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I’m old enough that I’ve been around for the majority of Elfman’s films as they were released. One of the films I missed upon release was 1987’s “Wisdom.” For some reason, it took me 24 years to watch this film. Until TODAY, this was the only `80s Elfman-scored film that I hadn’t seen. Thanks to Elfman’s 1990 compilation album, I was very familiar with the score, but actually hearing it played in the film was a totally new experience.
One of the most fascinating things about Elfman is that he isn’t a classically-trained musician. He basically learned on the job. And “Wisdom” is a prime example of that. This is his first non-comedic score. And the first non-Tim Burton film where his music is given some breathing room. The results are very interesting. Elfman struggled a lot with the more dramatic cues, but he hit home runs with all the action and suspense scenes.
For those unfamiliar, the film is about a young man who turns to a life of crime. But he isn’t a criminal to the people, but FOR the people. He robs banks, but doesn’t steal the people’s money. Instead he messes a corrupt system setup by greedy businesses. So, essentially, it’s a Robin Hood tale for the 1980s.
The movie is so obsecure that there’s only two clips of it on YouTube. This is one of them:
I haven’t seen this movie, but I think the score works very well on cd : quite surprisingly, this cd release is pretty good (long enough, with a good sound quality).
I wonder if the exclusive use of synthes is an artistic choice, or an economic necessity…I wonder if the exclusive use of synthes is an artistic choice, or an economic necessity…
I think it’s a little of both. It’s a major studio film (Warner Bros) starring a big star (Emilio Estevez). But it was also released during the death-month of January and was helmed by Estevez who was a first-time director and also VERY young at the time (he was 24). So, they probably kept things very conservative. But with that being said, Elfman was doing alot of synth work at the time (Sledgehammer, Face Like a Frog, The Jar), so I’m sure he was okay with it. Plus, the film does feature some Oingo Boing songs, so Elfman most likely considered the project a combo of his two worlds — like on Midnight Run.
I never saw the movie, so do you know what where the Oingo Boingo songs used in it ? According to what I know, none was written specially for the movie.
As far as I remember, there is only one Boingo song – “Home Again” – which is used over the end credits.
I saw the film a couple of years ago, and it’s quite good. Really underrated.
The score is a personal favourite of mine; very unique in Elfman’s canon. Almost has a Jean MIchel Jarre vibe at times, esp. his ZOOLOOK album.
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