Buy it... only if you are an extreme enthusiast of both this film and Elmer Bernstein's quality comedy output of the early 1980's.

Avoid it... if you expect the mostly adapted music to play well outside of context, for the soundtrack on album serves only to make a person wish to view the film again.

Bernstein

Trading Places: (Elmer Bernstein) The early 1980's were a time when classic, timeless comedies seemed to grow in abundance, and 1983's Trading Places is among the best of that crop. Director John Landis built upon his bankability after Animal House to steer Trading Places to outstanding fiscal success with a script of societal commentary that is just as relevant decades later. Two cranky old owners of a commodities brokerage place a wager about the debate over "nature versus nurture," intentionally destroying the life of one of their rising young managers and replacing him with a street hustler to determine if the environment of their company is more determinate of success than the quality of character. Dan Aykroyd and Eddie Murphy are those who literally trade places, and a stellar secondary cast featuring Jamie Lee Curtis and Denholm Elliott achieved remarkable chemistry that led to equally successful feature comedy roles for most of them later in the decade. Landis' take on the script is sharp with socio-political commentary that speaks to universal stereotypes and remains funny to this day, though the charm of the villainous brothers played by Ralph Bellamy and Don Ameche keeps the environment light at every moment. Landis had long been an acquaintance and collaborator with composer Elmer Bernstein, and their work together on Animal House had contributed to the composer's type-cast as a master of parody and straight forward comedy. The early 1980's were dominated by such assignments for Bernstein, so much so that he eventually sought to write for a dramatic film free of charge to reclaim his glory days in the 1960's. While scores like Airplane! and Ghostbusters are clear reminders of the composer's ability to add laughs, the latter score especially soured Bernstein's opinion of the genre. That said, his work for Trading Places is untraditional when compared to its peers, serving as mostly an adaptation rather than an original composition. It was Landis who had conceived of using Mozart's overture to "The Marriage of Figaro" as the primary theme for Trading Places; he had used Mozart pieces in the past as source music to represent high class situations and determined that this comical spin-off of the same sound was perfect to summarize the stuffy atmosphere of the commodities brokerage (and that entire business sector as a whole). Outside of this main influence, Bernstein was also tasked with suggesting other classical influences without actually quoting them, and as a reward for his efforts, the composer was nominated in the later-retired "adapted music" category of the Oscars that year.

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For enthusiasts of classical music who also maintain a healthy collection of Golden Age film music, Trading Places will be a source of great humor. Bernstein expertly manipulates "The Marriage of Figaro" into a range of emotional applications, starting with an austere representation and eventually twisting it into variations closer to the realm of Carl Stalling cartoon music. But in addition to that, he references Edward Elgar's "Pomp and Circumstance" march, traditional jingles, a host of Christmas carols, and even some techniques of Golden Age film composers on his journey to poke fun at every element in the plot. This is definitely not a serious parody score; Bernstein clearly attempts to be funny and, for some listeners, may not succeed. There is very little original material to be heard in Trading Places. There is so much overt source usage that Bernstein's quasi-original material still only clocks in at just over 20 minutes (or upwards of 25 minutes if you include some of his own source music, including the Jamaican steel drum rhythm at the end of the picture). The actual score portion starts heavily with the Mozart and Elgar imitation or outright quotations; the first eight minutes are devoted to pumping up the class distinctions that will later be torn down. As that happens, a few snippets of original music do sneak into the score. Some of Bernstein's standard suspense material for his comedy scores makes an appearance, as does a pretty but inconsequential love theme on woodwind for the Aykroyd and Curtis characters. But in the context of the film, so many Christmas carols are applied to conversational scenes that the original portion of the score (which is by necessity chopped into very short cues) has no chance to accomplish much outside of maintain a basic overarching tone. The final cue returns to the Mozart quotations to bring this part of the soundtrack full circle. It took until 2011 before Trading Places received full treatment on album, and even then it's challenging to appreciate outside of context. The La-La Land Records presentation separates the score into 21 minutes of the original adapted material, 19 minutes of source music (most of which carols), and seven minutes of alternate takes of the first grouping. Even when arranged together, the original and adapted Bernstein music doesn't constitute enough meat to merit much excitement on album. The soundtrack is so inextricably tied to the comedy of the film that it inevitably makes you want to watch the movie instead of attempting to enjoy the music alone. Bernstein certainly succeeded at his task for Trading Places, and the album will bring a smirk to the face of anyone who fondly remembers the film (especially those who intellectualize such scores), but the limited product will appeal to only a small audience of Bernstein's most ardent collectors. ***   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.