The Punisher

It might seem reasonable to assume that the star-crossed 1990 film The Punisher (starring Dolph Lundgren), based on the Marvel Comics character, which did not have a soundtrack album initially, finally got one 15 years later only because the property had gained greater recognition, especially musically, after a 2004 remake (starring Tom Jane) resulted in its own gold-selling soundtrack album and a Top 20 hit, "Broken," by Seether featuring Amy Lee. But Paul Tonks, who wrote the liner notes to the belated album, and producer Robin Esterhammer, who interviewed director Mark Goldblatt and composer Dennis Dreith for 23 minutes of conversation that are appended to the disc, say nothing about that. Rather, they focus on the unfortunate circumstances surrounding the film's initial distribution. The company that made it was sold just as it was being finished, with the result that it earned theatrical release only in France, Germany, Great Britain, and Japan in 1990, but went straight to video in the U.S. in 1991. The reason the soundtrack album appeared in 2005, Goldblatt tells Esterhammer, can be found in the name of his record company, Perseverance, and Tonks also makes it sound like the album is a long-promised dream. Nevertheless, the success of the soundtrack to the remake probably had something to do with it. Using a 40-piece orchestra, Dreith, like other composers for action movies before him, has the opportunity to write for a variety of moods, from calm, if ominous, cues like "Tanaka Meets Franco" to stirring martial passages such as those found in "Funhouse Shootout," and even to sneak in some chamber music ("Chopin"). The presence of a major Oriental character, Madame Tanaka, justifies the use of Japanese-sounding percussion, especially in the later parts of the score. The music does not constitute the sort of great lost work Tonks suggests, just as the first cinematic treatment of The Punisher is not a lost classic (although it does get higher points from film critics than the 2004 version). But it is well worth putting on disc for fans of movie music. ~ William Ruhlmann

今、なぜか、こちらのパニッシャーのスコア・サントラ がリリース！！ 『パニッシャー』（１９８９） サウンドトラック 音楽　デニス・ドレイス 監督　マーク・ゴールドブラット 主演　ドルフ・ラングレン、ルイス・ゴセット・ジュニア とはいえ、カルト・ファンを多く持つ、こちらの「パニッシャー」。 音楽は、テレビを中心として活躍していたデニス・ドレイス。 シンセサイザーとホーンを前面に出したオーケストラの 融合の、かなりハードボイルドなスコア。テイストとしては 「マッドマックス」路線のインパクト。シンプルな盛り上がり方 がクールな３０曲目「エンドタイトル」まで、低予算カルト・ アクション・ファンにはたまらん感じのオーラがある。 ジェリー・フィールディングやマイケル・スモールなどの 職人のスピリットをもったスコアといえるでしょう。 (C)馬場敏裕