Check it out... if you
wish to hear John Williams conclude the original Star Wars trilogy with the same mastery of his craft that he
applied to the first two entries
Skip it... if you
are a stickler for sound quality, or if you expect a homogenous tone throughout
the score, for this final entry in the trilogy suffers from poorer sound
quality and contains sharp changes between settings
"Williams... conjured up a score worthy of its predecessors, extending the style of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back to suit the tone of the film"
Why are endings so difficult? Superstar
athletes, rock bands from the 70s, military dictators, your significant other at
the Christmas party. No matter the situation, we always seem to have trouble
wrapping things up and saying goodbye. The same can be said of movie trilogies.
Even amongst the great franchises, the third entry often fails to stick the
landing. George Lucas’ massive space opera proved to be no exception to the
rule. Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the
Jedi had a road to release as tumultuous as its predecessors. Having been
kicked out of the Director’s Guild after the release of The Empire Strikes Back, and having been turned down by both David
Lynch and David Cronenberg, Lucas turned to non-union director Richard Marquand
to helm the third entry. A rushed shooting schedule and tweaking of key plot
points only compounded issues. It’s easy to look back at how Return of the Jedi (originally titled Revenge of the Jedi) turned out and
wonder “What if?” What if Lynch had directed it? What if Lucas, Marqand, and
writer Lawrence Kasdan decided to kill off Han Solo? What if there were no
Ewoks, killing Warwick Davis’ career before it began?
With so many bumps in the road, it’s not
surprising to find that Return of the
Jedi, while opening to widespread acclaim and Sarlaac pits full of money,
has diminished in stature over time, particularly in comparison to Empire Strikes Back. Some even argue
that it served as a forerunner to the flaws that would plague Lucas’ prequel
trilogy nearly twenty years later. Despite the blemishes in structure and
narrative, Return of the Jedi remains
an entertaining and occasionally moving film.
Returning once again to score the
conclusion to the series (for the time being) was John Williams. The
51-year-old composer was nearing the end of a nearly decade-long stretch of phenomenal
output, scoring many blockbusters (and childhoods) with, in addition to the Star Wars trilogy, Superman, Close Encounters of
the Third Kind, Jaws, the first
two Indiana Jones films, and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, racking up
3 Academy Awards between 1975 and 1984. It was during this run, rivaled in the
modern age perhaps only by James Horner in the mid-90s, that Williams cemented
his legacy as one of the great composers in film music.
Pressures and expectations for Williams’
music for Return of the Jedi may have
been as astronomical and unrealistic as those for the rest of Lucas’ production
team. In fact, one could argue that Williams forced some of that pressure on
himself with his past success. Star Wars
was a glorious blend of leitmotivic neo-Romanticism and modernist music
packaged into a tight narrative structure. While topping it may have seemed
impossible, Williams managed it with The
Empire Strikes Back, where he introduced new themes (including the
unforgettable Imperial March), balanced them with the older musical identities,
and tapped into the film’s darker tone to create a score oozing with
melodramatic grandeur. By establishing this template of adding new themes each
time, Williams created an unsustainable model for writing each sequel. With
five major themes carrying over from the first two, as well as four new motifs
for different characters and concepts, Williams had an unenviable juggling act
to manage. Christian Clemmensen put it best: “if the standard of excellence for
Return
of the Jedi were to have been raised any higher, then Williams would
have had no choice but to conjure the greatest score ever written for
Hollywood.” And while those expectations may have been excessive, it’s
difficult to argue that Williams wasn’t fit for the challenge at the time,
given the streak of excellence he was wrapping up.
Astronomically high expectations
notwithstanding, several notable issues hamper Return of the Jedi’s score. The film’s somewhat disjointed
structure cleaves the score into three tonally distinct portions, hindering the
flow of the score. Additionally, while Williams does create four major new
themes and some secondary ideas as well, he places a greater emphasis on older
themes, preventing the new identities from shining as brightly. Furthermore,
the recording is plagued with poor sound quality. While I generally do not
notice sound quality when listening to music, the mushiness of this recording
stands out, becoming more pronounced in the last third of the score. Finally,
George Lucas’ repeated tinkering with the film over the years has led to the
replacement of a couple tracks with new ones. While I would argue that one of
the changes is an upgrade, the other is a switch from bad to worse. With those
quibbles in mind, Williams nevertheless conjured up a score worthy of its
predecessors, extending the style of Star
Wars and The Empire Strikes Back
to suit the tone of the film, in equal measures darker and sillier than the
first two entries. As with my previous reviews, this will cover the music on the
1997 RCA Special Edition release, identical in content to the 2004 and 2007
Sony Classical releases.
The nine minute 'Main Title/Approaching the
Death Star/Tatooine Rendezvous' opens the score with more restraint than the
previous opening tracks, following the opening fanfare with softly spoken phrases
from different parts of the orchestra. Most notably, the brass introduce what
I’ll refer to as the “death” motif, a four (sometimes five) note pattern that
hints at the omnipresent dangers to the characters. Williams would repurpose
this theme in Seven Years in Tibet,
and a similar motif would be used for the planet Kamino in Attack of the Clones. As Darth Vader arrives at the unfinished new
Death Star, the orchestra builds, phrase by phrase, into a grand statement of
the Imperial March, which gets developed further while Vader expresses his
disappointment with the construction progress. Williams then transitions with
the film back to where the series started: R2-D2 and C-3PO on Tatooine. While
Williams does not reprise any of his iconic music from A New Hope in this scene, he retains the same textures and once
again gives the comedic relief characters another bouncing, bumbling theme on
the lower woodwinds. A bleating tuba appears for a moment at the end of the
track when the droids arrive at Jabba the Hutt’s palace, foreshadowing his low
brass theme.
Over the next few cues, Williams complements
the foreign atmosphere of Jabba’s palace, keeping the music mostly bereft of familiar
material, save for the new theme for Jabba himself. A bubbling theme played
primarily on tuba, Jabba’s theme immediately conjures imagery of flatulence
while providing a little extra oomph to the slimy crime lord’s gross factor.
While it gets developed over the course of 'Bounty for a Wookiee' between
different voices in the wind section, it’s the tubist who earns his paycheck
for such oily performances. While not terribly interesting from a thematic
standpoint, much of this music is filled with fascinating textures, on display
in the first half of 'Han Solo Returns'. While Leia creeps through the palace
to unfreeze Han, different instruments flit past, more unknown creatures hidden
in the shadows. Eventually, a wall of dissonance forms and builds to thunderous
timpani as Han is freed of the carbonite. The love theme from Empire Strikes Back appears in brief but
full harmonic glory, but is soon twisted and cut off when they realize Jabba’s
trickery, and his theme returns in gleeful victory.
The scenes in Jabba’s lair are also
underscored with diegetic music from his various minstrels. This music offers
an eclectic variety of music, from baroque to jazz/funk with disco in between. 'Jabba’s Baroque Recital' is exactly what the title suggests: a frilly baroque
piece filtered through a reed organ, harpsichord, and winds to maintain the
“alien” feel to the familiar style. There are also two cues not on the album.
One is a jazzy piece lacking a title and any sort of release. The other is 'Lapti Nek', a truly bizarre disco track that plays while the musicians and
dancers perform for Jabba. However, you will be hard-pressed to find this song,
even in the film. For the 1997 Special Edition re-release, Lucas replaced the
song in this scene with a new song (neither written by Williams) called 'Jedi
Rocks', and is just as out of place and hideous as its predecessor. While 'Lapti Nek' has a certain campy charm as a relic of the 80s, the lousiness of 'Jedi Rocks' has a timeless quality that will make its insufferability eternal.
But back to the score. While 'Luke
Confronts Jabba' is filled with hazy sound design, softly sustained by the low
brass and sharpened by a synthetic edge, 'Den of the Rancor' breaks the tension
build during the negotiation with a flurry of sixteenth notes, followed by
metallic percussion as Jabba’s pet monster is revealed. We finally get some
old-fashioned Williams action, punctuated repeatedly by brass trills, and the long-awaited
return of the Force theme and Luke’s theme as he first thwarts the Rancor. With
Luke’s increasing desperation, the tempo accelerates, heightening the stakes
before it all crashes down and Luke slays the beast. Slow timpani rolls affirm
the Rancor’s death, leading into 'Sarlacc Sentence', during which Jabba
condemns Luke and Han to death. Like the rest of the music in Jabba’s palace,
the murky tenor and alto regions dominate, slow pulses accentuating the
seemingly final doom of our heroes, before a mysterious harp solo closes out
the cue.
We arrive at one of the score’s early
highlights, 'The Pit of Carkoon/Sail Barge Assault'. Finally out of Jabba’s
palace, Williams brings some full throttled action. A crescendo reveals the Sarlacc,
and Jabba’s theme slithers in one last time before Luke walks the plank. A
string of spaced-out brass blasts play, sometimes matching the cuts between
characters, sometimes catching the audience off guard by not matching the cuts.
All of a sudden, Luke somersaults back onto the skiff, R2-D2 throws him a
lightsaber, Lando and Leia begin attacking Jabba’s minions, Superman turns back
time, Brick finds a hand grenade, the Spanish Inquisition arrives, a few other
things happen, and Williams punctuates it with a one-two punch of Luke’s theme
and the Rebel fanfare. In an odd move, he then reprises music from the classic 'Tie Fighter Attack' scene in A New Hope,
then sustains the galloping rhythm with repeated blasts of the Rebel fanfare.
Jabba’s theme returns before a trumpet glissando heralds his death at Leia’s
hands. The syncopated melody of 'Tie Fighter Attack' returns shortly before a
quotation of 'The Battle of Yavin', leading directly into another statement of
Luke’s theme. The galloping bass line transitions into the 3/4 meter and
gleeful swashbuckling. As Han rescues Lando from the clutches of the Sarlacc,
rising strings lead into what I’ll call the Victory motif, a heroic trumpet
melody over ascendant harmonies that swell to a triumphant conclusion while our
heroes get away and leave Tatooine for good. While the quotation of music from A New Hope is confusing, given the lack
of connection between the scenes, the Rebel theme gets some of its best
development in this cue, and to hear such rousing adventure music, particularly
after nearly half an hour of primarily sound design, is nothing short of exhilarating.
Interestingly, an alternate version of this cue is included at the end of disc
1. All of the references to the ending of A
New Hope are gone, although there is some curious foreshadowing of the Ewok
theme. What is most interesting is not what was changed, but which moments and styles
did make their way into the final track, including the compound meter and the
exuberant conclusion.
The film pivots back to the Death Star with
a transitional statement of Vader’s theme, before building into a full, bombastic
rendition of the Imperial March to open 'The Emperor Arrives/The Death of
Yoda/Obi-Wan’s Revelation.' However, the orchestra begins to pull back in its
bombast when Vader kneels, showing the same deference he does before the
Emperor. Williams then introduces the theme for Emperor Palpatine, a chilling motif
backed with high, frigid strings, and led by a demonic male throat singer. The
closing phrase of the Imperial March concludes the scene, and we transition
back to Dagobah, where Yoda and the ghost of Obi-Wan await with a truck full of
exposition. Williams deftly handles these scenes with creative variations and
interplay between themes. Yoda’s theme opens warmly, but sours into the minor
key (a pattern that resembles the death motif) as Luke realizes Yoda is dying.
The Force theme appears with (even more) solemnity when Yoda confirms that
Darth Vader is Luke’s father, followed immediately by Yoda’s theme as he gives
his pupil a final lecture. The death motif returns eerily on winds, before
running in counterpoint to the Force theme as Yoda warns of the Emperor’s
power. At last, Yoda speaks his last, and as he fades, a somber elegy mourns
his passing. Luke considers what Yoda has told him while the Force theme and
Death motif build to Obi-Wan’s return. Much of the rest of the cue went unused
in the film, which is mostly ambience with the same textures Williams used in Empire Strikes Back for the Dagobah
scenes. The music returns with Leia’s theme on cello once Luke realizes the
identity of his sister, before a militaristic string of brass triplets takes us
back to the Rebel fleet.
The brief 'Alliance Assembly' develops a
heroic chord progression, similar to the opening of 'The Death Star' in A New Hope, but with a more optimistic
feel as the Rebels organize the potentially decisive attack in the war. In
between, there’s a nice cameo of Lando’s theme. 'Shuttle Tydirium Approaches
Endor' opens with skittish, high strings, soon joined by the demonic choir as
the Emperor issues his instructions to Vader. When Luke and company nears
Vader’s ship, an atonal string passage accentuates the unease of the heroes,
before the Force theme appears with trepidation, Luke realizing that Vader is
nearby. A quick combo of Vader and the Force motifs indicate Vader’s knowledge
that Luke is close, and the Force theme develops while Vader ponders how to
act. When Vader lets them pass, syncopated strings guide them to the forest
moon, and Williams neatly foreshadows 'Into the Trap' at the 3:29 mark, as Luke
knows something is fishy about their success.
The middle section of the film, set on
Endor, begins with the poorly named 'Speeder Bike Chase'. The actual chase
scene takes place without any music, letting the sound effects take center
stage, similarly to the lightsaber duels in the previous films. The exciting
speeder bike sequence is set up with this cue, which opens with mild suspense
before Han steps on a twig and the strings and brass go nuts. The harp scales
in particular contribute to the dizzying sense of chaos before the cue ends
rather abruptly. Following the speeder bike chase, 'Land of the Ewoks' is
filled with mostly sparse suspense, spread across several scenes. Williams
introduces his primary theme for the Ewoks here, a prancing, light tune, with
tribal sounding percussion and recorders. Your mileage with this theme may
directly correlate with your tolerance for the Ewoks as a whole. Whereas some
find the primitive teddy bear race adorable and cute, others find them
irritating and a surefire cure for sanity, and the same principle applies to
their music. Williams steers clear of overusing their main theme by making
several distinct melodies for the Ewoks, though each stays consistent with the
tone of previous themes for similar small creatures (particularly the droids
and the Jawas). All of these Ewok themes are packaged into the 'Parade of the
Ewoks' concert suite. Personally, I find the Ewok music enjoyable in small
doses, which are well integrated into the later battle cues.
The brief cue 'The Levitation' builds in
dissonance before leading to some very pleasant harmonies after C-3PO convinces
the Ewoks to not kill and eat Han and Luke, and closes with hints of the Rebel
theme, as the three heroes are reunited. This is immediately followed with 'Threepio’s Bedtime Story', in which the golden droid (worshiped as a god by
the Ewoks) tells the tale of Luke, Han, and Leia. The music, presumably played
by the Ewoks, plays a number of the themes in quick succession to echo the
events of C-3PO’s story, primarily on recorder, percussion, and a whistle. The
best phrase I can come up with for this almost tongue-in-cheek moment is
“tribal Mickey Mousing.” The scenes in between in the Ewok village are filled
with source music, which is also included on the album. This music, mostly
percussion driven, is quite dull and, without much else beyond the basic
percussive rhythm, lacks the energy or texture to maintain interest on its own.
The lengthy 'Brother and Sister/Father and
Son/The Fleet Enters Hyperspace' opens as Luke outlines his family tree to
Leia. When he reveals they are siblings, Williams rolls out the theme for Luke
and Leia. Though it shares a general tone with the themes related to Leia in
the previous films, this one lacks the potential for high-flying romance or
adventure that the 'Princess Leia’s Theme' and 'Han Solo and the Princess' theme contained. Instead, the sibling identity is more grounded, conveying the
platonic affection between the Skywalkers. Because Luke and Leia only have one
major scene together in the film, this theme goes sadly underused. However, Williams
milks it to great effect in this single scene, introducing it in between
statements of the Force theme and in counterpoint to the death motif for added
gravity. The second cue of the track features a lengthy and deliberate string
of percussion, building to an equally slow statement of Vader’s theme. Williams
underscores this second conversation with a more ambient but nevertheless
menacing background, though he punctuates it with a tortured variation of
Luke’s theme, hinting at the seeds of conflict sown in Vader’s heart. Through
both of these cues, Williams makes excellent use of a celesta for an extra-haunting
punch. Following this low-key segment, a blast of brass trills fly us back to
the Rebel fleet in preparation for their assault on the Death Star. A neat
variation of the 'Throne Room' melody from the end of A New Hope plays while the final preparations are made, building to
a rousing climax as they go to lightspeed.
Vader’s theme, slow and deliberate,
introduces 'Emperor’s Throne Room', where Luke first confronts Palpatine. The
wind section repeats a six note rhythm, similar to the theme for the shady
government in E.T., before delivering
a mouthwateringly evil performance of the Emperor’s theme. As the Emperor
reveals his genius and the demonic choir sings his song, it’s difficult not to
get a few shivers of terror and delight at the same time.
The titanic battle for freedom thereafter
commences, and takes up the next fourteen cues, condensed into four tracks on
CD. The opening two and a half minutes of 'The Battle of Endor I' ('Into the
Trap' if you’re going for individual cues) are a magnificent buildup of
sustained action, commencing with a lengthy stretch of syncopated brass over a
steady metronome of strings. Han, Leia and the rest get to work destroying the
shield generator, but the string backing vanishes when the heroes are captured,
leaving the brass confused. A few timpani hits bring the rest of the orchestra
back, and the brass keep going as we cut to the Rebel fleet preparing to attack
the Death Star. Once they arrive, the brass switch to a 3/4 melody, building in
volume and tempo while Lando and crew sense something is wrong, culminating in rollicking
climax when Admiral Ackbar realizes “IT’S A TRAP!”
Williams gives no time to recover from such
a shock, however, sending the opening syncopated brass, already wrong-footed
twice in as many minutes, blundering back into action. The Rebel fanfare, mixed
with the demonic throat singers, ease us back onto the Death Star, where the
Emperor taunts Luke. Here, the fanfare is mangled, the rebellion seemingly
doomed. The next cue ('Forest Ambush') takes us back to Endor, where the
arrival of the Ewok army coincides with a barrage of percussive elements and
general dissonance that some may find irritating. The primary Ewok theme plays
in call-and-response between the brass and the rest of the orchestra, and the
other Ewok identities are interpolated into the frenetic action music, though
Williams mainly uses the first half of the primary Ewok theme. Interestingly,
that portion of the theme bears a slight resemblance to James Horner’s main
theme from Willow, also about small
people improbably toppling bigger foes (and with Warwick Davis too!). Williams
continues to display his knack for accentuating every emotional moment on
screen, though the music here is noticeably denser than the action music in the
prior Star Wars entries. Williams
effortlessly segues into the final two cues of the track, returning to the triple
meter for the space battle. A pervasive sense of urgency is maintained, even as
we cut back to the Emperor’s taunting Luke. A string of crescendos ensue as the
Death Star fires on a ship (with a possible allusion to the destruction of
Alderaan in A New Hope). After a few
moments of uncertainty, the brass return to accompany the battle on the ground.
For the scenes of Ewoks being slaughtered, the brass soon give way to tragic
melodrama in the string section.
'The Lightsaber/The Ewok Battle' has
another wonderfully creepy performance of the Emperor’s theme, followed by a
tremolo crescendo once he successfully goads Luke into attacking. The film cuts
back to the ground, and Williams is faced with the unenviable task of scoring
one of the most ridiculous scenes ever committed to celluloid. You think I
exaggerate? Here’s what happens: Chewbacca does a Tarzan yell, he and a couple of
Ewoks commandeer an Imperial Walker, and the army of primitive teddy bears
bring down the other Walker and “an entire legion of [The Empire’s] best
troops” with logs, bows and arrows, trip wires, and rocks. Williams threads the
needle here between straight-faced action and campy goofiness, the density and
complexity of the music balancing the bouncy rhythms, tribal instruments, and
jovial nature of the central melody of the cue. 'The Ewok Battle' is also
arranged into a concert suite at the end of the album, renamed 'The Forest
Battle' for some reason.
As the three-pronged battle continues, the
editing between the different locations becomes more rapid, leading to tonal
U-turns of 'The Battle of Endor II'. After momentary statements of Leia’s and
the Love themes, 'Leia is Wounded' features a clever moment from Williams: after
the Ewoks and Rebels have improbably turned the tide of the battle, a flute
performs the death motif in a major key, filled with a mix of relief and
incredulity at our heroes’ success. 'The Duel Begins' takes us back to the
throne room, where instead of setting Luke and Vader’s themes against each
other, Williams toggles between the Emperor’s theme and the Force theme, emphasizing
the battle between Luke and the Emperor for Vader’s soul. Some standard action
music serves as an interlude when Han destroys the bunker, before we arrive at
another highlight of the score, 'The Dark Side Beckons'. First, a solo bassoon
builds the suspense as Vader looks for and taunts Luke. A timpani crash marks
the moment Vader discovers Leia is Luke’s sister, followed by a string
crescendo when he threatens to turn her to the Dark Side. What follows, as Luke
explodes in fury, is a massive assault of strings and demonic choir. The
tragic, operatic stakes are cranked up to 11, as the choir and strings,
slightly out of sync, reprise and develop the music from Yoda’s death with
greater histrionics.
Or…it should
do that. This is the one spot where the lesser sound quality sticks out. The
entire emotional moment feels stifled, and the choir doesn’t echo the way it
ought to for the best dramatic effect. However, it’s barely noticeable in the
film, so it still hits its mark where it matters.
This big, dramatic moment culminates in
Luke disarming Vader and cutting off his hand, leading to a triumphant
performance of the Emperor’s theme, complete with devilishly swirling strings.
The brass hang in suspense as Luke regains control of his emotions, and the
Force theme, with a nice bass backing, comes to his aid as he defiantly refuses
to join the Emperor. A cliffhanging crescendo takes us back to Endor, and the
successful destruction of the shield generator, with a string of triumphant
brass runs, complemented with a statement of the Rebel fanfare as the fleet
begins to attack the Death Star (funny how all three plots climax at the same
time). As we swivel back to the Throne Room, low brass and string tremolos lead
into an inversion of Vader’s theme, the Dark Side not yet defeated. Once the
Emperor begins torturing Luke, his theme steps out of the shadowy bass region
and into the higher registers, just as he has now revealed his true might. The
suspense builds as it seems that Luke is doomed, only for the Force theme to
appear in its most urgent incarnation, when Vader, successfully returned from
the Dark Side, betrays Palpatine and throws him off the balcony. As Palpatine
falls to his demise, the throat singers fall in pitch and fade in volume.
The trio of cues that comprise 'The Battle
of Endor III' make for a frustrating listen with its blend of both great and painful
moments. In 'Superstructure Chase', Williams again cribs moments from A New Hope, opening with music from 'Tie
Fighter Attack' and following it up with more music from 'The Battle of Yavin', before a single reprisal of the four note Death Star theme when Vader’s
flagship crashes into the battle station. Given the similar endings of the two
films, Williams’ quotations are understandable. What is unforgiveable is the
poor sound quality and the numerous missed notes by the brass, particularly
when the same London Symphony Orchestra played the same bars to perfection in A New Hope. A string of timpani rolls
and brass blasts takes us back to Luke, trying to escape the Death Star with
Vader (I guess I should call him Anakin the rest of the way?). A harp descends
down the scale in counterpoint to Vader’s theme, played on high winds, as his
life twinkles away. The harp gets the final rendition of Vader’s theme as he
passes and Luke mourns. When we cut back to Lando and Wedge flying into the
Death Star, there’s a brief tracking in the film of the wonderful 'Hyperspace' cue from Empire Strikes Back before the
beginning of 'The Main Reactor'. The brass section takes control here, first in
the major key when the reactor is destroyed, then briefly in the minor key when
it seems Lando and the Falcon might not make it, before culminating in a brief
statement of the main theme and the same victorious finale from 'Sail Barge
Assault'.
'Leia’s News' bears another performance of
the sibling theme, which segues effortlessly into the love theme when Han
realizes that Luke is no longer his romantic rival. The second half of the
track is 'Light of the Force', a final, solemn rendition of the Force theme
during Vader’s funeral. It’s nicely developed, and creates an aural poetry; we heard
it first when Luke looked into the future, and we hear it for the final time as
he reflects on his father and his past.
And so we reach the end of the trilogy, the
culmination of approximately six hours of film and music, and we conclude
with…more tribal music? With chanting? Yes, for some reason, Return of the Jedi originally concluded
with 'Ewok Celebration', affectionately referred to by some as 'Yub Nub', before a transition to the end credits suite. Fortunately, this cue was
replaced, like 'Lapti Nek', in the 1997 Special Edition rerelease of the film
with 'Victory Celebration.' While it maintains a tribal feel, it has a beefier
orchestral backing and switches out the Ewok singing with an actual choir to
complement the changes to the film, as the Special Edition also features scenes
of celebration on other planets. Many fans hold 'Yub Nub' dearly in their
hearts; I believe 'Victory Celebration' is the superior cue. The problem with
the new track is that it doesn’t seamlessly merge into the end credits on
album, leaving a brief awkward gap. The difference in sound quality between 'Victory Celebration' and the end titles is significant enough to increase the
awkwardness of the jump a little more. The end credits bears a strong
resemblance to those for A New Hope,
including development of the main theme at the outset and conclusion of the
credits. Sandwiched in between are nice arrangements of the Ewok themes and the
Luke and Leia motif. The score concludes almost identically to the ending of A New Hope, but with Leia’s theme as
added counterpoint to the final fanfare.
One note needs to be made about the
arrangement of the album. While virtually every track is included on the two
disc release, it’s not very well arranged. Cues that don’t flow into one
another are often part of the same track, leaving a number of tracks of great
length, sometimes with a standout cue in the same track as a less impressive
cue, making it difficult to cull the highlights for an abridge listening
experience. Additionally, the “source cues” from Jabba’s palace and the Ewok
village are tacked onto the ends of both
CDs, as well as an alternate cue and a concert suite. Throw in the two thematic
suites at the beginning of disc two, and the album effectively takes a break
from the film’s narrative for 20 minutes at the end of disc 1 and the beginning
of disc 2. Why not either a) place the source cues in film order in between the
non-diegetic tracks, or b) tack them on the very end of the album with the
thematic suites and alternate cues? However, my concern is less with the album
arrangement and more with the score itself.
So how does Return of the Jedi hold up? When compared to Star Wars and The Empire
Strikes Back, it does pale in comparison. The new themes are not as
well-developed, and the different parts of the score do not tie together as cohesively
under a single thematic identity. But consider the film. It conveys vastly
different tones between the gloom and otherworldly danger of Jabba’s palace,
the playful and fluffy sections on Endor, and the dramatic, emotionally charged
confrontation between Luke, Vader, and the Emperor. To try and achieve musical
cohesion between such drastic tonal shifts would be a challenge even for a
composer of Williams’ caliber. Similarly, the themes are less developed due to the
nature of the film. Of the four major ideas introduced in Return of the Jedi, two are for villains (Jabba and the Emperor)
who appear, do their bit, and then die. The third theme, for the Ewoks, does
get a solid workout, considering it’s introduced halfway through the film.
Finally, Luke and Leia get little more than a single scene for any in-depth
character development, so how could their theme receive the treatment in the
film that it deserved? At its core, the main story is of Luke’s mastering of
the ways of the Jedi and Darth Vader’s redemption. As such, it is fitting that
Williams gives ample screen time to the Force theme and Imperial March. Plain
and simple, Williams scored to the film he was given, and did so well that his
score suffered for the flaws of the story.
Famed film director Howard Hawks defined a
great movie as “three good scenes, no bad ones.” If we apply this same criteria
to Return of the Jedi, then this is
undoubtedly a great score. The flaws of the score are hardly fatal, as the
moments of power, majesty, terror, and elation still shine through. Return of the Jedi expands the musical
world of the Star Wars franchise and
brings the original trilogy to a satisfying conclusion. You can purchase Return of the Jedi on Amazon or iTunes, here and here.
9.1
____
Additional notes about release: this review is concerned with the 1997 RCA Special Edition release of Return of the Jedi (identical in content to the 2004 and 2007 Sony releases). The full list of releases, including compilation albums, can be found here.
Vikram's seventy minute long highlight playlist can be found here.
Vikram's seventy minute long highlight playlist can be found here.
Track Listing
| Disc 1: | ||
| 1. | 20th Century Fox Fanfare | 0:22 |
| 2. | Main Title / Approaching The Death Star / Tatooine Rendevous | 9:21 |
| 3. | The Droids Are Captured | 1:17 |
| 4. | Bounty For A Wookiee | 2:50 |
| 5. | Han Solo Returns | 4:01 |
| 6. | Luke Confronts Jabba / Den Of The Rancor / Sarlacc Sentence | 8:51 |
| 7. | The Pit Of Carkoon / Sail Barge Assault | 6:02 |
| 8. | The Emperor Arrives / The Death Of Yoda / Obi-Wan's Revelation | 10:58 |
| 9. | Alliance Assembly | 2:13 |
| 10. | Shuttle Tyderium Approaches Endor | 4:09 |
| 11. | Speeder Bike Chase / Land Of The Ewoks | 9:38 |
| 12. | The Levitation / Theepio's Bedtime Story | 2:46 |
| 13. | Jabba's Baroque Recital | 3:09 |
| 14. | Jedi Rocks | 2:42 |
| 15. | Sail Barge Assault (Alternate) | 5:04 |
| Disc Time: | 73:23 | |
| Disc 2: | ||
| 1. | Parade Of The Ewoks | 3:28 |
| 2. | Luke And Leia | 4:46 |
| 3. | Brother And Sister / Father And Son / The Fleet Enters Hyperspace / Heroic Ewok | 10:40 |
| 4. | Emperor's Throne Room | 3:26 |
| 5. | The Battle Of Endor I (Into The Trap / Forest Ambush / Scout Walker Scramble / Prime Weapon Fires) | 11:50 |
| 6. | The Lightsaber / The Ewok Battle | 4:31 |
| 7. | The Battle Of Endor II (Leia Is Wounded - The Duel Begins / Overtaking The Bunker / The Dark Side Beckons / The Emperor's Death) | 10:03 |
| 8. | The Battle Of Endor III (Superstructure Chase / Darth Vader's Death / The Main Reactor) | 6:04 |
| 9. | Leia's News / Light Of The Force | 3:24 |
| 10. | Victory Celebration / End Title | 8:34 |
| 11. | Ewok Feast / Part Of The Tribe | 4:02 |
| 12. | The Forest Battle (Concert Suite) | 4:05 |
| Disc Time: | 74:53 | |
| Total Album Time: | 148:16 | |
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