Then with his son Dana, he created the classic films The Endless Summer II and The Endless Summer Revisited, leading Dana Brown to create his own style and success with his current film Step Into Liquid. Now this timeless filmmaking legacy is carried on as Wes Brown (son of Dana and grandson of Bruce) and T.J. Barrack transport us to the beautifully magnificent waves of Tahiti starring three Time Men's World Champion Tom Curren and six Time Consecutive Women's World Champion (and "Step into Liquid" star, "Blue Crush") Layne Beachley. With their new film Islands in the Stream, the next wave of surf film classics has begun.

Medicine Man was so good you would be very wise to get this sound track Medicine Man is very good excellent it is the best music I have ever heard

Caveat emptor: Note, this is the surfing picture (as you can tell from the cover art) and NOT the Franklin Schaffner movie starring George C. Scott and Claire Bloom, as Amazon's "Technical Details" section suggests.

I only wish to crikey it was the Schaffner film; it's one of the few credible movie adaptations of Ernest Hemingway, in my view. A limited edition laserdisc of the Schaffner film was released a number of years ago by Paramount Home Video, but given Paramount's sad-sack release record on DVD - and the fact that the Schaffner film never was that big a seller on laserdisc - my guess is we'll have to wait a while yet.

The laserdisc version was pressed in a gorgeous 2:35.1 aspect ratio, by the way, as the original movie was filmed in scope, by longtime Schaffner collaborator Fred Koenekamp (Koenekamp also shot Patton for Schaffner, which also starred George C. Scott, as I'm sure you know). The VHS version of the movie was pan-and-scanned (and compressed during the opening titles!) to fit the regular dimensions of a TV screen, and it looked ridiculous. If Paramount ever gets around to doing the DVD version - and I have my doubts - hopefully it will be in its original theatrical aspect ratio.

Hope this helps everyone. I'm not a surfing aficionado per se, but I'm sure the surfing movie will look swell (sorry) on DVD.