Filmtracks Recommends:
Buy it... if you want the irresistible title theme that brought Jerry Goldsmith as close as he'd ever come to the sound of a vintage James Bond song. Avoid it... if the idea of hearing Goldsmith imitate Bill Conti's light rock style causes you significant consternation, regardless of the composer's safely standard rhythmic material for mostly synthesizers in the suspenseful half of the score. Filmtracks Editorial Review:
Rent-A-Cop: (Jerry Goldsmith) A "bad cop, good hooker" film fresh off the factory line, Rent-A-Cop really has nothing distinct to tell about it. A former Chicago police detective is kicked off the force after a sting goes wrong (but it wasn't his fault, of course) and he is forced to work as a department store security guard while masked as Santa Claus. That would be Burt Reynolds wearing the costume. And then you've got a prostitute with a heart of gold who is the only person who can help the cop solve the case that involves him. That would be Liza Minnelli with the shrill voice. The cop hesitates, the hooker persists, they both suffer from the same danger, and they're forced to save their lives together and bring down the stereotypical eccentric 'vice lord' and his criminal gang of thugs. There's no need to belabor the self-explanatory romantic aspect of the story. One of the only things that worked reasonably well for Rent-A-Cop is the on-screen chemistry between Reynolds and Minnelli (or Burt and Liza, as the movie poster said in huge letters), re-uniting as a couple on the big screen for a second time. Other than their strangely funny and enjoyable pairing, the film's ridiculously predictable plot left no other redeeming element to the production (unfortunately, director Jerry London's career would be littered with such entries). The only other exceptional aspect of the film would turn out to be the score by Jerry Goldsmith. Rather than hearing Minnelli sing (or screech, depending on your preferences) throughout the picture, listeners got Goldsmith music that stands some distance apart from the other works by the composer in the late 1980's. At the time, the film seemed like a completely unexplainable abnormality in Goldsmith's career, because despite the odd diversion for The 'Burbs that would follow a year later (understandable given that it is a Joe Dante film), the composer had spent the decade toiling with fuller drama, suspense, science-fiction, and horror. Meanwhile, Rent-A-Cop seemed like a project destined for the music of Lalo Schifrin, Burt Bacharach, or Bill Conti, someone who could infuse the score with the jazzy romance it needed while also throwing in some hokey pop action for the light crime thriller parts. Perhaps not surprisingly, that's precisely what Goldsmith wrote for the topic, though he did so while staying comfortably within the realm of his usual stylistic techniques of using a blend of synthesizers and orchestra. The most memorable part of Rent-A-Cop is the clear evidence that Goldsmith succeeded in writing the only true Bill Conti theme of his career. In fact, the jazzy, pop-based light rock theme that he provides is the closest thing his fans would ever hear to a Goldsmith-written James Bond theme of that era, and the idea remained a personal favorite of the composer for some time. Extremely dated in its early 1980's style, the theme was remarkably well-suited for the location and characters of the film. A whimsical piano and lofty, romantic strings set the mood before a solo trumpet enters to the rhythm of an electric bass, light percussion led by drum pads, and soft keyboarding. As the thematic performance lightly sways with elegance, a younger listener might have to look around and make sure he isn't standing in an elevator. Goldsmith does offer a little more muscle in the brass and drum hits in the theme's latter moments to give the music some genuine meat. The bridge section has an ascending progression that once again betrays the composer's excusable obsession with his eventual primary melody for The Russia House. People who search out the score are always seeking this theme, for it repeats three more times and prominently over the end credits. The score's darker half really isn't that menacing; how could it be after such a charming title theme? In "The Bust," Goldsmith establishes his suspense and villain's theme, a rather mundane minor third-constricted meandering of marginally creepy tones. Constituting these sequences is the electronic rhythm that pulses during the game sequences of Hoosiers, joined by a unique, sweeping 'swish' sound that crosses from right to left in the soundscape at an appropriate pace. The standard host of Goldsmith's usual sample collection enters the scene at various points of the rhythmic portions of Rent-A-Cop, accompanied by an interesting, slower, alien-like 'warbling' sound that bounces around in the background of later accelerated cues. The score rarely takes the action to the next level, with the opening blasts of horns in "Worth a Lot" similar in attitude to the concurrent Extreme Prejudice. A propulsive action cue is revealed in "Lake Forest," in which the tingling electronic rhythm is joined by a piano rumbling in deep octaves as well as a trumpet hailing over the top of the entire ensemble. Along with the addition of chopping strings to accentuate the underlying rhythm, this cue hints at ideas that would mature in Basic Instinct. Overall, however, the action material isn't as memorable as the highly affable light rock title theme. The action is airy enough to flow decently with the romantic thematic statements, so the album functions as a consistent and readily identifiable Goldsmith listening experience. A 1988 album presentation prepared by Goldsmith for release by Intrada Records included 35 minutes of music that emphasized the title theme's placements. Some uneven edits plague that product, including a sharp cut at 1:35 into "Jump," when two different recordings were awkwardly spliced (with outstanding sound quality cutting to a far weaker recording). The performances by the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, in a regular Goldsmith recording locale at the time, are not always perfect, but they're not as obviously bad an ensemble as some of the composer's fans have argued. After that album fell hopelessly out of print, Intrada acquired the rights to Rent-A-Cop to offer an expanded, limited successor in 2009. With the original master tapes in outstanding condition, the label was able to assemble the complete score in phenomenal sound quality, restoring many of the action sequences (including the climax) to the listening experience. Also featured are a couple of Christmas carols that Goldsmith recorded with the ensemble for use as department store source material, and both are nicely arranged and appropriately awash with reverb. Overall, Rent-A-Cop is a pleasing and lightweight album, and, especially considering that the 2009 album did not promptly sell out, a safe addition to any collection of Goldsmith music of the 80's. *** Track Listings (1988 Intrada Album):
Total Time: 35:37
Track Listings (2009 Intrada Album):
Total Time: 51:20
* arranged by Nancy Beach and conducted by Jerry Goldsmith All artwork and sound clips from Rent-A-Cop are Copyright © 1988, 2009, Intrada Records, Intrada Records. The reviews and notes contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Filmtracks Publications. Audio clips can be heard using RealPlayer but cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 6/27/98, updated 3/11/10. Review Version 4.1 - PHP (Filmtracks Publications). Copyright © 1998-2013, Christian Clemmensen. All rights reserved. |
1988 Intrada