Buy it... only if you want the James Horner adaptation of the Prokofiev
cantata (large, Russian choral piece) used over the opening and closing
titles.
Avoid it... if you aren't inclined to seek a rare album in search of
the most extremely irritating, synthesized underscore of Horner's career.
Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Horner
Red Heat: (James Horner) You can summarize this movie
in just a few words, and most them would be "Arnold Schwarzenegger pairing
with James Belushi to bust criminal ass." Schwarzenegger is the tough cop
from Russia who's been forced to follow a criminal to Chicago, where
Belushi, the underworked slob of a cop, is his liaison to law enforcement in
the United States. It's another buddy cop flick from the pen of Walter Hill,
and while the merits of the storyline itself are dubious at best, who cares?
Schwarzenegger and Belushi are the comedy in and of themselves, and as they
chase dopeheads and other unsavory people, the two manage to teach each
other some helpful lessons about life and entertain us in the process.
Despite being one of the earlier films to shoot (just snippets) in the
Soviet Union, there is nothing intellectually redeeming about the film.
Violence abounds, of course, but in that comic-book fashion that
Schwarzenegger seems to attract in his more comedic films. Composer James
Horner wasn't actually busting through walls in the same physical fashion as
the eventual Governator, but 1988 was still his official break-throughout
year with which to announce that Star Trek, Aliens, and An
American Tail weren't just beginner's luck. With both The Land Before
Time and Willow proving to be orchestral powerhouses that would
define Horner's career for decades to come, Red Heat easily got lost
in the shuffle. That isn't to say that the score failed to cause plenty of
listeners to scratch their heads. The only really distinct cues in Red
Heat would be its two orchestral and choral ones, bookending the score.
They sounded nothing like Horner's other works, back then or a decade later.
The massive choral piece would be so different from the composer's career
sounds --not to mention the rest of Red Heat itself-- that it
remained a curiosity for many years. Even in the film, the piece remains an
over-the-top aberration in its late-night showings on cable channels.
Thank goodness for the learned ears of classical and
international music, however, for they eventually uncovered the origins of
the piece. Indeed, Horner had pulled the Russian choral theme from
Prokofiev's cantata, 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, and beefed
it up for good measure. The movement itself from which the music was taken
is called "The Philosophers," which once and for all answers why the mixed
adult choir performing the title theme of Red Heat keeps repeating
the word "philosophy" over and over and over again without any relation to
the film. What's even more unfortunate than Horner's rip-off of this theme
(not to mention his adaptation of it again much later in Enemy at the
Gates) is the fact that his underscore is extremely poor. Its existence
as an all-electronic score is not necessarily its downfall (that distinction
is reserved for Horner's Unlawful Entry), but its demise is instead
caused by its inability to maintain any consistency whatsoever. No thematic
integration, common rhythmic approach, or consistent use of instrumentation
is to be found in this highly modern music. After chase music pulled from
Gorky Park in "Russian Streets," random shakuhachi flute blasts
occupy "Victor Escapes" and an immature version of the descending note motif
heard in Clear and Present Danger is heard in "Tailing Kat." Ticking,
tapping, and occasionally blaring rhythms snare your attention with their
purely offensive texture, with "The Bus Station" switching background synth
rhythms so often that it boggles the mind. But nothing will prepare you for
"Cleanhead Bust," for which Horner loses all control of himself. The disco
beat in this cue, with wild electric bass and guitar performances
accompanied by sax, eventually yields to sound effects by the sax and bass
that can best be described as whale calls. It's extremely irritating and
perhaps serves as evidence that Horner sometimes drank his breakfast while
scoring Red Heat. Overall, since the revelation that the choral piece
in Red Heat isn't even Horner's own material, it can truly be said
that there isn't a single minute of Horner's music for this film worth the
search for the rare import album. Find the original Russian performances of
the Prokofiev cantata and forget this most unfortunate Horner blunder. *
"Side One" (19:40)
• 1. Main Title (3:00)
• 2. Russian Streets (1:35)
• 3. Cleanhead Bust (4:16)
• 4. Victor Escapes (2:53)
• 5. Tailing Kat/ The Set Up (7:55)
"Side Two" (24:30)
• 6. Hospital Chase (4:30)
• 7. The Hotel (6:21)
• 8. Bus Station (9:34)
• 9. End Credit (4:04)
Notes and Quotes:
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film. The album's track listings have meaningless distinctions between "sides" as an LP record would be split.
