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The Thomas Crown Affair on DVD
• "Stylish Romance" • Dolby Digital 5.1 More DVD info... |
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The Thomas Crown Affair on DVD
• "Stylish Romance" • Dolby Digital 5.1 More DVD info... |
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Original Review, by Christian Clemmensen
But beyond such reasons on the surface, why is this album a best-seller? In my opinion, the album for the new Thomas Crown Affair completely lacks direction and fails to provide a satisfying memory of the film for those who want to capture the allure the film as a listening experience. The album is a token effort to meet the demand of a mainstream audience that simply noticed the use of song and jazzy score in the film and thought it would be nice to own a piece of that. Unfortunately, the album lacks appeal for both crowds of soundtrack buyers; it doesn't provide enough consistency or length in songs, nor does it include more than fifteen minutes of oddly-placed score. The songs, though partially maintaining a bridge between the time of the original film and this new version, don't stand together as a strong foursome. The Sting performance is uninspired, the "Sinnerman" song from the Sixties, while providing the best memories from the film, crawls along for an unbelievable ten minutes. The two Caribbean songs that follow contradict each other. The Wasis Diop song is, arguably, the best selection on the album because it reminds us of the sultry romance of the film. Conti's score in the film is a complete disaster in parts, while strangely appropriate in others. The jazz effect works in certain scenes, but detracts badly from others. The album includes an odd assortment of 15 minutes from the score. And although it thankfully omits some of the most irritating selections from the film (including some of the very bizarre tapdancing and clapping from transitional scenes and the pseudo choral effect during the initial break-in), the album also fails to include the very best highlights. Some of the wind-surfing music is absent, as are the best performances by the brass (especially from the opening titles). The music that remains simply washes out. Without the best and most controversial cues from the film, we are left listening to the merely average loungy jazz sequences. The only stand-outs on the score portion of the album are the jazz and staccato piano performances. Otherwise, it passes by without notice or interest. Strange this is, especially for a score that was so prominent in the film. The massive sales figures of this album are quite puzzling if you try to rationalize them without taking into consideration the influence of the music on the screen. Personally, I believe Conti's music on the screen served only to distract from the sharp and sultry romance. In these regards, the songs functioned to a better end. On album, we really get neither. The songs conflict and the choice of score cues is simply baffling. Overall, the debate about the effectiveness of the score in the film will likely continue indefinitely, however I am sure that the mass majority of people will agree that the album is a total disappointment. With so many people purchasing the score in its first month of release, I suggest waiting a few more months until hundreds of copies of The Thomas Crown Affair begin showing up in used-CD bins in every store. Note: Conti pressed a promotional score-only release a few months after the release of the commercial album; look for a review below. * Review #2, by Danny Gonzalez
The Thomas Crown Affair: (Bill Conti) When I first heard that they were remaking the classic 1968 film starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, I was absolutely ecstatic about the idea. I enjoyed the original film dearly especially for it's visuals and Michel Legrand's surprisingly wonderful jazzy and inventive score. Which has pretty much worn out it's use on my cd player since Rykodisc reissued it on CD a couple of years ago. And I'm greatful for them for doing so. Fast forward to 1999, where Pierce Brosnan is in for Steve McQueen as Thomas Crown and Rene Russo is in for Faye Dunaway as Catherine Banning. Who was a perfect choice I might add and as radiant as ever on screen. Under the direction of the vastly underappreciated John McTiernan, who done some excellent movies like Die Hard, Predator and my personal favorite, The Hunt for Red October. As underrated as he may be, you can't say that when it comes time to choose a composer for his projects. He's had the talents of illustrious composers such as the legendary Jerry Goldsmith, Michael Kamen, Alan Silvestri, Basil Poledouris and Bill Conti scoring for him. And when it came time to choose one from the hundreds awaiting to be hired for this tough task, McTiernan reached back to his roots and chose Conti. Which was as much of a surprise and shock of the film music community and soundtrack collectors everywhere including this one. The more and see the finished product, many can't argue the fact that McTiernan made the perfect choice in hiring Conti and has written one the most easily enjoyable and commercial soundtracks in the 90's. After winning a much debated Academy Award for The Right Stuff, Conti work had suffered somewhat to the lack of decent projects. Karate Kid, Masters of the Universe and F/X are the exceptions. In between that time he scored a little known thriller called Nomads which ironically starred Brosnan and was directed by McTiernan. With the strength of that work, it's was really an easy choice since Conti provided the film with what it needed. A fun, hip and inventive score that perfectly set the moods and tones for the film. This limited promotional CD represents the brunt of his Conti's work in Thomas Crown Affair and for those people who really dissappointed with the commercial release, you'll wanna get your hands on this CD. The disc starts out with the two opening cues on the commerical album Black and White X 5 and Never Change is combined on the album, as it's Main Title. With 5 dueling piano opening and playful undertones, the theme for the illustrious self-made millionare Thomas Crown is established and appears in various guises throughout the rest of the score. Most notably in the cues "Closing the Gallery", "Catamaran", and "Glider". Closing the Gallery is the lengtheist cue on the disc at around nine minutes and underscored with a playful toe tapping, string led strings and brass and is finally capped off by nine rock guitar rendition of Crown's theme. To cap off his successful little heist. The top-tapping inonnvations are brought to the forefront in cues like "Haysticks", "Trojan Horse/Crown at His Office", "From the Horses Belly" and most of "Closing the Gallery". These cues are somewhat annoying and bog down the score a bit and at times, sounds like what James Horner did for The Mask of Zorro. Which isn't suitable for a movie such as this, but give Conti credit for trying something different and defintely quirky. But truely The score's best assest is the way he scores the budding romance between Crown and Catherine Banning, suspicious investigatior trying to catch him and instead begins to eventually fall in love with. Crown and Catherine Meet, which is called Meet Mrs.Banning on the commerical release set tone to for things to come with it's soothing strings, keyboard and trumpet solo. And the more romance to follow with cues like, "First Date", "Cipriani" (a lengthy five-minute cocktail piece)", "Bulgari Necklace" ("Cocktails" on the regular album) and the "Finale", which is a beaufiful and enchanting reprisal of the Crown and Catherine's love theme, scored for keyboards, strings, brass and finally capped by piano theme. Composer Jamshied Sharifi, who composed the score to the vastly underappreciated Muppets In Space, contributes three wonderful cues to perfectly compliment Conti's score. "Catherine at the Crime Scene" is definetly the best of the three, with it's 70's pop-techo like jazz and brooding trumpet solos. Other fun things on this album include latin-jazz redition of "Windmills of Your Mind" arranged by Chico O'Farrell, and is marvellous. Nina Simone's Sinnerman, which is ingeniously incorparated in the track "Returning the Monet" and adds the excitement. Finally, Sting's wonderful, jazz vocal rendition of "Windmills of Your Mind" caps off this exciting and very stylish album. ****
* Composed by Jamshied Sharifi
The insert notes for the commercial album include no extra information about the score. The packaging on the promo is sparse (white cover). | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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