One of many films inspired by Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, Farewell to the King was directed by John Milius (who co-wrote the most famous Heart of Darkness movie, Apocalypse Now).  If the film didn't exactly match Apocalypse for quality, what it did was give Milius the chance to work again with composer Basil Poledouris, marking their fourth collaboration (following Big Wednesday, Conan the Barbarian and Red Dawn).  

And what a score it is - containing everything Poledouris is so good at - epic themes, old-fashioned action music, tender romance.  Things aren't too promising to begin with, with the scene-setting "The Trek" featuring percussion and pan pipes and not much promise, but they get going in the main title (which is the second cue) with a wonderfully rousing theme.  The main romantic theme is introduced in "The War is Over", which also features a nice little Coplandesque nod.  

"The Battle Montage" heralds the arrival of the first real action music.  It recalls the thunderous stuff Poledouris blessed upon Conan and Paul Verhoeven's Flesh and Blood and is thrilling for sure, but one can't help but wonder what he was thinking about, putting music like that in a film like this.  It makes for fantastic listening, but it's real comic-book style and far from the gritty stuff you might expect from this score.  It also doesn't really fit in with the tone of the gorgeous romantic material - and neither, for that matter, does the ridiculous, jingoistic "Training March".

Despite the slightly disparate nature of some of the cues, this is still a great album.  Finding a copy is less likely than a resurgence in Poledouris's career (his movies haven't exactly been of the highest quality lately - since this, Lonesome Dove and The Hunt for Red October appeared in short succession in 1989-90, I don't think he's scored a film of quality at all) but if you persevere, you never know!  It's worth it.