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Review by Thomas Glorieux:

A pleasant family film based around the true story of a rookie pitcher reliving the dream he once had, the movie has all the right qualities. First of all with Dennis Quaid it has an actor which deserves more recognition, further the story itself pushes the light drama touches with the feel good attitude and in itself, its not about sport alone but more then just the dream above it. Also beside the many good things of the film is Carter Burwell's score, a name you easily wouldn't associate with a movie such as this. But he also scored The Jackal (an action thriller) and the recent The Alamo (John Lee Hancock's second movie with Carter Burwell after this one) and so Burwell is more adept at it then people simply figure out. The question is, with many composers you would get the larger then life attitude, with Burwell it all stays more restrained. The Jackal could have been a bombastic action score, but it didn't become one, The Alamo could have gotten more punch but it remained in a way restrained. And The Rookie could have followed the path of such excellent sports dramas as For Love of the Game and A League of Their Own but it kept itself a bit on the background, and for a special reason, that's why it received an Oscar consideration, making way for a promo of 20 minutes long, providing just a little more then the CD release promised of movie music. Burwell's score in the end has qualities and its all nice, but here you could say a more bigger tone could have done wonders, or at least at specific moments alone. The thing is, the trailer of the picture pushed a theme of The Shawshak Redemption into the mix, and strangely the main theme of Burwell is similar to that, but not that grand, so when you hear it in the film soft but sweet, it instantly recalls what could have been but what hasn't happened. Anyway, The Rookie is 20 minutes of restrained scoring, but works well inside the film as occasionally on disc, making the promo well worth seeking for the true fans of the movie.

The for your consideration promo contains roughly 20 minutes, divided into 5 tracks alone and starts with 'Track 1', presenting the pleasant flute melody and showing more American outdoor folk when guitar and flute together set the tone further. 'Track 2' presents the very subdued main theme on strings and flute and has an air of nobility to it until the guitar returns solo wise. 'Track 3' has the guitar and the main theme again and 'Track 4' has very light growing music that provokes a small sign of what it could have been, but it never explodes to a climax. The same for 'Track 5' but here finally it becomes a little more fleshed out, it never explodes but it presents a slightly better main theme performance of the music (still not reaching that one heard in the actual trailer itself, of Thomas Newman's score of course) and has some kind of celebration feel to it, returning at the end to the flute theme but only here performed by solo guitar. Together, its short and soft and doesn't make grand statements of whatever theme or music, but its just what you like about it that makes The Rookie still sweet and you kinda have to realize that the Oscar board considered it for that reason alone. The Rookie of Carter Burwell is proof that the composer has more then quirkiness or bleak underscore in him, and that his themes can make more impact when you actually hear them big. For Miller's Crossing, it worked big time and here you have the feeling that this theme could have made the day if only it received the momentum you feel it has inside of it. But altogether, its subdued but pleasant to listen to and I appreciate it for that alone. It isn't much of length, it sure isn't much of strength, but all the same I like the soft ditties and the tone of the score, showing more to The Rookie when you actually know what you're expecting.

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1. Track 1 (5.17)

2. Track 2 (3.46)

3. Track 3 (3.21)

4. Track 4 (2.27)

5. Track 5 (5.02)

Total Length: 19.58

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Carter Burwell ===

Original Soundtrack by Carter Burwell

Orchestrations by Sonny Kompanek