 |
| Schifrin |
Rush Hour: (Lalo Schifrin) Buddy cop movies became
all the rage in the 1980's and 1990's, but few could match the awkwardly
appealing tandem of Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in the ultimate culture
mash of 1998's
Rush Hour. The Brett Ratner film was a monumental
success despite a rather shallow plotline, the humorous chemistry of its
leads yielding two major sequels over the following ten years and a
fourth film always waiting in the shadows. Chan is an inspector in the
waning days of British control over Hong Kong, tasked with solving the
mystery of cultural treasures stolen by the leader of an organized crime
group and smuggled out of the territory. The setting shifts to Los
Angeles, where he is teamed up with Tucker's hyperactive detective. The
two men chase around the city and finally reveal that the villain was a
former ally. Naturally, they then thrash his ass. The popular banter
between the leads extends to the soundtrack, on which they perform skits
in context and influence the many hip hop song placements with their
personalities. The original soundtrack album for
Rush Hour is
littered with these moments, but it offers only a minute of time to Lalo
Schifrin's main theme for the picture. The composer was no stranger to
both the pop culture detective element of this movie and the Eastern
instrumental influences. He saw
Rush Hour as an opportunity to
revisit the tone and style of his popular score for 1973's
Enter the
Dragon, and while some listeners may hear a fair number of
similarities between the two works, including the main melodies,
Rush
Hour lacks the outrageous spirit of its predecessor. One can't help
but grin at the primal yelling that opens the 1973 score, and while
Rush Hour does attempt to stir up some of the same engaging
spirit in its opening and closing cues, it does so with less effective
percussive means. The tone of the work clashes urban funk with Chinese
exoticism, both ends reaching far into the realm of stereotypes.
Standard rock elements are thrown up against traditional Chinese
instrumentation, with an orchestra beefing up the action and mystery as
necessary. The sound of this score is notably rough compared to the two
sequels also scored by Schifrin. Expect the recording to sound sparse by
design, the fuller passages having almost zero resonance of depth. The
action material is badly dated and often dissonant, as in "Chasing Song"
and "Hight Tension," and Schifrin offers really poor climax material in
"Carter Chases Clive" and "The British Menace."
Rush Hour 2,
thankfully, rectifies some of these problems for a more palatable
experience.
The narrative of the
Rush Hour score may suffer
from all the intermingling songs, but Schifrin's poor handling of themes
is mostly the issue. The main theme does dominate, but it's a bizarre
combination of two emotional elements: the hip coolness and swagger that
embodies the cops in its initial phrasing and the overstated orchestral
mystery in its bridge sequence that actually occupies far more time in
the overall length of the theme. The imbalance between the two halves of
the theme makes the whole identity awkward, especially as the mysterious
orchestral portion only once takes flight on its own. The primary
phrases debut at 0:26 and 1:10 into "Main Title" on electric guitar,
with the bridge sequence otherwise dominating. The theme bursts at 0:48
into "Lee at the Mansion" and is engrained in the action of "Battle at
Juntao's" without much cohesion until at 1:56 with the bridge sequence.
It's hinted late in "On Juntao's Heels," becomes slight at the start of
"Asian Art Convention" but offers the bridge twice in fuller tension,
returns with guitar defiance at 1:33 into "Sweet and Sour," and is
treated to an elongated version of "Main Title" in "End Titles," which
simply plays like a repeated cut that fades out in true 1970's fashion
at the end. Chan's character, Lee, receives ethnic Chinese material that
shares progressions and could be considered motific, hinted at the
outset of "Main Title," explored throughout "Lee Arrives in L.A.,"
rushed early in "Jumping the Bus," suspenseful early in "Lee at the
Mansion," and tender in "Lee's Sadness." An underutilized theme of soft
character for the kidnapped girl involved in the plot is heard on solo
winds in "Soo Yung's Theme" before turning big at 2:14. Frantic
fragments of this idea recur in "Soo Yung's Abduction" and sinister
shades early in "$50 Million Ransom," the latter seemingly twisting the
motif into a villain identity. Outside of these moments,
Rush
Hour is a score content to explore unconnected phrasing in each of
its major chasing cues. Schifrin also provides a variety of source-like
cues, as in "Won Ton for Two," "Greasy Egg Rolls," and "Chinese Street
Music," that really slow the listening experience on album. The composer
released a score-only album on his own Aleph Records label at the time
of the film's release, and it has never enjoyed the best of commercial
availability. While this presentation may retain some interest from
those enamored with Schifrin's somewhat inaccessible and dated action
styles and ethnic stereotypes, most film music collectors are better
served seeking the two sequel scores that offer better depth to the same
general formula. The original
Rush Hour score sounds like a work
composed and recorded in the 1970's, and while there's some charm in
that tactic, be prepared for it to grate on your nerves before long.
** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
The insert includes no extra information about the score or film.
