The cinematographic scene develops in a place foreign to the Earth; it is a question of a planet species. The place more that lugubrious, it is practically terrifying, dark, there does not exist the any "sun", completely lacking in natural beauty. Those who come to the same one in a spaceship meet an unexpected, but not comforting situation, but everything opposite. They have to face a specimen or creature so horrible that it escapes to everything imaginable. The characteristics of this movie gave much that to speak in long time, since it was a question of a terror different from everything what had been seen up to this moment in relation to this topic. Obviously quite what develops in the movie, which is horrifying, has a musical fund much of according to it. In effect, there is much of the instruments of ropes, especially with "low" sounds, and in certain form of a slightly similar way with the movie "Shark". He films this one has been "Ally, the eighth passenger" (1979) and the composer who was after the same one was the North American Jerrald (King) Goldsmith, more known by his nickname of "Jerry".

This musician was born in California, Pasadena in 1929. It began to study piano at the age of six. The progresses were so big that the 14 were poured out to study composition and counterpoint with Jacob Gimpel and also and neither more nor less than with the Spanish Mario Castelnuovo - Tedesco (1895 - 1968). Then it deposited the University of the South of California and there it had as orientador to Miklos Rozsa (1907 - 1995), Hungarian musician, who was already taken root in the United States. The influence of this artist was so big that Goldsmith took the decision to specialize in compositions faced towards the celluloid.

What class of musician was "Jerry"? One who was adapting himself to all the styles and requirements. His creative capacity was real ly versatile, perhaps, like the remembered Chilean pianist Claudio Arrau (1903 - 1991), who declared in certain occasion "I do not understand how specializing pianists can exist". In effect, Goldsmith was resorting to the jazz, folk, symphonic music, the ethnic one and up to the modern synthesizer. Thus with basic fellow man, there could create rhythmic effects impactantes as also excellent melodies. Inclusive it went so far as to express in a surprising way that in the modern movies "too much music" was used and that the same one should be included in specific moments; for this motive musical "silences" had to exist for certain scenes. This is exemplified clearly in the movie "Patton" (1970), where, to sorrow that the whole movie lasts neither more nor less than two hours and fifty minutes, it is possible to time in whole only 30 minutes of music. Although this creator has composed music for "fantastic" movies of nature, thrillers and of action, in which big movements and spectacular nature existed ("The Prediction", "Star Trek", "The escape of Logan", "Ambience Zero", etc), was preferring towards character movies intimists, where the plot was located on certain personage. For this motive it had to "The island of the farewell" like his favorite musical creation. But it is necessary to clarify an important matter in relation to this composer, and the fact is that in his beginning it was faced towards the small screen, the television. It made be known in series as "The fourth dimension", "The Waltons", "Perry Mason", "The Agent of Cipol", The doctor Kildare (1961). With the step of the years Goldsmith returned to his "first love", that is to say, to the home-loving screen, like for example the series "Star Trek Voyager". It was nominated to the "Oscar" 17 times, and it was awarded in 1976 with the movie "The prediction".

The Goldsmith versatility has been of such a magnitude that he allowed him to be a teacher of the University of the South of California (UCLA) in a chair faced towards the music for movies. Also it has composed works out of the cinematography like being "Music for orchestra" with structure atonal and with text of famous writer Ray Bradbury (1920); also a ballet "To patch of blue", also, and for special order of the Symphonic Band of Los Angeles, "Fireworks", which he directed himself in 2002. One of his children (it had four), Joel Goldsmith, continues the traces of his father in the cinematographic musical world.

"Jerry" Goldsmith died in Los Angeles in 2004 at the age of 75 years.

Jorge de Hegedüs