Magnum Force / Caveman
Lalo Schifrin
Aleph
Lalo Schifrin's scores for the first Dirty Harry sequel ('73) and a prehistoric comedy ('81) couldn't be more different from one another. Moreover, they aren't guaranteed to appeal to the same set of ears. Fans of Schifrin's tough cop funk (Magnum Force, natch) might be tempted to skip his stab at big screen comedy, but they'll be poorer for it. Both scores are worthwhile for different reasons.
Magnum Force picks up from where Dirty Harry left off. What fans love about the original — restless percussion, rumbling bass lines, jazzy keyboards and dissonant strings — can be heard on Schifrin's score for the sequel. The powerhouse main title cut will rip your head off if you're not careful. It even has a killer drum break!
Like the film itself, Schifrin's score is a hair less abrasive and discordant than on Dirty Harry, but the sound is still fiercely aggressive. The name of the game here is action, not anxiety. Many of the 22 tracks bristle with balls-to-the-wall crime-fighting intensity. Like any crime soundtrack, however, there are soft moments, too ("Harry's New Friend" and "Warm Enough?").
A handful of these tracks appeared on Aleph's Dirty Harry Anthology and the similar set from Warner Bros. France. This CD from Schifrin's own label, Aleph, marks the complete score's long overdue release in any form.
With titles like "Stakeout," "The Pimp" and "Execution Squad" what are you waiting for? Get Dirty all over again.
On the flipside, figuratively speaking, is Schifrin's light-hearted orchestral score for Caveman, which starred Ringo Starr, Dennis Quaid, Shelley Long and Barbara Bach (who married Ringo after the movie was made).
The film's producers originally asked Schifrin to provide a score that would capture the movie's primitive, prehistoric setting, complete with weird sounds evocative of dinosaurs, etc. By the time filming was complete they indicated that it was a slapstick comedy. In turn, Schifrin figured a serious score would best bring out the comedic elements of the film.
As a result much of the soundtrack is sophisticated and sweetly melodic. It's an old school score that, not only quotes from well known classical pieces (such as the "William Tell Overture"), but also aurally depicts the action on screen. In other words, listening to the music is like getting the already non-verbal storyline through the abstraction of music. According to the liner notes, Schifrin turned to the classic silent film comedies of Mack Sennett and Charlie Chaplin for inspiration, and it shows.
The most memorable piece can be heard in the 10-minute title track suite. It depicts a campfire scene where the characters accidentally invent music by blowing in a gourd, beating sticks and singing / grunting / moaning wordlessly. It's the sound of cavemen getting a groove on. Fun and funny.
What makes this a distinctive Schifrin score? His great sense of rhythm and light orchestral touch as well as a melodic playfulness that rarely wins awards but works like a charm.
The film's director and co-writer Carl Gottlieb said it best: "With comedy, you want it to be hip. And if you're going to be hip, you've got to be cool. Lalo's music was both hip and cool." And, if you ask me, it still is.
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"Giorno di Notte"
