Tribute to "Pursuit of the Falcon"!

[Josh500 1,620]

I think this is one of the best, most original, and most fun action tracks of JW's later career (post-Schindler's List). I especially like how the falcon is musically represented by woodwinds throughout the entire piece--the flutist(s) sure must have been out of breath after playing that one! And of course the grandest statement of Tintin's Heroic theme is what puts it over the top.

In my opinion, this piece is on the same level quality-wise as the chase sequence in "Indy's Very First Adventure" (I didn't include that in the poll only because I know which will be the clear winner) in the sense that everything is moving at a breakneck rate all the time, and so many sync points to hit along the way!

Well, what do you think of it?

[Quintus 6,493]

[Josh500 1,620]

Apparently I am the only one who loves this piece!

[crocodile 9,724]

It's a fun piece, but how exactly do you find it original? It's a post-2002 Williams all the way through.

Karol

[Josh500 1,620]

It's a fun piece, but how exactly do you find it original? It's a post-2002 Williams all the way through.

Karol

Well, maybe not one of the most original pieces, but it does seem quite fresh to me. Not JW on autopilot, if you know what I mean. Combining many techniques used in earlier scores (Everybody Runs, Secrets of the Castle, Jungle Chase, etc.) to create something new...

Besides, there is so much going on here, it's mind-boggling.

[indy4 160]

4 stars, but it looses in every match-up listed. The other pieces are too good, and this isn't even the best action cue from Tintin.

[Jilal 681]

5 stars

Pursuit

Pursuit

Chase Trough Coruscant

Pursuit

[KK 3,313]

I'm with ya on this one Josh, Pursuit of the Falcon is a brilliant 5 star action cue. When comparing it to the cues you mentioned above however, it loses to RotS, Chase Through Coruscant and The Quidditch Match. Its better than Anderton's Great Escape and The Jungle Chase. I adore this cue, the woodwind work is astounding.

[Brónach 1,330]

I really enjoy this cue.

[hornist 1,261]

,

5 etoiles

5 X Pursuit

[Luke Skywalker 2,383]

5 stars

Revenge of the sith (complete version of course)

Pursuit (though i love Anderton's great escape)

Pursuit

Pursuit

Jungle chase (Again complete version)

[Xander Harris 9,671]

[gkgyver 1,647]

Awesome cue.

It's basically all points in favour of PotF, except that it's not better than the Quidditch match music.

It may be post-2000 Williams all the way, but it's hugely enjoable and not such an awfully disjointed listening as for example the Jungle Chase.

[indy4 160]

nevermind

[Josh500 1,620]

I gave this piece 5 stars! But as awesome as it is, PotF only wins against "The Jungle Chase," IMO--in some cases only by a hairbreadth, however (Anderton's Great Escape and Zam the Assassin).

I'm with ya on this one Josh, Pursuit of the Falcon is a brilliant 5 star action cue. When comparing it to the cues you mentioned above however, it loses to RotS, Chase Through Coruscant and The Quidditch Match. Its better than Anderton's Great Escape and The Jungle Chase. I adore this cue, the woodwind work is astounding.

5 stars

Revenge of the sith (complete version of course)

Pursuit (though i love Anderton's great escape)

Pursuit

Pursuit

Jungle chase (Again complete version)

Awesome cue.

It's basically all points in favour of PotF, except that it's not better than the Quidditch match music.

It may be post-2000 Williams all the way, but it's hugely enjoable and not such an awfully disjointed listening as for example the Jungle Chase.

,

5 etoiles

5 X Pursuit

I really enjoy this cue.

Do you like or hate this piece? Or what's your point?

_________

Some more thoughts:

The opening of this is somewhat reminiscent of "The Nightclub Brawl" from ToD, in the sense that the score mimicks the preceding song (or opera piece) in a humorous way during a fight scene...

From 1:20 onwards this is reminiscent of "Ants!" from KotC--the fight scene with Dovchenko.

The frenetic strings from 1:55 onward is somewhat reminiscent of "Quidditch, Third Year."

In addition, the whole piece reminds me a bit of "The Mine Cart Chase" (written over 30 years ago!) as well. The sense of crazy adventure, mixed with humor and breakneck speed, is the same.

The moment at 3:08 where the woodwinds goes spiraling crazily down, as it were, is one of the best and most original, IMO (mentioned my Marian at one point on this board). In the movie it coincides with the scene where Snowy, riding down the bike on the rushing river, manages to grab hold of the falcon for a few seconds. In the movie this is barely audible, though.

The major grand statement of Tintin's heroic theme played by a bold and loud trumpet at 4:22 is of course reminiscent of heroic moments from Indiana Jones and Star Wars. Vintage JW!

So this piece, while not purely original, of course (what is?), combines some of the best elements from previous JW scores to create a coherent and frantically breathless musical chase experience...

[Richard P 5,302]

4 stars, but I only voted it as better than Chase Through Coruscant and even that is a close call.

I don't think it's even close to an original cue - it's drenched in his past work, and although I know many like it because of the orchestration used for the falcon, I'd really like to hear someone do an approach to a scene like this that doesn't involve fluttering woodwinds or light strings.

[gkgyver 1,647]

But instead ...?

Awesome string anthem?

[Josh500 1,620]

4 stars, but I only voted it as better than Chase Through Coruscant and even that is a close call.

I don't think it's even close to an original cue - it's drenched in his past work, and although I know many like it because of the orchestration used for the falcon, I'd really like to hear someone do an approach to a scene like this that doesn't involve fluttering woodwinds or light strings.

No, I don't agree with you.

Like I said in the other thread, some people here only seem to crave "different approaches"... always. Then they are satisfied--sort of. Whether the end result is as effective or not, is secondary. The main thing is--something new.

But why not build on something that has already been tried and works? I find that almost as interesting. And it's the same techniques, I am talking about here, of course. . . not the exact same melodies. JW can use the same techniques and make them seem fresh and interesting, besides being very effective. PotF is just a case in point.

[Richard P 5,302]

You're right in the sense that I'm looking for something different, but it's not 'just because'.

JNH scored the bug attack in King Kong with a haunting choir and it really works. Williams would've done loads of flourishing string and woodwinds, and taken some of the darkness of that scene away.

I'm not saying the way Williams did PotF is bad, rather that I would simply be curious at what another composer, who doesn't use woodwinds like that to such a huge extent, would have done for that scene.

[Josh500 1,620]

Hmmm, point taken.

But when it comes to JW, most of the time--not always, but most of the time--I can't imagine a scene being more effectively scored that what he has done. And PotF is no exception. A scene might be more creatively, more originally scored, sure (hell, you can score this entire scene using all-male choirs or even electric guitars and drums too, I suppose), but it wouldn't be quite as effective as JW's woodwinds, IMO.

[Olivier 5]

Good to see I wasn't the only one to have thought of this reading the thread's title; I wondered about the difference with "The Asteroid Field".

Since I am not quite familiar with "Pursuit of the Falcon" enough yet, I can't answer-- though I'm sure it loses to "The Asteroid Field".

[KK 3,313]

The thread poll was comparing Pursuit of the Falcon to John Williams modern action material, so The Asteroid Field wouldn't count. Besides, The Asteroid Field is better than all the cues mentioned in the poll above, it'd be unfair to compare PotF to that.

[indy4 160]

Speaking of the Asteroid Field, does anybody else find that the structure of "Sir Franics and the Unicorn" is similar to Asteroid FIeld's structure?

[TheUlyssesian 2,740]

5 stars. I share your admiration in thinking that it is one of the very best cues of Williams glorious career, the sense of dazzlingly momentum here is astounding. And as I have said before, this would be monumentally difficult to perform perfectly in a live concert, the level of difficulty here is very high.

[Josh500 1,620]

But when it comes to JW, most of the time--not always, but most of the time--I can't imagine a scene being more effectively scored that what he has done. And PotF is no exception. A scene might be more creatively, more originally scored, sure (hell, you can score this entire scene using all-male choirs or even electric guitars and drums too, I suppose), but it wouldn't be quite as effective as JW's woodwinds, IMO.

Sorry, I wrote not quite as effective, but I actually meant not nearly as effective...

And Richard, you almost sound like you wished somebody else had scored Tintin!

5 stars. I share your admiration in thinking that it is one of the very best cues of Williams glorious career, the sense of dazzlingly momentum here is astounding. And as I have said before, this would be monumentally difficult to perform perfectly in a live concert, the level of difficulty here is very high.

He wrote so many of these great unrelenting and frantic action pieces, but yeah, this is definitely among his best!

I've also found that you get to appreciate this piece even more when you watch that scene very carefully, over and over again. It seems like JW catches every flutter of the falcon's wings, almost . . . One example is, just by the way JW wrote it (and the flutist plays it), you can tell, the falcon got tangled himself in those strings--I noticed that even when I saw the movie for the first time in the theater. This level of consummate artistry on JW part is astounding, but of course nothing new.