Soundtrack Review
Entries from May 2008
Composer Lalo Schifrin's company Aleph Records has released his score for the 1983 Dirty Harry movie Sudden Impact starring Clint Eastwood. Here is the official press release:
FEATURING: Original score by Lalo Schifrin.
Entire original score never been released, only excerpts on LP.
For Lalo Schifrin, a decade had passed since his own last encounter
with Harry Callahan. … Lalo reported for duty in 1983, fully aware that
times—and musical tastes—had changed, and that he had to retain the
spirit of Harry while making him a more modern invention: a product of
a techno-age, where everything in movies seemed, bigger, louder, and
generally larger than life. With BULLITT in 1968, and DIRTY HARRY in
1971, Lalo had defined the sound of San Francisco. The glittering
canyons and raking tarmac hills had pulsated to hip grooves: a jazzy,
snazzy, bass-fueled back beat that was so cool you couldn't believe you
were hearing it, so much as dreaming it, living it, so deep into your
consciousness did it penetrate. … Ten years on, Lalo figured, Harry was
older, maybe wiser, maybe mellower. Maybe he was more studied, took his
time, thought things through. In SUDDEN IMPACT the score doesn't push
or propel, but supports, keeps Harry rooted, anchored, detached from
the madness surrounding him. And additionally, in keeping with the
subject matter, it's a tad gentler, and yes, even romantic at times.
Perhaps this would be Harry's last go-round. Find love with Jennifer
and hang up the big artillery. Sit back, take it easy, have a brew. –
Nick Redman
Aleph Records, has also released the scores for the first
three films of the series, DIRTY HARRY, MAGNUM FORCE, and THE ENFORCER.
The complete soundtrack to SUDDEN IMPACT makes its debut for the first
time to CD. With only excerpts released on the first DIRTY HARRY LP,
this is the complete score plus additional bonus tracks that has been
remixed from the original multi-track masters.
TRACK LISTINGS:
SUDDEN IMPACT
Sessions September 1983
At Warner Brothers, Burbank – Scoring Stage 1
Conductor: Lalo Schifrin
1 Main Title 3:20
2 Murder By The Sea 2:32
3 Too Much Sugar 1:36
4 Frisco Night 2:52
5 Target Practice 1:35
6 The Road To San Paolo 1:46
7 Remembering Terror 6:50
8 Cocktails Of Fire 2:20
9 Robbery Suspect 2:15
10 Ginley’s Bar 5:56
11 Another Victim 1:21
12 You’ve Come A Long Way 3:46
13 Darkness 4:12
14 Crazy 1:44
15 Hot Shot Cop 1:23
16 Alby And Lester Boy 2:03
17 The Automag 1:39
18 Unicorn’s Head 3:03
19 A Ray Of Light 1:02
20 Stairway To Hell 1:01
21 San Francisco After Dark
(End Titles) 3:24
Bonus Track
22 Main Title (Alternate) 2:49
CLICK HERE TO ORDER
Intrada has released a limited edition (1500) CD of composer Jerry Fielding's score for director Michael Winner's 1972 Gothic chiller The Nightcomers, a prequel to Henry James' classic ghost story The Turn of the Screw. Marlon Brando and Stephanie Beacham starred in the atmospheric film that raised eyebrows for its provocative sexual content. Here is the description of the CD from the Screen Archives Entertainment site: World premiere of complete original soundtrack from intense Michael
Winner prequel to Henry James' "Turn of the Screw", starring Marlon
Brando. Jerry Fielding makes rare foray into horror genre, spotlights
dynamic contrast between pastoral exterior of tale, violent interior.
Elegant brass & woodwinds assist in former, strings are heart of
latter. Fielding balances accessible harmonies for gentle scenes with
dark, cerebral ones for perverse behaviors, violence, then finally
turns score inside out with cold, atonal finish playing in total
opposition to prim & proper beginning. Brilliant! Intrada CD
presents entire score in sequence from original stereo session masters
in superb condition. Authoritative notes from Nick Redman, dramatic
graphics from Joe Sikoryak complete package. Jerry Fielding conducts.
Special Collection release limited to 1500 copies! - Douglass Fake,
Intrada producer
1. 1M1 Main Title 2:45
2. 1M2 The Smoking Frog 2:08
3. 2M2 Bedtime at Blye House 3:03
4. 3M1 New Clothes for Quint 0:36
5. 3M2 The Children’s Hour 1:22
6. 3M3 Pas De Deux 1:26
7. 3M4A Like a Chicken on a Spit 0:57
8. 4M1 All That Pain 0:59
9. 5M1/6M1 Summer Rowing 2:04
10. 6M2 Quint Has a Kite 1:01
11. 6M3 Act Two Prelude: Myles in the Air 0:55
12. 6M4 Upside Down Turtle 1:36
13. 7M1 An Arrow for Mrs. Grose 0:32
14. 7M2 Flora and Miss Jessel 1:12
15. 7M4 Tea in the Tree 1:02
16. 7M5 The Flower Bath 2:22
17. 8M1 Pig Sty 1:38
18. 9M1 Moving Day 0:55
19. 9M2 The Big Swim 3:32
20. 9M4/10M1 Through the Looking Glass 2:42
21. 10M2 Burning Dolls 2:07
22. 10M3/10M4 Exit Peter Quint, Enter the New Governess; Recapitulation and Postlude 2:01
Total Score Time = 37:53
BONUS TRACK
23. 6M5 Pub Piano 2:13 TO ORDER FROM SCREEN ARCHIVES CLICK HERE (For an extensive interview with director Michael Winner about the making of The Nightcomers, see Cinema Retro issue #2 in our back issues section.)
Following up from my review of This Island
Earth / The Day of the Triffids in Cinema Retro # 11, I’d like to also
highlight some other CD releases from excellent Monstrous Movie Music label.
The Blob (and other creepy sounds) 1958
(MMM1955) marks the world premiere release of Ralph Carmichael’s classic
soundtrack. The film is rightly regarded today as a piece of great sci-fi
hokum, and is particularly memorable for starring the very young ‘Steven’ McQueen.
The music stands up amazingly well, considering the tight budget aligned to the
picture was mostly devoured by the cost of color
cinematography. Carmichael certainly squeezed
every ounce of life from his relatively modest 27 piece orchestra and the resulting score remains a
real testament to the composer's talent. To capitalize on the film's intended teenage audience, producer Jack H. Harris insisted upon a pop theme song to
open the film. What emerged was the campy, if somewhat memorable, The Blob (written, believe it or not, by Burt Bacharach and Hal David!), recorded by ‘The
Five Blobs’. They were, in
truth, a simple gathering of session musicians lead by vocalist Bernie Nee. Nevertheless,
the song worked and helped contribute to the film’s general success, but not entirely
without negative consequences. The cheesy song negated some of the more effective technical aspects of the movie and put it firmly in the "guilty pleasure" category for all time. Fortunately, Carmichael’s
unused original main title ‘Violence’ is also included on the disc. With the inclusion of some Blob bonus material, the entire score for the
main feature runs for some 37 minutes and is undoubtedly a thoroughly enjoyable
listen. There is, of course, so much more to this CD than first meets the eye. With
almost 40 mins more devoted to such horror and B movie classics as The
Green Slime, Terror from the year 5000 and The Brain that Wouldn’t Die, there’s
certainly enough here to keep the most ardent of horror fan satisfied.
Incorporating works of such legendary composers as Roger Roger, Angelo
Francesco Lavagnino and Mario Nascimbene this is a must-have for any Blob-ophiles and other sci-fi and horror fans. CLICK HERE TO REVISIT CINEMA RETRO'S COVERAGE OF THE 2007 ANNUAL BLOBFEST!
The Intruder
You’d be forgiven if the early William
Shatner / Roger Corman collaboration The Intruder (1961) (MMM1956) had passed you
by unnoticed. It’s a film that is rarely seen these days, perhaps due to its politically incorrect theme centering on racism. Nevertheless, Shatner’s performance as the bigot Adam Cramer is regarded today as one of his finest. An unusual and
somewhat rare ‘serious’ film from Corman, it received critical acclaim upon its
release only to be handled like a disease when it came to the film’s distribution.
It’s a great shame in many ways, as this probably contributed to Corman giving
up on the idea of serious storytelling and returning to the relatively safe
surroundings of the his highly profitable exploitation movies.
Thus, it's a real treat be able to enjoy Herman Stein's score to the film. Best known for his scores for Universal horror films such as The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Incredible
Shrinking Man, It Came from Outer Space, The Land Unknown, Revenge of the
Creature and Tarantula, his work outside of the genre has until now been sadly
overlooked. Stein’s score opens dramatically alongside the introduction of the
film’s central character - a cue that immediately suggests a sense of menace. Yet Stein’s score
is as rich as it is diverse, and the composer makes clever use of woodwind to
illustrate Cramer’s disturbed state of mind. Stein utilizes
strings and a weary clarinet to draw on the tension between Cramer and
his subsequent relationships. The result is a refreshingly unpredicatable element to the score that evokes comparisons to Bernard Hermann's chilling work on Psycho and Cape Fear.
Cramer’s introduction is particularly chilling, and while it lacks the intensity of a Hermannn score, it succeeds on its own merits. (I confess to conjuring up images of Robert Mitchum's Max Cady from Cape Fear as this track played.) Bonus material on this well-produced
disc includes the composer’s complete score for Career for Two (1951) and an
additional selection of unused main titles and underscores. Considering Stein’s almost exclusive association with horror and sci fi scores, Monstrous Movie Music deserves credit for releasing this forgotten gem that amply showcases the composer's diverse talents.- Darren Allison CLICK HERE TO HEAR AUDIO TRACK SAMPLES AND ORDER FROM MONSTROUS MOVIE MUSIC'S SITE
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