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| Goldsmith |
Contract on Cherry Street: (Jerry Goldsmith) This
Columbia Tristar Television picture from 1977 may not be remembered more
than thirty years later, though it did leave a mark with collectors of
the music of Frank Sinatra and Jerry Goldsmith. Sinatra had been absent
from his usual acting roles for a few years, and his central character in
Contract on Cherry Street is a gritty cop on a mission for
vengeance on the streets of New York. Also starring Martin Balsam, the
crime film was well adapted from the novel of the same name and shot on
location. For Goldsmith,
Contract on Cherry Street represented
one of the veteran composer's last television films; only the series
"Masada" and an occasional theme here and there would remain for
Goldsmith in that media during the subsequent decades. It was a
particularly memorable full-fledged television film on which to finish
that aspect of his career, though, for his music for
Contract on
Cherry Street is very similar in style to many of his feature film
scores of the era. Throughout his career, Goldsmith was considered a
master in many genres, usually receiving mention for his Western,
science fiction, or adventure styles, but it is sometimes easy to forget
that he was also well practiced in the genre of police mysteries and
thrillers. From
Chinatown to
L.A. Confidential,
Goldsmith's cop thrillers included everything from swinging jazz beats
to the pace of tense, electrifying orchestral pursuits. The late 1970's
also happened to be a transitional period in Goldsmith's career, and the
changing style of Goldsmith's orchestral grit is clearly foreshadowed in
Contract on Cherry Street. With its fair share of murder and
suspense, the film called upon Goldsmith to create a tense, rocky
musical experience. Sharp rhythmic edges and poignant yearnings for the
age of noir sentimentality strike an odd balance in the score, looking
both back at some of Goldsmith's character theme sensibilities of the
Silver Age while definitely standing with a firm posture in the stalking
and killing scenes.
With multiple sides to the personality of Sinatra's
character in the story, the score understandably mirrors that split; the
piercing, staccato brass of the action plays opposite a melodic, though
short, swinging woodwind theme of lonely contemplation. In between is
edgy, testy, and sometimes ill-tempered underscore. It's not necessarily
thematic, but never is it reduced to mere ambience either. All three of
these basic ingredients can be heard in several other Goldsmith scores
(and thus there is never any doubt whatsoever in any cue that
Contract on Cherry Street is his work), and each is arguably
developed to a better extent in those other works. The main brass
rhythmic motif is an echo of the ripping, staccato theme that would be
enhanced for
Capricorn One the following year. Many of the
movement-related cues in
Contract on Cherry Street also
foreshadow
Capricorn One in their obvious tension and linear
form. The use of muted brass solos would eventually return in
First
Blood and
Rent-a-Cop. The theme of contemplation is also an
echo of other Goldsmith works, relating back to
Chinatown and, in
"Eulogizing," exposing that when performed by electric bass and
woodwind, it actually carries many similarities in progression and
melancholy attitude as the theme that Goldsmith would provide for
Alien Nation and eventually
The Russia House. This
secondary theme lacks, though, the gritty flavor that would have made it
more compatible with the rest of the score's material. Finally, the
music that lies in between these two easily identifiable styles captures
much of the same turbulence that dazzled listeners in
L.A.
Confidential, though the use of the deepest registers of the
orchestra, including the piano, is a better match for
Basic
Instinct. Together, these styles provide a glimpse into Goldsmith's
more subtle touch in the disturbing police thriller genre. The ensemble
is noticeably small in size, but an absolutely crisp recording is a
major plus. The limited Prometheus album is superior in sound to the
just previously released
Breakout, also by Goldsmith, and remains
among the label's better early club releases.
*** @Amazon.com: CD or
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| Bias Check: |
For Jerry Goldsmith reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.27
(in 121 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.3
(in 150,374 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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The insert contains lengthy notes (by Gary Kester) about the film and score.
A few of the track times listed on the packaging are incorrect, often indicating times that
are too short.
