Spielberg and Williams felt that the thrill of the Raider's march would wear a little thin this time around and so Williams gets to be somewhat more creative with his action material. Indeed the theme appears only a handful of times which greatly increases its effectiveness. The opening cue starts with eerie unsettling high strings soon breaks out into an absolutely delightful scherzo as junior Indy attempts to take an artifact off a gang of mercenaries. The action is a lot more light hearted and less densely orchestrated than in either of the preceding films. Similarly, the Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra being a very transparent 6/8 chase cue which, as Spielberg says in his customarily generous liner comments, is equestrian sounding in nature and would be ideal for a horse race (although for a genuine Williams horse race cue, try The Reivers).
More than either of the other two, The Last Crusade plays out as a series of set pieces with each cue functioning perfectly within itself, while still contributing to the ongoing fabric of the score. Aside from the above scherzos are the comedic No Ticket, the exciting Belly of the Steel Beast - a nice companion for the Desert Chase from Raiders, even if it doesn't have quite the visceral impact, but is perhaps a more interesting musically. Other action highlights include Escape from Venice which is one of the few times where the Raiders March is used more extensively. The father and son relationship is given some witty counterpoint in Keeping Up with Joneses. The Grail theme itself is a pastoral melody that bears a striking resemblance to the liturgical melody from Goldsmith's Patton - a strange coincidence - but not enough to detract from it in any way.
The album and film end with a quite lengthy finale and End Credits containing both the Grail theme and an excerpt from the Scherzo for Motorcycle and Orchestra, sandwiched between the Raiders March. A smoother listen than the other two albums and while definitely lacking the visceral thrill of the other two, still a vastly superior action and adventure score again typifying why Williams is one of the top film composers around.
Rating ~ 