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The dominant main theme is a pretty identity often carried by piano and adapted for the various moods of the movie without ever losing its positive and sensitive demeanor. The piano is supported by an orchestral ensemble containing strings, harp, flutes, and French horns, with everything other than the strings applied sparingly. The mix of the piano sometimes gives it the feel of a vibraphone. For minimal and unobtrusive contemporary styling, Williams also supplies percussion, acoustic guitar, and electric bass that add color in "Afterglow" and "Love Theme." He conveys the love theme right away in "Pete 'n' Tillie - Main Title," occupying all of the soundscape over a waterside metropolitan vista shot with the full credits. Everything thereafter is a variant of that lovely and easy-going idea. After the loungey attitude of "Afterglow," Williams picks up the pace in the chipper "Marriage Book," where he seemingly applies the flutes and horns for the respective lead characters, musically answering each other. More restrained keyboarding awaits in "Bedroom Scene" while the ensemble returns in full during "Vacation," affording perhaps the score's most appealing rendition of the idea. Williams heavily slows and darkens the tone in "For Robbie," marking the score's serious turn. This plodding sadness carries over to "Funeral" on piano and "Hospital," the latter striving for some string depth for redemption. With notable harp at its outset, "End Title & End Cast" builds through its length to provide a glimmer of hope for the two leads as they finally realize that they are destined for each other for better or worse. Only the latter half of this long cue was used in the film, with the swelling string rendition wrapping the movie with a sense of caring absent from nearly all the rest. Most of the aforementioned music is pointlessly missing from the film, Ritt allowing silence to diminish the emotional impact of the relationship as it evolves. Ultimately, only the opening and closing scenes have impactful music. Williams recorded a "Love Theme" arrangement targeted at an album release, with slightly greater depth to the instrumentals. A song version, "Love's the Only Game in Town," was afforded lyrics by Alan and Marilyn Bergman, and Matthau very badly performed it. (His singing is truly awful.) Burnett later sung her own cover of the song with better results, but neither version was used in the actual movie. While the Matthau song and the "Love Theme" floated about on a promotional record, Williams' full score wasn't released until a limited 2017 dual release with Stanley & Iris from Varèse Sarabande, sans the song. It's a more charming entry than the headliner on that product, its infectiously pretty melody conveying more heart than anything from the later score. Just don't expect to hear much of it in its film.  ***   @Amazon.com: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For John Williams reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.67 (in 90 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 3.54 (in 356,795 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.

Total Time: 18:44