This week on Film Score Friday, we take a look at 1983's The Right Stuff. Bill Conti received an academy award for this score. Conti was the second choice for this film after John Barry dropped out of the production. Conti nailed it.
The Right Stuff is about the early days of the space race. It follows Chuck Yeager breaking the sound barrier up through a number of manned missions into space. The film comes in over 3 hours and covers a lot of ground so anyone would be challenged to capture the right tone for the film. Conti pulls it off tremendously. The score matches every bit of the film's patriotic and adventurous tone. He inserts the theme of Wild Blue Yonder a number of times. It's appropriate for obvious reasons, but also fits given many of the characters are in the Air Force.
The score was not released when the film premiered. The Right Stuff was unsuccessful at the box office and the score was not officially released until 2009. It's a shame given the quality of what Conti wrote. You'll hear plenty of influence from The Planets and Holst. You can hear most in the first act of the movie and the influence of Jupiter. Conti captures the right patriotic mood for the film and does it with some great parts for the whole brass section.
Do you have the right stuff? Tell us in the comments what you think about this score.
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