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Review of Contract on Cherry Street (Jerry Goldsmith)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you can't get enough of Jerry Goldsmith's stylistic mannerisms of the late 1970's, for Contract on Cherry Street is absolutely saturated with them.

Avoid it... if you expect most of the basic rhythmic, instrumental, or thematic ingredients of this score to be equal to their equivalents in Goldsmith's feature films of the era.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

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.  ***

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 47:18

• 1. Main Title (3:57) • 2. Trickin' Along (1:18) • 3. Red Light (0:42) • 4. Equal Partners (2:58) • 5. False Arrest (5:09) • 6. Prowling (1:33) • 7. The Execution (0:52) • 8. Eulogizing (4:23) • 9. The Vigilantes (1:20)

• 10. The Deal (1:20) • 11. One Way Ride (4:59) • 12. A Dusty Death (3:17) • 13. Bird Watching (2:20) • 14. Trouble Downtown (2:18) • 15. Saturday Night Special (1:03) • 16. Breach of Contract (5:10) • 17. Finale (2:10)

NOTES & QUOTES:

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.

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The reviews and other textual content contained on the filmtracks.com site may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of Christian Clemmensen at Filmtracks Publications. All artwork and sound clips from Contract on Cherry Street are Copyright © 1999, Prometheus Records and cannot be redistributed without the label's expressed written consent. Page created 10/11/99 and last updated 6/14/08.