Buy it... if you're interested in a flamboyant, spirited, and diverse score that serves as Elmer Benstein's last great action and romance work.

Avoid it... if you prefer the tender sensibilities of Bernstein's low-key dramatic scores typical to the 1990's for the composer.

Bernstein

Hoodlum: (Elmer Bernstein) Several films have tackled Depression-era Harlem and its association at the time with lotteries and organized crime. Fans of Francis Ford Coppola's The Cotton Club from 1984 will recognize the basic plot elements of Bill Duke's Hoodlum from 1997, though the latter film views the demographics of the area from the perspective of its biggest players. The few wealthy blacks in 30's Harlem operated the "numbers," and, for the most part, the organized Sicilian mob that ran much of the rest of the city stayed out of that mix. But when Lucky Luciano and his henchmen begin to make a move on Harlem, they run into Laurence Fishburne's Bumpy Johnson character and a battle of guns and wits ensues. The film received a positive critical response across the board, with some claiming the film to be the best representation of the era since The Untouchables in the late 80's. Audiences never warmed to it, however, and among stiff competition in the late 1997 box office, Hoodlum soon disappeared. While composer Elmer Bernstein was still working regularly in 1997, his output was becoming more mundane. With almost all of his late scores rooted in the more intimate dramatic genre, it's important to recognize Hoodlum as his last large and boisterous effort. At a time when both Bernstein and John Barry were becoming all-too-predictable, Hoodlum was a remarkable surprise, standing as one of the more diverse success stories of the year in general film music. Bernstein's approach to Hoodlum is exactly as you would expect it to be. He uses his slight, retrograde dramatic sensibilities to infuse the film with a significant dose of sentimental, longing romance (a necessity for any good mobster film). Also present is the normal pinch of jazzy swing to the score's instrumentation and rhythm. But perhaps most notable is the healthy portion of rambunctious action material from Bernstein, something very rare for the composer at the time. The overarching tone of the score is stylish and entertaining, and will serve the interests of both longtime Bernstein collectors and listeners of the digital age searching for more diversity from the composer.

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While Bernstein's score to Coppola's own The Rainmaker in the same year would also feature a significantly jazzy approach, Hoodlum is a far more weighty effort (despite mingling with some of the same comedic passages from the other score). Bernstein's usual bouncy, upbeat rhythms grace several cues, and a slightly comedic motif does pop up now and again as the score's only true weakness. A sax, electric bass, muted trumpet, piano, and percussion treat the "Queen" character with a blast of cool air. A highly thematic score, many of the solos in Hoodlum will raise memories of Frankie Starlight; intimate performances on piano and woodwind here, however, are often followed by grand renditions of those themes by the sizable ensemble. This includes a healthy dose of brass, which is paired to good effect with Bernstein's usual ondes martenot; the sound of the synthetic tones as counterpoint to trumpet solos, as heard in the final score cue, is frightfully appealing. The glue that holds everything together, of course, is the piano, performing all the major themes and motifs throughout the score and assisting in the action cues with a rhythmic pounding in the lower regions. These darker sequences have a knack for maintaining the same elegance in their performances despite their mean intentions; some sequences, such as "Revenge," offer striking tones that seem to merge the comedic performances of grandiose orchestra hits from Bernstein's 1980's comedies with the ruthless progressions of, interestingly, Michael Kamen. Bernstein also interrupts "Goodbyes" with a seemingly obvious interpolation of Bernard Herrmann's famous Cape Fear theme, perhaps a nod to the score that Bernstein rearranged and recorded for the remake in 1991. One other notable cue is "From the Womb to the Tomb," which features a rousing return to the glory days of Bernstein's major Western works with a delightful explosion of spirit true to the genre. The album ends with a somewhat unrelated gospel performance of "Amazing Grace," though Bernstein finishes the vocals with a victorious ensemble crescendo of wall-shaking proportions. Overall, Hoodlum is both a competent and enjoyable score, and depending on your attachment to Bernstein's final score for Far From Heaven in 2002, Hoodlum may be the composer's last great work. ****   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

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For Elmer Bernstein reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.33 (in 18 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.19 (in 9,458 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.