The Green Mile
Thomas Newman
" A long walk on The Green Mile "Written by Thomas Glorieux - Review of the regular release
It's hard to pick a favorite, or even simply the best one if you have to choose between The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. Both films are such powerful creations, so deep meaningful experiences that picking the one in favor of the other actually makes your heart ache. Of course The Shawshank Redemption seems to have made the top 10 lists of many, while The Green Mile seems not. And yet I never cried so much in The Green Mile that it actually makes it my favorite of the 2. Either way, the 2 movies are must seens and show the remarkable gift of director Frank Darabont.
That gift ultimately led Darabont back at picking the same composer for the gig, considering Thomas Newman did such a remarkable job on The Shawshank Redemption. And even though The Green Mile is a perfect score for the film, it somehow never gets close to The Shawshank Redemption in terms of actual strength. Yes, The Green Mile's surely captivating and magical in its effect, but the beauty is far less apparent. And it doesn't have that main theme to tie it all together. The Green Mile's actually more content by playing it eccentric and quirky, until we reach that lovely finale.
The quirky tone represents the inmates and the guards. For instance, there's the plucked string rhythms representing the mouse ("The Mouse on the Mile", "Circus Mouse" (heard briefly in the trailer of K-Pax)), we seem to hear the Texan guitar quirkiness representing the state of Alabama ("Billy-Be-Frigged", "Limp Noodle", "Wild Bill", "Morphine & Cola", "Shine my Knob"), and we get lots of moody mystical music that's heard through Newman's typical lovely piano, strings and flutes ("Foolishment", "Cigar Box", "Boy's Eye", "Night Journey" and "Punishment"), including the occasional mystical piano work for the deeds John Coffey performs during his stay. The Green Mile is full of that, and it rarely unleashes us something larger than life, no matter how effective or lovely it seems to be.
I'm not saying I want Meet Joe Black larger than life, but The Shawshank Redemption was possible. And then we come to the realization that it lacks a theme or THE theme to hold on to. Somehow this theme could have stood for Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks character), the wards in general or even the mystery inmate John Coffey, but sadly that's not the case in The Green Mile, leaving the music to play a more background approach throughout the film and even on CD. The few moments it actually erupts into something you receive dark unnerving rhythms and ferocious percussion hits (nothing like Thomas Newman has done before) in "The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix", you get a powerful fanfare in "That's the Deal" and there's indeed a lovely finale with some beautiful (yet typical) Thomas Newman string pieces, bringing forth a main theme to be exact (where has it been all that time?). Overall it's perfect for the film, but does leave a bit to be desired on album, especially if you have to sit through 75 minutes of it (period songs included) to get to the really rewarding music near the end.
Track Listing
1. Old Alabama: B.B. And Group (0.59)
2. Monstrous Big (1.50)
3. The Two Dead Girls (3.02)
4. The Mouse on the Mile (1.30)
5. Foolishment (1.50)
6. Billy-Be-Frigged (2.08)
7. Coffey's Hands (1.58)
8. Cheek to Cheek: Fred Astaire (2.38)
9. Condemned Man (1.34)
10. Limp Noodle (1.03)
11. Scared of the Dark (1.03)
12. Wild Bill (1.15)
13. Cigar Box (1.50)
14. Circus Mouse (1.29)
15. The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix (3.49) Excellent track
16. Boy's Eye (0.55)
17. Two Run-Throughs (1.19)
18. Red Over Green (2.58)
19. I Can't Give You Anything But Love: Billie Holiday (3.27)
20. That's the Deal (1.37)
21. L'Homme Mauvais (2.21)
22. An Offense to the Heart (1.08)
23. Morphine & Cola (2.56)
24. Night Journey (2.12)
25. Danger of Hell (2.27)
26. Done Tom Turkey (1.00)
27. Did You Ever See a Dream Walking: Gene Austin (2.52)
28. Trapingus Parish (0.51)
29. Boogeyman (3.26)
30. Shine my Knob (0.54)
31. Briar Ridge (0.42)
32. Coffey on the Mile (5.12) Excellent track
33. Punishment (1.52)
34. Charmaine: Guy Lombardo (2.25)
35. Now Long Gone (1.08)
36. No Exceptions (0.57)
37. The Green Mile (3.38)
Total Length: 74.15
That gift ultimately led Darabont back at picking the same composer for the gig, considering Thomas Newman did such a remarkable job on The Shawshank Redemption. And even though The Green Mile is a perfect score for the film, it somehow never gets close to The Shawshank Redemption in terms of actual strength. Yes, The Green Mile's surely captivating and magical in its effect, but the beauty is far less apparent. And it doesn't have that main theme to tie it all together. The Green Mile's actually more content by playing it eccentric and quirky, until we reach that lovely finale.
The quirky tone represents the inmates and the guards. For instance, there's the plucked string rhythms representing the mouse ("The Mouse on the Mile", "Circus Mouse" (heard briefly in the trailer of K-Pax)), we seem to hear the Texan guitar quirkiness representing the state of Alabama ("Billy-Be-Frigged", "Limp Noodle", "Wild Bill", "Morphine & Cola", "Shine my Knob"), and we get lots of moody mystical music that's heard through Newman's typical lovely piano, strings and flutes ("Foolishment", "Cigar Box", "Boy's Eye", "Night Journey" and "Punishment"), including the occasional mystical piano work for the deeds John Coffey performs during his stay. The Green Mile is full of that, and it rarely unleashes us something larger than life, no matter how effective or lovely it seems to be.
I'm not saying I want Meet Joe Black larger than life, but The Shawshank Redemption was possible. And then we come to the realization that it lacks a theme or THE theme to hold on to. Somehow this theme could have stood for Paul Edgecomb (Tom Hanks character), the wards in general or even the mystery inmate John Coffey, but sadly that's not the case in The Green Mile, leaving the music to play a more background approach throughout the film and even on CD. The few moments it actually erupts into something you receive dark unnerving rhythms and ferocious percussion hits (nothing like Thomas Newman has done before) in "The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix", you get a powerful fanfare in "That's the Deal" and there's indeed a lovely finale with some beautiful (yet typical) Thomas Newman string pieces, bringing forth a main theme to be exact (where has it been all that time?). Overall it's perfect for the film, but does leave a bit to be desired on album, especially if you have to sit through 75 minutes of it (period songs included) to get to the really rewarding music near the end.
Track Listing
1. Old Alabama: B.B. And Group (0.59)
2. Monstrous Big (1.50)
3. The Two Dead Girls (3.02)
4. The Mouse on the Mile (1.30)
5. Foolishment (1.50)
6. Billy-Be-Frigged (2.08)
7. Coffey's Hands (1.58)
8. Cheek to Cheek: Fred Astaire (2.38)
9. Condemned Man (1.34)
10. Limp Noodle (1.03)
11. Scared of the Dark (1.03)
12. Wild Bill (1.15)
13. Cigar Box (1.50)
14. Circus Mouse (1.29)
15. The Bad Death of Eduard Delacroix (3.49) Excellent track
16. Boy's Eye (0.55)
17. Two Run-Throughs (1.19)
18. Red Over Green (2.58)
19. I Can't Give You Anything But Love: Billie Holiday (3.27)
20. That's the Deal (1.37)
21. L'Homme Mauvais (2.21)
22. An Offense to the Heart (1.08)
23. Morphine & Cola (2.56)
24. Night Journey (2.12)
25. Danger of Hell (2.27)
26. Done Tom Turkey (1.00)
27. Did You Ever See a Dream Walking: Gene Austin (2.52)
28. Trapingus Parish (0.51)
29. Boogeyman (3.26)
30. Shine my Knob (0.54)
31. Briar Ridge (0.42)
32. Coffey on the Mile (5.12) Excellent track
33. Punishment (1.52)
34. Charmaine: Guy Lombardo (2.25)
35. Now Long Gone (1.08)
36. No Exceptions (0.57)
37. The Green Mile (3.38)
Total Length: 74.15