The 1994 telling of the story of the James brothers (played this time by Rob Lowe and Bill Paxton) from director Robert Boris was the third film to feature a score by the excellent Mark McKenzie.  The western is one of those genres that often inspire composers to produce some of their finest works, and this is no exception - McKenzie crafted a strong, vivid work that leaves a huge impression.

The score can be divided into two.  About half is composed for a (smallish) orchestra, the other half for a very small ensemble.  Through skilful orchestration and possibly overdubbing, McKenzie does his best to make the small orchestra sound bigger, but alas budgetary constraints meant he wasn't really able to go to town, and the score's only real weak point is that the size of the ensemble just cannot do it justice.  This is big music, crying out to be performed by a big orchestra.  Anyway, the album opens (as so many of McKenzie's do) with a suite of the main ideas in the score, and it is a real treat, with both of the main themes getting full airings.  That said, you probably just can't beat the triumphant, thrilling arrangement of the main theme in the second cue.

The other half of the score is performed by recorder, guitar, harmonica, jug and arched string wire.  It's authentic-sounding, attractive and rather more successful than other (more celebrated) composers' attempts at the same sort of thing.  Not exactly essential listening, but most enjoyable all the same.

If only the budget had been larger, we could have had a real classic on our hands.  McKenzie has proved time and again how talented he is, and for my money Frank and Jesse could certainly be counted among his finest works.  Despite the problems outlined above, I can't help but strongly recommend this release.

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