Lionheart was a big budget film. It was filmed in Hungary and Portugal, utilizing several castles and hundreds of Slavic children hired as extras. The film was Schaffner's penultimate film and represented the final collaboration between the director and his friend Jerry Goldsmith (together they previously worked on The Stripper, Planet of the Apes, Patton, Papillon, and The Boys from Brazil).
Music
In 1987 Varèse Sarabande released the soundtrack on two separate albums, with Jerry Goldsmith conducting the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra; in 1994 the label released a one-disc edition as Lionheart: The Epic Symphonic Score featuring all of Volume 1 and six tracks from Volume 2. Then in the summer of 2021, the complete score was released as “The Deluxe Edition” (on two discs).
Volume One
No.
Title
Length
1.
"The Ceremony"
2:42
2.
"Failed Knight"
3:18
3.
"Robert and Blanche"
3:49
4.
"Children in Bondage"
5:02
5.
"The Banner"
5:58
6.
"The Lake"
3:37
7.
"Mathilda"
5:57
8.
"The Wrong Flag"
3:16
9.
"King Richard"
8:34
Total length:
42:13
Volume Two
No.
Title
Length
1.
"The Castle"
1:26
2.
"The Circus"
3:07
3.
"Gates of Paris"
2:09
4.
"The Plague"
5:33
5.
"Final Fight"
3:13
6.
"The Road from Paris"
2:04
7.
"The Dress"
2:23
8.
"Forest Hunt"
7:45
9.
"Paris Underground"
4:09
10.
"Bring Him Back"
2:39
11.
"The Future"
5:45
Total length:
40:12
Lionheart: The Epic Symphonic Score
No.
Title
Length
1.
"The Ceremony"
2:42
2.
"Failed Knight"
3:18
3.
"The Circus"
3:07
4.
"Robert and Blanche"
3:49
5.
"Children in Bondage"
5:02
6.
"The Road from Paris"
2:04
7.
"The Lake"
3:37
8.
"The Banner"
5:58
9.
"The Castle"
1:26
10.
"Mathilda"
5:57
11.
"The Wrong Flag"
3:16
12.
"The Dress"
2:23
13.
"Forest Hunt"
7:45
14.
"Final Fight"
3:13
15.
"King Richard"
8:34
Total length:
62:11
Lionheart: The Deluxe Edition-Original Motion Picture Soundtrack Disc I
No.
Title
Length
1.
"The Castle (Main Title)"
1:26
2.
"The Ceremony"
2:49
3.
"Bring Him Back"
2:39
4.
"Failed Knight"
3:21
5.
"The Circus"
3:07
6.
"Robert and Blanche"
3:49
7.
"Bondage*"
1:51
8.
"Black Prince*"
1:55
Total length:
20:57
Disc II
No.
Title
Length
1.
"Children In Bondage"
5:02
2.
"The Future"
1:58
3.
"Gates Of Paris"
2:09
4.
"Paris Underground"
4:09
5.
"The Road from Paris"
2:04
6.
"The Banner/The New Court"
5:58
7.
"The Dress"
2:23
8.
"Mathilda"
5:57
9.
"The Plague"
5:33
10.
"Forest Hunt"
7:45
11.
"The Lake"
3:37
12.
"The Wrong Flag"
3:16
13.
"Final Fight"
3:13
14.
"King Richard/End Title (Robert's Theme)"
8:34
Total length:
61:41
previously unreleased bonus tracks sourced from reference materials as original master tapes were unavailable
Release
The distributor, Orion Pictures, delayed its theatrical release but when the film was finally shown in August 1987 in Canada, the limited release garnered negative reviews. Therefore, the movie was largely unseen until being shown on pay television and finally released on VHS tape and DVD.
Leonard Maltin's initial review was anything but complimentary: "A weak script does in this spiritless saga...Intended for kids, but too silly and boring to engage them." Maltin later saw the film again, and changed his rating from "BOMB" to 3-out-of-a-possible-4 stars: "Richly produced, well-acted, with a superb Jerry Goldsmith score; it's a shame this sincere, if slight, film received almost no theatrical release."[1]Variety's reviewer watched the film at the Cineplex Odeon Canada Square theatre in Toronto on August 18, 1987. The review appeared in the August 26, 1987 issue describing the movie as "a flaccid, limp kiddie adventure yarn with little of its intended grand epic sweep realized" and accurately predicted that the movie "should head straight for the home video shelves".[2][3]
Home media
Warner Home Video brought out a VHS tape in July 1994 and issued a DVD in December 2009 on the Warner Archives label.
See also
Nash, Jay Robert and Stanley Ralph Ross. The Motion Picture Guide 1988 Annual. Evanston, Illinois: CineBooks, Inc., 1988, pp. 165–166.
Weinberg, Marc. "Hidden from a Theatre Near You" in Orange Coast Magazine, June 1989, p. 248.
References
^Maltin, Leonard. Leonard Maltin's 2009 Video Guide. p. 807
^Variety's Film Reviews 1987-1988, volume 20. R.R. Bowker, 1991, unpaged but see August 26, 1987.
