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SUPERMAN IV: THE QUEST FOR PEACE – Alexander Courage, John Williams
THROWBACK THIRTY
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
The original 1978 Superman film was a groundbreaking motion picture in many respects. It essentially introduced the concept of the contemporary comic book super hero to the movie world, it made a star out of its granite-jawed leading man Christopher Reeve, and it spawned one of the greatest scores in motion picture history, penned by the incomparable John Williams. However, as the 1980s progressed, each successive Superman sequel diminished in quality, until the franchise reached its nadir with 1987’s Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. Despite the presence of both Christopher Reeve and Gene Hackman in the cast, and a potentially interesting environmentally aware plot involving nuclear energy, the film was an utter disaster. An increasingly shrinking budget put the film in a constant state of flux, and forced director Sidney J. Furie to shoot the film mostly in the English provincial town of Milton Keynes instead of New York. Special effects were left apparently half-finished, the script was constantly being re-written and footage re-shot, and the actors were disgruntled throughout. The terrible reviews of the film once it opened signaled the death knell of the franchise at that point, and Superman would not be seen on the silver screen again until 2006’s Superman Returns. Read more…
Alexander Courage, 1919-2008
Composer, arranger and orchestrator Alexander “Sandy” Courage died in Pacific Palisades, California, on May 15, 2008, at the age of 88, following several years of declining health.
During a career spanning more than half a century he worked on hundreds of film and television productions, but remains immortal for one of the most recognizable pieces of music in television history: the soaring theme for the original Star Trek.
Courage was born in Philadelphia on December 10, 1919, and grew up in New Jersey. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music, graduating in 1941, before serving during World War II as a bandleader in the United States Army Air Forces. After settling in Los Angeles he began arranging and composing for CBS radio and in 1948 joined MGM as an orchestrator.
At MGM, Courage became one of the craftsmen responsible for the celebrated sound of the studio’s golden-age musicals. His credits included Show Boat (1951), The Band Wagon (1953), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), Kismet (1955) and Gigi (1958), while he also worked on Guys and Dolls and Funny Face. His sophisticated command of the orchestra later made him a valued collaborator of composers including John Williams and Jerry Goldsmith.
Courage also composed original film scores, most notably for Arthur Penn’s western The Left Handed Gun (1958), starring Paul Newman, and André de Toth’s stark Day of the Outlaw (1959). Although original film composition never became the principal focus of his career, these scores demonstrated a muscular dramatic style quite distinct from the elaborate musical arrangements for which he was already renowned. Read more…
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