Filmtracks: Jerry Goldsmith
Information about composer Jerry Goldsmith, including reviews of his music
· archived 5/18/2026, 12:42:05 AMscreenshotcached html Filmtracks: Jerry Goldsmith MOBILE SITE REVIEWS SCOREBOARD RATINGS COMPOSERS AWARDS ARCHIVES ABOUT CONTACT SUPPORT SUPPORT FILMTRACKS! WE EARN ACOMMISSION ON WHAT YOU BUY: Amazon.com Amazon.co.uk eBay Amazon.ca NEWEST MAJOR REVIEWS: 1. Babylon 2. Avatar: The Way of Water 3. Puss in Boots: Last Wish 4. Violent Night 5. The Fabelmans 6. Strange World CURRENT BEST-SELLING SCORES: 1. Space Battleship Yamato 2. John Williams in Vienna 3. Shang-Chi: Legend/Ten Rings 4. Glory 5. Superman (40th Anniversary) 6. Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back 7. Call of the Wild 8. The Forbidden Kingdom CURRENT MOST POPULAR REVIEWS: 1. Dune (2021) 2. Doctor Strange: Multiverse 3. Spider-Man 4. LOTR: Fellowship of the Ring 5. Batman 6. Willow 7. No Time to Die 8. Titanic 9. Wonder Woman 1984 10. Alice in Wonderland MOBILE SITE SUPPORT SITE STATUS RSS ABOUT THE SITE CONTACT US ARCHIVES Jerry Goldsmith (1929- 2004) Filmtracks Statistics: Average Filmtracks Rating: 3.29Average Viewer Rating: 3.32Number of Reviews: 114Number of Votes: 146,150Number of Comments: 967 Reviews in Filmtracks'Top 100 Traffic Ranks: #36. Mulan #43. Star Trek: First Contact #61. Air Force One #88. The 13th Warrior #96. First Knight Reviews in Filmtracks'Top 100 Voting Ranks: #12. The Russia House #14. Hoosiers #46. Under Fire #48. Star Trek: The Motion Picture #68. The Omen #83. The Wind and the Lion Filmtracks Editor's Recommendations: •Patton •The Wind and the Lion •The Omen •Star Trek: The Motion Picture •Under Fire •Hoosiers •Lionheart •The 'Burbs •The Russia House •Rudy •The Shadow •Mulan Related Pages of Interest: •Jerry Goldsmith Suites and Themes(1988 compilation of re-recordings) •The Jerry Goldsmith SPFM Tribute(1993 compilation of rare scores) •Frontiers(1997, The Royal Scottish National Orchestra) •The Omen: The Essential Jerry Goldsmith Collection(1998, The City of Prague Philharmonic) •The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith(2001, The London Symphony Orchestra) •Timeline(2003, rejected score) •Jerry Goldsmith at 20th Century Fox(2004, limited 6-CD set) •Alien Nation(1988, rejected score) Additional Quotes: "I just adore English Orchestras. This is the third film I've been with an English Orchestra. I've done a record album over here, and The Blue Max with a 100 man symphony orchestra, and I did Sebastian, which was a jazz-type pop thing. Now on this I'm using 85 men in the orchestra for The Sand Pebbles... it's a dream, like driving a Rolls-Royce, to conduct an orchestra like that." - 1969, on recording in England"The discipline and the friendly attitude, I find them friendlier than American musicians. The orchestras in America, they look at you... and you feel defeated straight away. I'll do maybe three concerts with them... they really are conductor killers. Sometimes they are very intimidating, and I think, why am I doing this, I don't need this animosity but that's the way the orchestras are back home. I've been here so many times that I know many of the musicians personally." - 1989, once again on England musicians"I didn't really concentrate that much on the games, I was really trying to sum up the whole emotional feeling, whether they were winning or losing. You know this little team comes from nowhere, and they get better and better and better. It was just a matter of keeping an emotional spirit through the whole montage of games." - 1986, on Hoosiers"I like the variety. But basically my choice of films is a small intimate film. Quiet film, no action, just people in relationships. That's what I like the most." - 1998, on his choice of films to score"Total Recall was some of the best music I've written for a film. I was really impressed with myself, even though I rarely listen to what I've finished. I'd written enough notes in that score for a Bruckner symphony! After that, I wanted a change from all of the action films I'd been doing. I realized that I wanted to do 'people' pictures again, and held out until I got The Russia House, Sleeping with the Enemy, and Love Field, movies where I could get lyrical again. The Russia House is now my favorite score, while my work for Medicine Man has some very lyrical moments." - 1992, commenting on his favorite works"My wife has them all in a vault... a copy of every album." - 1981, on collecting his own albums"I'm glad that [collectors] like that exist because they buy records. But I sometimes wonder if an avid collector like Ford Thaxton has a life." - 1995, on others collecting his albums"I've been using the Mac [computer] solely for years, and got very comfortable with it." - 1990, on his choice of equipment"I think [James Horner] is a bit eclectic. But then again, at times we've all helped ourselves to the work of others." - 1998, on Horner's Academy Award win for Titanic"I was very excited about being involved with anything with Spielberg. With Spielberg, probably more than any other director, there's a tremendous amount of discussion. He's very articulate about music, and one can discuss for hours about approaches. Anything I did was not on my own volition, it was a joint effort in that we both agreed what we were trying to do with the music for the picture." - 1982, on Poltergeist Jerry Goldsmith conducts at a London concert in 2000 "If our music survives, which I have no doubt it will, then it will because it is good." Born February 10th, 1929, Jerry Goldsmith studied piano with Jacob Gimpel and composition, theory and counterpoint with Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. He also attended classes in film composition given by Miklos Rozsa at the Univeristy of Southern California. In 1950, he was employed as a clerk typist in the music department at CBS. There, he was given his first embryonic assignments as a composer for radio shows such as "Romance" and "CBS Radio Workshop." He wrote one score every week for these shows and they were performed live on transmission. He stayed with CBS until 1960, having already scored "The Twilight Zone." He was hired by Revue Studios to score their "Thriller" series. At the same time, he met and became acquinted with the influential film composer Alfred Newman, who, recognizing Goldsmith's talents, hired him to score the film Lonely Are The Brave in 1963, his first major feature film score. Read More... He quickly burst onto the popular scene with magnificent scores to A Patch of Blue (1965), The Blue Max (1966), and The Sand Pebbles (1966), his first epic. An experimentalist, Goldsmith is constantly pushing forward the bounds of film music. In 1968, Planet of The Apes included horns blown without mouthpieces and a bass clarinetist fingering the notes but not blowing. Meanwhile, Patton and The Wind and the Lion, both nominated for Academy Awards, showed Goldsmith as an expert of the massive Hollywood theme, capturing every motif from reincarnation and militaristic joy to Allah and the mysteries of the heart. After winning his first Academy Award with The Omen in 1976, Goldsmith began a new type of experimentation: electronics. He was unafraid to use the wide variety of electronic sounds and instruments which are now available, although he did not use them for their own sake. In the late 1970's and 1980's, in such critical successes as Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Under Fire, and Hoosiers, Goldsmith utilized the best of synthesized accompaniment, often performed live as a fifth section of the orchestra. By the 1990's, Goldsmith, father of then-upcoming composer Joel Goldsmith, began composing more scores than ever before, some of which of lesser quality and not necessarily deserving of his services. His scores for The Russia House, Rudy, The Ghost and the Darkness, and The 13th Warrior highlight his later efforts. Conducting in his jeans, brightly colored shirts and ties, with his sleeves rolled up and ready for action, Goldsmith was known in the industry as a great and admirable personality, one of the best composers with whom to work. Many directors and producers requested his services, and he wasn't particular in the types of projects he would accept. His sense of humor was also noted; he wore an ape mask, for instance, when conducting the score for Planet of The Apes. His only rejections (scores that were thrown out by the producers or director in post-production) were for Alien Nation (1988), Gladiator (1992), The Public Eye (1992), and, ironically, his final completed film score, Timeline (2003). Goldsmith died at the age of 75 on July 21st, 2004, after a long battle with cancer. He passed away peacefully in his sleep at his Beverly Hills home. He was survived by his wife, Carol, children Aaron, Joel, Carrie, Ellen Edson and Jennifer Grossman, six grandchildren and a great-grandchild. So popular remains Goldsmith's career that nearly every work he produced has been pressed onto a CD album, many of them released several times. FILMOGRAPHY & REVIEWS AT FILMTRACKS (see legend below for abbreviations and codes) TitleFR VRVTCT RD TRDates Notes2004:(none)2003:•Looney Tunes: Back in Action (co-wrote)***3.351,25232|||26811/03 - 05/21all albums2002:•Star Trek: Nemesis**3.014,296140||||12212/02 - 02/14all albums•The Sum of All Fears****3.532,45397|||27406/02 - 08/142001:•The Last Castle***3.301,67316|||65510/01 - 04/21multiple albums•Along Came a Spider**2.633,20420|||66704/01 - 05/21all albums2000:•Hollow Man**2.534,18667||15808/00 - 06/081999:•The 13th Warrior (co-wrote)****3.974,18514||||8808/99 - 04/08all albums•The Haunting****3.411,4451|||59408/99 - 12/17all albums•The Mummy***3.4913,22224|||10805/99 - 01/19multiple albums1998:•Star Trek: Insurrection****3.694,18229||||16312/98 - 08/13all albums•Small Soldiers****3.362,8422||14107/98 - 10/18multiple albums•Mulan (co-wrote) (AW)****3.9710,45324|||3606/98 - 07/07all albums•U.S. Marshals***2.656172|||47003/98 - 08/20all albums•Deep Rising**2.798064||53702/98 - 08/14all albums1997:•The Edge****3.421,8682|||27510/97 - 06/10all albums•L.A. Confidential (AW)***3.072,2311|27912/97 - 06/07•Air Force One (co-wrote)****3.644,12322||||6107/97 - 02/21all albums•Fierce Creatures***2.802691|98712/96 - 08/081996:•Star Trek: First Contact (co-wrote)***3.629,25926||||4312/96 - 05/12multiple albums•The Ghost and the Darkness*****3.963,4253|||13810/96 - 04/16all albums•Chain Reaction***3.072562||79310/96 - 11/15all albums•Executive Decision**2.992721||74710/96 - 03/16multiple albums•City Hall***3.012170||1,06406/98 - 11/111995:•First Knight****3.673,26032|||9609/96 - 04/11all albums•Powder***3.387638||51606/98 - 06/16all albums•Congo***3.7156313||60110/96 - 02/13multiple albums1994:•The Shadow*****3.972,89411||||27209/96 - 08/12all albums•I.Q.***2.971690||1,69407/09 - 02/10all albums•Bad Girls***3.404211|||40406/98 - 07/11all albums•The River Wild (co-wrote)***3.122798|||50505/98 - 12/15all albums•Angie**2.832031||1,04206/98 - 11/111993:•The Vanishing****3.422910|||61706/98 - 09/08all albums•Six Degrees of Separation*2.202730|57907/98 - 09/08•Matinee***3.182953||96006/98 - 06/22all albums•Rudy****3.903,8252||18704/97 - 01/08•Dennis the Menace***3.253461||60906/98 - 08/14multiple albums•Malice**2.882311||1,05003/97 - 10/111992:•Love Field***3.302031|||1,01206/98 - 09/21all albums•Medicine Man****3.751,5042|||49112/96 - 09/08•Mom and Dad Save the World**2.862401||97606/98 - 10/11•Mr. Baseball**2.702460||1,10606/98 - 10/11•Basic Instinct (AW)****3.923,62326|||10612/96 - 09/21all albums•Forever Young***3.243123|||59106/98 - 09/11all albums1991:•Not Without My Daughter**2.722961||71706/98 - 07/09•Sleeping with the Enemy****3.611,0871||44406/98 - 09/11all albums1990:•Total Recall****3.843,24629|||15312/96 - 04/21multiple albums•The Russia House*****4.295,37914||||19512/96 - 09/21all albums•Gremlins 2: The New Batch****3.664364|||32003/97 - 10/15all albums1989:•Warlock**2.652011||87201/98 - 04/16multiple albums•Leviathan****3.363539||74106/98 - 11/11•Star Trek V: The Final Frontier****3.753,1948|||14608/97 - 05/12all albums1988:•Criminal Law*2.432000|1,14407/98 - 10/11•Rambo III****3.661,2883|||39706/98 - 04/18all albums•The 'Burbs*****3.751,0235|||22608/97 - 07/09multiple albums•Rent-A-Cop***3.052351||1,09206/98 - 03/10multiple albums1987:•Innerspace***3.374208|||77707/03 - 02/10all albums•Lionheart*****3.965495|||1,16507/09 - 07/21all albums•Extreme Prejudice***3.325481|||1,06902/05 - 09/21all albums1986:•Link*2.562704||1,43307/09 - 06/16all albums•Hoosiers (AW)*****4.292,24217||||28106/03 - 12/12all albums•Poltergeist II: The Other Side***3.2041111|||31910/03 - 07/17all albums1985:•Rambo: First Blood Part II****3.781,2276|||33605/99 - 01/17all albums•Baby: Secret of the Lost Legend***3.162153||1,54207/09 - 06/18all albums•Explorers****3.442381|||1,50407/09 - 09/11all albums•Legend****3.191,00814|||31103/97 - 01/22all albums•King Solomon's Mines**3.232405||1,38208/09 - 02/15all albums1984:•Gremlins****3.641,36013|||31811/99 - 11/11all albums•Supergirl***3.372231||1,34107/09multiple albums•The Lonely Guy**•Runaway*2.381850||1,54507/09 - 02/14all albums1983:•Under Fire (AW)*****4.141,0427|||42408/97 - 09/08all albums•Psycho II**3.052017||1,20207/09 - 05/14multiple albums•Twilight Zone: The Movie****3.976090|||1,32007/09multiple albums•Dusty (TV)1982:•First Blood****3.846153|||1,23207/09 - 12/10all albums•The Challenge***2.942951||92904/00 - 07/13multiple albums•The Secret of N.I.M.H.****3.476134|||55806/03 - 04/16all albums•Poltergeist (AW)****3.942,7444|||18203/97 - 12/10all albums1981:•Masada (TV) (co-wrote) (AW)****3.313102|||1,40707/09 - 02/22all albums•Raggedy Man**2.761553||1,10008/97 - 06/22all albums•Inchon***3.002044||1,55207/09 - 04/21all albums•The Final Conflict****3.852781|||1,39007/09all albums•Outland**2.863054|||1,35907/09 - 06/10all albums•The Salamander•Night Crossing****3.622340||1,44307/09 - 08/14multiple albums1980:•Caboblanco**2.751130||1,68707/09 - 07/21all albums1979:•Star Trek: The Motion Picture (AW)*****4.133,8139||||10401/99 - 04/22all albums•Players***3.071690||1,82302/10limited•Alien (AW)***3.9667311|||62507/09all albums•The Great Train Robbery***3.181710||1,59007/09 - 04/21all albums1978:•Magic***2.697045||81306/03 - 07/15multiple albums•The Boys from Brazil (AW)****3.442131||1,36307/09multiple albums•The Swarm****3.229236|||99002/03 - 04/21multiple albums•Damien: Omen II****3.451832|||1,52507/09all albums•Capricorn One****3.512260|||1,09607/09 - 04/16all albums•Coma**2.91984||1,62407/09all albums1977:•Contract on Cherry Street (TV)***3.061500|1,23710/99 - 06/08limited•Damnation Alley**•MacArthur***3.081210||1,75708/09•Islands in the Stream***3.172021||1,50708/09 - 03/10all albums•Twilight's Last Gleaming**2.751474||1,04508/97 - 11/11multiple albums•The Hemingway Play (TV)1976:•The Cassandra Crossing***•High Velocity***•The Omen (AW)*****4.086777||||88007/09 - 03/17all albums•Logan's Run***1975:•Breakheart Pass***3.151170||1,60107/09 - 06/16multiple albums•Babe (TV) (AW)***•Take a Hard Ride****3.398151||91603/00 - 06/16all albums•Medical Story (TV)**•A Girl Named Sooner (TV)***3.202810||93803/00 - 04/07limited•The Wind and the Lion (AW)*****4.045170|||1,12207/09multiple albums•The Reincarnation of Peter Proud•Ransom (The Terrorists)****•Breakout***3.143190|1,07704/99 - 09/07limited1974:•S.P.Y.S.**•Chinatown (co-wrote) (AW)***3.441190|||2,10203/22multiple albums•QB VII (TV) (AW)****•Winter Kill (TV)**•A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (TV)***•Indict and Convict (TV)1973:•Papillon (AW)****•One Little Indian****•The Going Up of David Lev (TV)•Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies***•The Police Story (TV)**•The Red Pony (TV) (AW)•Hawkins on Murder (TV)***•Shamus1972:•Pursuit (TV)•The Man***•The Other***•Crawlspace (TV)•Lights Out (TV)1971:•The Homecoming: A Christmas Story (TV)***2.99944||1,75504/11limited•Crosscurrent (TV)**•Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate (TV)•The Last Run****•Wild Rovers****•Escape from the Planet of the Apes*•The Mephisto Waltz**•A Step Out of Line (TV)1970:•Rio Lobo**•The Traveling Executioner***•Tora! Tora! Tora!****•The Brotherhood of the Bell (TV)•The Ballad of Cable Hogue***•Patton (AW)*****3.871,0542|||34903/99 - 05/21all albums1969:•Justine***•The Chairman***•100 Rifles***3.115780|92103/99 - 09/20multiple albums•The Illustrated Man**1968:•Bandolero!***•The Detective***•Planet of the Apes (AW)**•Nick Quarry (TV)1967:•Hour of the Gun***•The Flim-Flam Man****3.202810||93803/00 - 04/07limited•In Like Flint***•Warning Shot•Sebastian**1966:•The Sand Pebbles (AW)****•Seconds***•The Blue Max****•Stagecoach**3.095921|||84806/98 - 09/16multiple albums•The Trouble with Angels**•Our Man Flint***1965:•A Patch of Blue (AW)****3.503922||62206/97 - 12/06all albums•The Agony and the Ecstasy (co-wrote)****•Morituri**•Von Ryan's Express**•In Harm's Way***•The Satan Bug**1964:•Rio Conchos****3.398533|||63801/00 - 05/21all albums•Fate is the Hunter***•Shock Treatment**•Seven Days in May•To Trap a Spy1963:•The Prize***•Take Her, She's Mine•Lilies of the Field****•A Gathering of Eagles•The Stripper**•The List of Adrian Messenger***1962:•Freud (AW)•The Spiral Road**•Lonely are the Brave***•The Expendables (TV)1961:•The General with the Cockeyed Id•The Crimebusters1960:•Studs Lonigan**•The Gambler, the Nun and the Radio (TV)1959:•Face of a Fugitive•City of Fear1958:(none)1957:•Black Patch(reviews listed with a "co-wrote" indicate that either the composer wrote the score with another person or that more than one composer worked separately to provide a score for the production) Legend: Status: N - indicates a new review that has been published in the last 180 days R - indicates an older review that has been significantly revised in the last 180 days Awards: AW - or a golden year indicates that the music won or was nominated for a major award Ratings: FR - Filmtracks Rating ("Varied" indicates a split rating with no overall designation) VR - Viewer Rating (overall average) VT - Vote Total (for viewer ratings) Comments: Comment Total (the number of messages posted in the review's comment area) Review Depth: ||||| - Massive Review (over 4,000 words) |||| - Very Long Review (between 2,200 and 4,000 words) ||| - Long Review (between 1,200 and 2,200 words) || - Average Review (between 800 and 1,200 words) | - Short Review (under 800 words) Traffic Rank: Popularity Rank (lower numbers indicate more cumulative reads; new reviews take time to climb the ranks) Dates: 1st - indicates the month and year during which the review was first published 2nd - indicates the month and year of the review's most recent significant revision (if any) Copyright © 1996-2023, Filmtracks Publications. All rights reserved. The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. Page created 9/24/96 and last updated 5/30/15. This is approximately the 567,284th load of this page since 1996. Reviews by Title / Year | Scoreboard Forum | Viewer Ratings | Composers Filmtracks Awards | Archives | About the Site | Contact | RSS | Mobile Site