Black Patch / The Man

Intrada announces its latest Excalibur release – the Kickstarter-funded new recordings of Jerry Goldsmith's Black Patch and The Man. Performed by the Royal Scottish National Orchestra under the baton of William Stromberg, this album features two rarities from Goldsmith's catalog. Black Patch is a 1957 western and is Goldsmith's first big-screen theatrical score. Nonetheless, Goldsmith had seven years of scoring television experience and brought to this premiere of sorts a musically sophisticated, dramatically assured and expertly crafted style, showing emotional restraint in a complex musical framework. And this recording even includes the fully restored opening, which was edited down in the film.

In the film, Civil War veteran Clay Morgan (George Montgomery), sporting a black patch over the eye he lost in battle, is marshal of Santa Rita, New Mexico. Soon Hank Danner rides into town, an old friend whose wife, Helen, was once in love with Clay. Complicating matters is Carl, a young man who falls under Helen's spell. When Clay learns that Hank has robbed a bank, he tries to protect his friend to the extent the law will allow. But when saloon owner Frenchy D'Vere makes a deal to help Hank escape in exchange for half the take from the robbery, Hank is killed in the attempt and Clay arrested for his murder. The verdict is "justifiable homicide," but Carl seeks revenge in effort to prove himself to Helen.

For The Man, Goldsmith reconstructionist Leigh Phillips restored the score entirely by ear, as no written score or parts were accessible. Unlike the darker sound of Black Patch, this score starts with glorious trumpets, horns and trombones. It's a brassy, Americana pronouncement of a new era for the United States – when, for the first time, a black man becomes president (James Earl Jones) due to an alignment of unusual circumstances. The score is a lean one, both in its lack of violins as well as its running time, Goldsmith packs a lot into the complete 16-minute score.

In the film, when the President and Secretary of State die in a freak accident and the terminally ill Vice President refuses to take the office, the job devolves to the President pro tempore of the Senate, senator Douglass Dilman (Jones). The new President faces opposition from both the political right and activists on the left. Rod Serling's brilliant, literate script packs a political and emotional wallop that can still be felt today.