Press Release from Dragon's Domain:
Dragon’s Domain Records presents THE JERRY FIELDING COLLECTION: VOLUME 1, including music from four films in the composer’s extensive filmography, JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, A WAR OF CHILDREN, MR. HORN and the world premiere release of music from HONKY TONK.
Airing in 1974, HONKY TONK was directed by Don Taylor, written by Douglas Heyes, starring Richard Crenna, John Dehner, Will Geer, Margot Kidder, Geoffrey Lewis, James Luisi, Gregory Sierra, Dennis Fimple, Richard Evans and Stella Stevens as Gold Dust. HONKY TONK was a pilot film for a potential series starring Richard Crenna as ‘Candy’ Johnson, an Old West con artist who was out to fleece as many gullible cowboys as possible before moving on to the next town.
Released in 1971, JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN was written and directed by Dalton Trumbo, based on his own book, starring Timothy Bottoms, Kathy Fields, Marsha Hunt, Jason Robards, Charles McGraw, Sandy Brown Wyeth, Don ‘Red’ Barry and Donald Sutherland as Christ. From a pacifistic point of view, the film tells the story of a young soldier horribly maimed in the First World War. Joe Bonham (Bottoms) has lost his legs, arms and face after being hit by an exploding shell. The doctors, convinced that nothing can be done and that the unknown soldier has no capacity left to think or feel, decide to keep him alive in an isolated part of a military hospital. Slowly, incredibly, we come to realize that the soldier's brain is fully functional and that he's trying to work out where he is and what has happened... With JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, Fielding was able to repay the debt of faith he owed to Trumbo for recommending him years back to Otto Preminger for ADVISE AND CONSENT.
Aired in 1972, A WAR OF CHILDREN is set in the Northern Ireland city of Belfast, where it dramatized the turmoil between Catholics and Protestants in that very bitter time. Directed by George Schaefer, written by James Costigan and starring Vivien Merchant, Jenny Agutter, John Ronane, Anthony Andrews, Oliver Maguire, Aideen O’Kelly, David Meredith and Danny Figgis. Fielding's music for A WAR OF CHILDREN hints at the Irish locale and the British military presence but also focuses on the personal side of the story.
Airing in 1979, MR. HORN was a two-part, four-hour mini-series directed by Jack Starrett, written by William Goldman, starring David Carradine, Richard Widmark, Karen Black, Richard Masur, Clay Tanner, Pat McCormick, Jack Starrett, John Durren, Jeremy Slate, Enrique Lucero, Stafford Morgan, Don Collier and James Oliver. MR. HORN was the first of two competing biographies of the legendary Indian scout and gunfighter Tom Horn, played again later by Steve McQueen in the feature film TOM HORN. David Carradine plays Horn, Widmark as his mentor and friend, Al Sieber and Karen Black as Ernestina, Horn's sometime lover, whom he encounters again years later after his celebrated career as a Pinkerton detective.
Dragon’s Domain Records presents THE JERRY FIELDING COLLECTION: VOLUME 1, featuring music composed by Jerry Fielding for JOHNNY GOT HIS GUN, A WAR OF CHILDREN, MR. HORN and HONKY TONK. Originally released in the early 1990s by Bay Cities as limited edition compact discs, Dragon’s Domain Records is excited to bring these scores back to the marketplace, remastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland and THE JERRY FIELDING COLLECTION: VOLUME 1 also includes the world premiere release of Fielding’s music for HONKY TONK. The album includes liner notes written by noted author Jon Burlingame and reprises original album notes by Nick Redman.
