About the movie

12-year-old Josh convinces his 8-year-old brother Sam that he is actually a 'Strategically Altered Mutant', a Department of Defense creation with computer chips and electronic gizmos implanted in his skull. After lots of arguments with their divorced parents, Josh decides he can't take it any longer and steals a car and hits the road, and takes S.A.M. along with him. Odd and silly road movie for kids, full of unbelievable characters and story-lines.

Starring Jacob Tierney, Noah Fleiss, Joan Allen, Stephen Tobolowsky, Chris Penn, Martha Plimpton.
Produced by Martin Brest.
Directed by Billy Weber.

About the music

A great score! Newman really goes crazy on this one, creating an atmosphere that sometimes sounds like orchestral impressionism (track 14: Brothers) and sometimes more like experimental ambient (track 10: Bus To Canada), but the music is always inspiring and compelling. There's a lot of synthesizer-music on this one, but he uses this instrument in a way so highly original, that you tend to forget the electronic source of most of the sounds you're hearing and start dreaming away. Similar to certain tracks on Threesome, Those Secrets and The Player but at the same time unlike any of these scores. Actually, this is movie music unlike any movie music you've ever heard. Highly recommended. It takes a while getting used to, especially if your normal taste of movie music is the John Williams- or James Horner-type score for orchestra, but it's worth it, believe me. Track 9 (Toward The Settin' Sun), composed by Newman-collaborators Bill Bernstein and Bob Badami fits the atmosphere of the score perfectly, but you might consider programming this one out.

The soundtrack

Street date: July 1993.
Availability: out of print - buy it when you see it!

Track listing

1. Is You All A Problem - Main Title (1:39)
2. Night Drive (1:44)
3. Ouagadougou (1:49)
4. In Her Care (1:39)
5. Utah Proper (1:18)
6. Saltwater Palace (1:31)
7. Trains (2:42)
8. Same Wish, Same Weather (1:31)
9. The Drunks: Toward The Settin' Sun* (1:12)
10. Bus To Canada (2:38)
11. Orchard (1:06)
12. Targhee Pass (1:00)
13. Shuttle (:46)
14. Brothers (2:44)
15. Cold Corner (1:43)
16. Nowhere (:58)
17. Food And Gas (1:19)
18. End Title (2:51)