Patton / Tora! Tora! Tora!

1970年影片《Patton》和《Tora! Tora! Tora!》原声。 by Bruce Eder Neither 20th Century Fox nor Polygram, both of whom have some apparent claim on Jerry Goldsmith's original soundtrack to Patton, has seen fit to reissue the album on CD. Thus, the German-based Tsunami label has released this expanded edition on CD -- it may not be legal (there's no licensing credit) but it is impressive, the music tracks apparently drawn from the unmixed music tracks of the enhanced FoxVideo laserdisc released in 1997. The sound glitters, and the performance, conducted by the composer in his prime, surges forward with a robust, energetic spring that gives it the thematic inevitability of a well-performed Beethoven symphony -- it is a more powerful performance than Goldsmith's recent digital re-recording of the music. George C. Scott's uncut speech to the troops ("Americans love a fight..."), which opens the movie, is also included, as it was on the original LP. This portion of the CD concludes with the previously unissued "End Credit" music, but otherwise there are no surprises, except the depth and clarity of the sound. As a bonus, the producers have include 22 minutes of Goldsmith's music from A Patch of Blue, an earlier and wholly unrelated but still impressive score -- it sounds decent for most of its length, except for a few distorted spots that indicate the use of a non-master source (probably an LP, or a poor tape copy). At $25 list, it's a steep investment, but there's no other way to get the Patton material.