• Composed by Jerry Goldsmith
• La-La Land Records / 2013 / 76m (score 61m)

Jerry Goldsmith’s relationship with director John Frankenheimer was particularly sporadic; they worked together on two films in the 1960s, Seven Days in May and Seconds, but their paths would not cross again until 1982′s The Challenge.  It was actually the final completed collaboration – Goldsmith was attached to two of the director’s later movies, Ronin and Reindeer Games, but left both before recording a score.  The Challenge concerns two Japanese brothers in a blood feud after one abandons the traditional ways of the past, much to his brother’s disgust.  Frankenheimer was clearly trying to pay homage to Kurasawa and the like (even casting Toshiro Mifune), drawing upon all the strong traditions of Japanese cinema; but in truth the film really isn’t very good.