The Traveling Executioner

The quirky black comedy The Traveling Executioner reunites Jerry Goldsmith with filmmaker Jack Smight, for whom the composer delivered one of his greatest scores, The Illustrated Man. Created in the wake of masterpieces Planet of the Apes and The Mephisto Waltz, The Traveling Executioner captures Goldsmith in arguably the most experimental chapter of his career, forging oddball Americana melodies with the idiosyncratic spirit of outsider art: blues, Dixieland, and even carnival music collide to form an evocative pastiche of the post-World War I Deep South. Perhaps no other Goldsmith score embraces so many musical approaches and sensibilities. It's a bit too much of a crazy quilt to succeed on every level, but The Traveling Executioner remains a delightful portrait of a cinematic master with complete confidence in his own powers. ~ Jason Ankeny