My Favorite Themes - Part XXVII

Score: Innerspace by Jerry Goldsmith

About the film: Cocky pilot Tuck Pendleton (Dennis Quaid) is miniaturized for an experiment. However, due to nefarious sabotage from outside forces, Tuck and his craft end up inside the body of hypocondriac Jack Putter (Martin Short). This is a pretty good comedy from Joe Dante with impressive visual effects detailing the inside of the human body and many funny moments.

Title: "The Cowboy". The villainous agent (Robert Picardo, in a ridiculous wig) is treated to an amusing Western theme that plays like a pastiche of Goldsmith's western scores: jew's harp, tambourine, guitar and synthesized whistling come together to create the tune (which bears a slight resemblance to his later Ray Patterson theme from The 'burbs).

Other themes of interest: There's a love theme on piano and electronics for Tuck and his reporter girlfriend Lydia (Meg Ryan) as well as an ethereal Star Trek: TMP-like motif for the inside of the body. A motif for staccato strings and harsh electronics emphasizes the danger that Jack faces, while a heroic melody appears on rising horns.

Availability: 25 minutes of the score were released on the now-prohibitively-expensive-but-hard-to-find-anyway Geffen Records soundtrack.