Music Composed by Brian Tyler
Rating: *** 1/2

I find it strange that, despite the fact that few film music nerds would sit through a syrupy golf movie if you put a gun to their collective heads, almost all of them will wet themselves if you give them a syrupy score for a golf movie (mention Portman’s Legend of Baggar Vance to one of them if you don’t believe me). For some reason, we accept the unabashedly sentimental feel-good attitude in a film’s music far more willingly than we do in the film itself. Bill Paxton’s The Greatest Game Ever Played (I’m told it’s kind of like The Greatest Story Ever Told with golf replacing Jesus) is yet another golf movie that’s likely to attract more interest for its music than its content (yes, I know the film music community is small, but I believe we may outweigh this particular film’s target audience). Of all the composers one might expect for a upbeat underdog story like this, I’m sure that Brian Tyler is pretty far down the list, but his relationship with the director has given him the chance to write his very first “happy” score. Fans who have lapped up his hostile and uncompromising work for dark thrillers may be dismayed to find Tyler in such gooey territory, but I was initially looking forward to hearing Tyler’s unique stamp on the otherwise tired sports clichés.

Brian Tyler

The score’s main theme can be heard right from the very beginning, in “Main Title Overture”. Shimmering strings bubble and give us the impression that something truly spectacular is about to burst forward, but there it is, with just a few concluding chords grounded down to smooth over the overt sentiment. Tyler doesn’t milk the theme, but every time it reenters for one of the big would-be cathartic moments, it hits you like a splash of freezing iodine (note: that simile was designed with the assumption that the reader does not, in fact, like being splashed by freezing iodine. My apologies to any iodine aficionados I may have inadvertently offended). Fortunately, Tyler has more imagination and in the way he plays with this theme, and sends it through more charismatic and inspiring variations. Nevertheless, it will take you a good deal of willful amnesia to get over the intense familiarity, or the simple fact that these themes feel diametrically opposed to Tyler’s signature style.

But mustering up that willful amnesia may be worth your effort. For, outside of the themes themselves, Tyler is able to exhibit a great deal of his own personality, and it’s quite a thrill to hear his signature edgy aggression applied to more jubilant and uplifting means. At its best, Greatest Game plays like an extension of the precious few joyous moments in Tyler’s much-celebrated Children of Dune. Rousing marches, noble chords, and Tyler’s signature gamut of ethnic percussion all join forces to bring a slightly fiercer spark to the requisite feel-good montages (he even manages to slide some appealing dissonance into “Angel”). The highlight is undoubtedly “The Game is Afoot”, which is in many ways an extension of his thrilling and heraldic “House Atreides” material from Children of Dune. Tyler manages to incorporate his thematic material into this piece and soar with it, adding breathless ascending layers atop the chords.

And of course, we also have plenty of time for more intimate sweetness – a Disney sports film wouldn’t be complete with it. Tyler handles these moments well, creating tenderness without caving to treacle. In “Broken Dreams” we even get a gentle love theme that hasn’t come from a second-hand source, indicating what Tyler might have done with the score given more freedom. The Horner themes occasionally return here as well (“An Unlikely Outcome”), but Tyler deals with them sensitively.

Perhaps the only thing really missing from the score is the big cathartic climax that usually goes hand in hand with movies like this. We have a “Showdown” cue, but Tyler doesn’t score it with the same momentous and tear-jerking explosion we’ve grown accustomed to for the genre. The lack of overblown sentiment probably benefits the film to no end, but it does have something of an anticlimactic effect on the album. It also doesn’t help that the only finale we get is a rather underwhelming reprise of the main them (“Sunset”).

As you may have noticed, I’m still of two minds about this score. Rpeated listens have warmed me to the music a good deal. Because Tyler’s voice is so distinct, he’s filled the music with so much genuine enthusiasm that it’s hard not to get swept along. It’s hard to shake the suspicion that this would be a classic under different circumstances, but as it stands, The Great Game Ever Played is still a great deal more than a guilty pleasure. I do hope it will open some new doors for Tyler, because if nothing else, he’s made it clear that his talents extend far past the trashy thrillers he’s usually assigned.

Music Composed and Conducted by Brian Tyler; Orchestrations by Robert Elhai, Dana Niu, Brad Warnaar, Andrew Kinney and Jennifer Hammond; Recorded and Mixed by Joel Iwataki at Todd-AO; Score Produced by Brian Tyler; Availability: In print; Label (Catalogue): Hollywood Records, (2061-62541-2); Release Date: September 27, 2005

01. Main Title Overture (2′54)
02. Immigrant’s Theme (2′45)
03. Determination (1′47)
04. The Amateur (3′44)
05. Broken Dreams (1′58)
06. A Call To Arms (1′58)
07. The Greatest Game Ever Played (1′48)
08. Dog Leg (2′11)
09. Rain Battle - Based on “Angel” by Joe Jackson (1′55)
10. Invitation (1′21)
11. Broken Dreams Reprise (2′04)
12. Ouimet Trails By One (1′38)
13. Ride the High Country (1′20)
14. Indecision (0′48)
15. Heads Turn (0′46)
16. The Game is Afoot (1′20)
17. An Unlikely Outcome (3′13)
18. A Chance Encounter (1′59)
19. And Then There Were Three (1′39)
20. Ride the High Country Reprise (1′21)
21. True Valor (1′02)
22. A Quiet Dignity (0′45)
23. Duel (0′38)
24. Showdown (2′24)
25. Sunset (1′56)
26. Angel (3′22)
Performed by Dawn Upshaw
27. And The Band Played On - Performed by Amick Byram (2′06)
28. Hello, Hello, Who’s Your Lady Friend? - Performed by Joe Jackson (1′48)
29. End Title Overture (2′47)

Total Playing Time: 55′17