The Patriot: Original Motion Picture Score (2000 Film)
Though Hollywood has long had a love affair with historical epics, it has sorely shortchanged America's own most compelling chapter, the War of Independence. And if this tale of a retiring Colonial hero whose family gets drawn into the war against the British has no shortage of production ironies--being helmed by a German director and starring Australian-raised Mel Gibson--its score is a solid, stirring effort by American John Williams. Largely eschewing typical bombastic epic fodder for a mostly understated score rich in his distinctive writing for brass and strings, Williams's music seeks out the story's emotional underpinnings as much as its battle-scarred action sequences. The haunting main theme here begins as a Celtic-flavored reel for guitar and violin, then wells into strings, martial drumbeats, and full-bodied brass. Much as he did for the Oscar-nominatedSaving Private Ryan, Williams paints a mature, alternately abstract and pastoral portrait of armed conflict, often as not reinventing the genre's heroic traditions as he goes.--Jerry McCulley