Public Enemies (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack album to the 2009 film Public Enemies directed by Michael Mann. The soundtrack was released under the Decca Records label on June 30, 2009, featuring original score composed by Elliot Goldenthal and licensed music from the 1930s and 1940s. The album received positive reviews from critics.
Elliot Goldenthal composed the film score in his second collaboration with Mann after Heat (1995). As Mann talked about Billie Holiday's from the onset, Goldenthal and Mann "sifted through tons and tons of American blues" even before the former began writing music. This "freed [him] from doing two jobsâÂÂwriting the source music and dramatic music at the same time". Goldenthal wrote dramatic music which did not necessarily sound like 1931 or 1933 but crosses various times. Unlike Heat, that had utilized electronics and processed sounds due to its contemporary setting, the score for Public Enemies had to sound acoustic, as the use of electronics or synth sounds make it inappropriate. For the most part, Goldenthal approached it with a classical symphony score, that was reminiscent of George Gershwin's and Ludwig van Beethoven's musical style.
Goldenthal commented that Mann "doesn't like too many twists and turns in the music's structure. He really responds to things that evolve very, very slowly. He wants music that the images, the edits, the dialogue can float above without it corresponding too much." He considered Mann's collaboration was highly iterative with the latter often suggesting unexpected musical ideas and Goldenthal responding with a range of musical textures and approaches. The score featured a mix of orchestral instruments, jazz ensembles and ethnic instruments to enhance the sonic palette and atmosphere.
Goldenthal wanted to describe the complexity of John Dillinger through music, exploring his inner turmoil and gregariousness. Musically, Goldenthal considered it as a reaction to how Americans perceive him. As Dillinger moves from one prison to another, "the music starts off with a moody sense of captivity and then goes into a sense of almost exhilaration" and Goldenthal wanted the audience to react to Dillinger as a "homespun, Robin Hood-type figure". The collision between Dillinger and the type of criminals that did not want to be really noticed, affected the music. Another important cue is Dillinger's death, where Goldenthal wanted to build that in a sense of an edifice in a city that made him an icon in the American fabric. FBI agent Melvin Purvis was described it a "patrician-type" where he was a good cop but forced to do things under the government stamp, while Baby Face Nelson was a bad criminal, and the "regal thing came out of the nobility good winning over evil at that point."
Steve Leggett of AllMusic wrote "Some soundtrack albums work all on their own apart from the film they were assembled to support, and some, of course, don't work so well stripped of the visual association. This one, thankfully, is haunting and memorable all on its own, flowing with own pacing and telling its own story, ending, in this case, in darkness and tears and Johnson's otherworldly slide guitar." Landon Palmer of Film School Rejects wrote "Perhaps most jarring, however, is Elliot GoldenthalâÂÂs score, which has moments of immense power, but comes and goes awkwardly and abruptly, taking one out of the experience of watching the film and making some scenes lose their intended emotional weight." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian wrote "There is a surging, sombre orchestral score by Elliot Goldenthal which channels the spirit of Bernard Herrmann's music for Taxi Driver."
Todd McCarthy of Variety wrote "Elliot GoldenthalâÂÂs brooding score combines with period music to create an effectively eclectic soundtrack." Bernard Hemingway of Cinephilia described it as "a score that resonates richly with the narrativeâÂÂs themes." Trevor Johnston of Time Out wrote "Elliot GoldenthalâÂÂs orchestral score strikes up to suggest some tragedy unfolding, but weâÂÂre just not swept up in it". Jonathan Romney of The Independent called it a "routinely lush score". Anne Thompson of IndieWire wrote "Elliot GoldenthalâÂÂs jazz-inflected score works to pump things up".
Credits adapted from liner notes: