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Review of Shamus (Jerry Goldsmith)

FILMTRACKS RECOMMENDS:

Buy it... if you believe that Jerry Goldsmith could credibly whip up some urban coolness with electric bass and guitar alongside his synthetic keyboarding, but that blend is a little more bizarre than you may be ready for.

Avoid it... if convincing style is your target in any Goldsmith detective score, this one largely missing the mark because the tone varies between serious intent and parody as it tries to straddle musical genres.

FILMTRACKS EDITORIAL REVIEW:

Shamus: (Jerry Goldsmith) Designed as a vehicle for lead actor Burt Reynolds with hopes of a film or television franchise to follow, 1973's Shamus is a tough-guy comedy mystery with Reynolds as a very imperfect private detective. He is hired by a diamond dealer to investigate some stolen goods and finds himself entangled in an elaborate plot that invariably leads right back to the dealer. More importantly, the plot allows Reynolds to strut around New York and bust bad guy ass while bedding various women. The movie debuted just after he had notoriously posed for the centerfold of Cosmo magazine, so the hairy chest routine was obviously a major attraction. Unfortunately, after a promising opening sequence, the rest of the movie was a predictable bore, and it was shrugged out of the theaters and failed to spawn the desired television spin-off despite a pilot test. The movie came at a time when the music in gritty urban films was turning towards rock and funk, and while that influence definitely had an impact on the soundtrack for Shamus, the amount of music in the finished product is surprisingly minimal. Only about 26 minutes of original score was written by Jerry Goldsmith for movie, a huge portion of story's middle unscored and lacking even much source material. The composer was dealing with the industry-wide stylistic shift substantially caused by Isaac Hayes' award-winning score for Shaft a few years earlier. The end result of his attempt to meet the genre with this style yields a grungier 1970's version of Our Man Flint and In Like Flint, and it's not among Goldsmith's better sideshow ventures. The composer was perfectly capable of writing jazzy and bluesy music for the mystery and thriller genres involving detectives, but his attempt to strive further towards the funk realm simply sounds weird in conjunction with his own mannerisms. In a general sense, his approach to Shamus is fine, but his execution brought a slew of oddball instrumental contributors that don't gel at any time in the score. Adding to the frustration of this missed opportunity to generate a healthy dose of coolness is Goldsmith's rather limited and limp narrative, leaving listeners with a very short, head-scratching work best left in obscurity.

The composer's ensemble for Shamus is devoid of most of his typical orchestral elements, a string section combining with pop performers led by the pivotal pairing of electric guitar and bass. The strings aren't often layered with any complexity, but they sometimes pluck alongside the guitar. A harp, piano, and conventional percussion such as timpani and light chimes balance out the era's staples like the Hammond organ. Varied bongo and other drums are a common tool of rhythmic coolness. Most notably, synth keyboarding and other electronic elements are pervasive in portions, and they sometimes ruin the score in their attempt to bring quirky urban distinction to the soundscape. In a few cues, as in the latter half of "Surprise Visit," they're just too strange to tolerate, while at other times, as in electronic kazoo carrying the main melody in "Getting Acquainted - Part I," they are too impersonal. A uniquely upbeat motif punctuates "Surprise Visit," maybe for the villain mastermind, and the highly distorted, possibly echoplexed guitar twangs in this cue are incredibly silly; they carry over to ghost-like haunting atmospheres at the end. The pitch-ascending synth tones in "The Warehouse" are highly annoying as a sound effect for mystery. Because the work is so short, there's really only one theme and a lesser motif in its length. The main theme for Reynolds' McCoy character is comprised of an opening rhythmic riff and then the actual melody. The pairing is introduced by the rolling, jazzy riff at 0:20 into "Main Title" while the theme itself debuts at 0:39 on piano over this riff, a lonely but stylish identity with secondary phrasing at 1:00 that is more in tune with Goldsmith's lyrical mannerisms. A bevy of triangle and wood blocks preview the ambient percussion of The Public Eye in this cue, though in a much muddier environment. The theme dominates this opening scene as the highlight of the film, its secondary line returning for another pass later in cue. The riff turns highly metallic in "A Real Dog No. 1" before the main theme repeats on electric guitar, and that cue is reprised with only slight alterations (seemingly more prominent drums) in "A Real Dog No. 2." The main theme's riff shifts to upbeat keyboarding at the start of "The Warehouse," joined by timpani while the melody on top dances lightly on higher tones with string counterpoint.

Goldsmith's main theme for McCoy in Shamus continues to dominate as the character uses his fists and penis to assert his dominance. The riff then lets rip early in "Here I Come - Part II" with more varied drums and guitar, again followed by the theme bursting through on violins late with rambling pop instruments underneath. Goldsmith transitions the idea into a watery love theme in "Getting Acquainted - Part I" for plucked guitar, and light keyboarding carries it over for fluffy support in "Getting Acquainted - Part II" while secondary lines whimsically emerge under magical chimes. The theme combines nicely with the action in the latter half of "A Broken Limb," and the riff opens for the melody in "Stay in My Life" as a reprise of the love theme version, the interlude returning on strings for the sendoff for the idea. The synthetic keyboarding again akin to the kazoo in the middle of this cue is really alien-sounding, and one can suspect that Goldsmith should have stuck with the guitar performances instead. Aside from the main theme, there is a seldom-utilized action motif that opens "Here I Come - Part I" in its rising phrases of pure 1970's corniness. This material descends to closure at the end of "Here I Come - Part II" and returns with gusto for piano, strings, and percussion in "A Broken Limb," where disjoined action passages are interrupted by incongruent jazzy interludes. Still, if a Goldsmith collector were to select a track or two to represent this score as a whole, "A Broken Limb" would combine nicely with "Main Title" for a healthy nine minutes that may overstay its welcome even at that length. Overall, the score for Shamus is fairly listenable but has difficulty deciding if it wants to be serious or stray into parody, and Goldsmith blew a chance to write a truly cool contemporary character thriller. The composer certainly loved experimenting with his synthesizers and echoplex, but this score wasn't the place to go wild with such sounds. The score has only been released once on album, a limited 2021 Intrada Records CD that couldn't support its short running time and slipped out of print. The sound quality on the product is decent but not as vibrant as needed to really allow the solo guitar and bass to shine. The triangle is very oddly placed at the forefront of the mix in the opening track. The album is slightly out of film order for listening purposes, but that decision is applauded. Regardless, this music is a stylistic misfire despite having more potential to wow than a pillow full of Reynolds' chest hair.  **

TRACK LISTINGS:

Total Time: 25:46

• 1. Main Title (4:10) • 2. A Real Dog No. 1 (0:42) • 3. The Warehouse (4:06) • 4. A Real Dog No. 2 (0:50) • 5. Here I Come - Part I (0:28) • 6. Here I Come - Part II (2:22) • 7. Getting Acquainted - Part I (1:37) • 8. Getting Acquainted - Part II (1:31) • 9. Surprise Visit (2:14) • 10. A Broken Limb (5:03) • 11. Stay in My Life (2:25)

NOTES & QUOTES:

The insert includes detailed information about the score and film.

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