Superman III (soundtrack)

Main articles: Superman III and Superman music
Superman III
Soundtrack album by various artists
Released 1983
Genre Soundtrack
Label Warner Bros.
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Superman III: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, based on the film Superman III, features contributions by Ken Thorne and various artists and was released in 1983.

Contents

Background

As with the previous sequel, the musical score was composed and conducted by Ken Thorne, using the Superman theme and most other themes from the first film composed by John Williams, but this time around there is more original music by Thorne than the Williams re-arrangements. To capitalize on the popularity of synthesizer pop, Giorgio Moroder was hired to create songs for the film, though their use in the film is minimal.

Side A and Side B

Superman III was the first of the films to have a score and soundtrack on the same release. Side A was devoted to 14 minutes of Ken Thorne's score (including new material such as a comedic cue that corresponds with the opening slapstick sequence, a theme for Richard Pryor's character, Gus Gorman, and the climactic fight between Clark Kent and Evil Superman).

Side B was devoted to music by pop mogul Giorgio Moroder. He specifically contributed a synthesized version of the "Superman II March", but wasn't used in the film. He also created a new love theme for Clark and Lana Lang. He contributed three other songs that appear mostly in instrumentals in the film, the most prominent being "They Won't Get Me" for Roger Miller, which appears when Gus shows up in a baby blue ten gallon hat to bribe Brad with alcohol. A CD of this album coupled with the album from Superman II was released in Japan.

Percentage of Ken Thorne and John Williams' themes

According to the score analysis at supermancinema.co.uk, Ken Thorne contributed 66% of new material for the film, the remainder being derived from John Williams's themes. Lois Lane's theme is not present as she is not in the film for more than a few minutes.

Track listing

The track listings on the soundtrack[2] album are as follows:

  1. "Main Title (The Streets of Metropolis)" (5:23)
  2. "Saving The Factory-The Acid Test" (6:09)
  3. "Gus Finds a Way" (0:58)
  4. "The Two Faces of Superman" (2:50)
  5. "The Struggle Within-Final Victory" (4:16)
  6. "Rock On" - Marshall Crenshaw (3:35)
  7. "No See, No Cry" - Chaka Khan (3:18)
  8. "They Won't Get Me" - Roger Miller (3:20)
  9. "Love Theme" - Helen St. John (3:14)
  10. "Main Title March" - Giorgio Moroder (4:20)

Songs featured in the film but not on the official soundtrack

References

  1. ^ Allmusic review
  2. ^ "Rating: 2 out of 5 - Gone was the dynamic and astounding soundtrack of Superman and Superman II. In Superman III, Williams' brilliant soundtrack was nothing more than background music, practically wiped out by the beginning of this movie, in which all the action is occurring. During the movie, the audience is witness to more '70s music than anything else and the parts where there is a soundtrack, lacks in volume and power. It doesn't appear to work with the movie and is one of the many disappointments in this installment". Supermanhomepage.com. 2010-12-20. http://www.supermanhomepage.com/movies/movies.php?topic=m-movie3. Retrieved 2010-12-26. 
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