INTRADA Presents:
MISSING IN ACTION
Music Composed and Conducted by JAY CHATTAWAY
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 91
The 1984 action film Missing in Action features the first in a trilogy of Chuck Norris/Viet Nam adventures, which proved to be one of Cannon Group's most popular series. Norris plays the fictional Colonel James Braddock, an escaped prisoner of war who returns to Vietnam as part of an American delegation charged with investigating the fate of those soldiers who went “missing in action” during the war. Faced with stonewalling and treachery, Braddock determines to take matters into his own hands. With few allies, and pursued by deadly enemies, he tackles any obstacle to his mission: thugs, assassins, gunboats, a contingent of prison camp guards— even an entire military convoy.
Braddock's determination and heroics are musically accompanied by the strong action and suspense score by Jay Chattaway (Invasion USA). Much of the film is occupied with stealth and suspense, which Chattaway facilitates with tense synth clusters. At the heart of both film and score, however, is action, action and more action. Braddock’s bloody campaign is bolstered by a main theme as tough and direct as Norris’s unwavering gaze: an ostinato-anchored militaristic line based around a series of rising fifths, performed variously by synth and orchestra. The theme appears most frequently in minor modes, but occasionally transforms itself with a heroic major cast, as with Braddock’s arrival at Vietnam’s jungle coast. Additional layers of harmony come into play during the theme’s expressive B-section, ensuring that Norris’s humanity and the essential goodness of the mission don’t get lost in the mix. Everything builds to the score’s climax, a tour de force of powerful horn writing and jagged low strings for the convoy attack and final chase. The end result is a rhythmic, multi-tonal suite of film music that truly complements the story.
After the 1984 recording sessions ended, the multi-track masters were mixed down to a single channel in post-production for the mono film presentation and then the stereo elements themselves went MIA. This release features the complete score in excellent mono sound from the original session tapes at MGM.
While Missing in Action 2 would be scored by Brian May, Chattaway would return to score the third film in the saga, available soon from Intrada.
This release is limited to 1000 copies.
INTRADA Special Collection - Volume 91
Retail Price: 19.99
AVAILABLE NOW
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6008/.f
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