: (John Barry) You have to give the
filmmakers at least a little credit for figuring out what parts of
were going to sell with audiences. After all, a
film that was originally intended to be a noir thriller ended up relying
on Sharon Stone's breasts, Sylvester Stallone's bulging muscles, and a
myriad of exploding buildings to retain audience interest. It ended up
being an odd collection of different film genres rolled into one dismal
package. The cinematography and music had all the dark, seedy atmosphere
of a high class thriller from yesteryear, and yet the convoluted plot
and unenthusiastic acting (apart from James Woods, of course, who foamed
at the mouth in the role) had B-rated action film nonsense written in
every line. The plot involves Stallone as the ex-CIA bombmaker, Woods as
his former partner gone bad, Stone as a vengeful foe and friend of both,
and Rod Steiger as an unintelligible crime boss. Throw the Miami locale
into the equation, and the humid environment steams up the picture in
between scenes of spectacular explosions. One of the more odd elements
of
is the score by action and romance veteran John
Barry, who was within the final few years of the productive end of his
career. Critically acknowledged in several reviews, Barry latched
strongly onto the tense, seductive side of the story and wrote a score
for
that is, by almost all accounts, too
sophisticated for the film and therefore out of place.
By 1994, of course, the James Bond franchise was
stalled, though Barry had contributed to his own exile from the
franchise anyway by declaring the quality of the films to be poorer each
time (by the time he would reconsider, David Arnold was firmly rooted in
the franchise, and door had been slammed shut on Barry's return).
Nonetheless, Barry still had some Bond-style writing in his blood, for
The Specialist remains the closest Bond-like inspiration recorded
by Barry late in his career. Some fans have speculated that the score
for
The Specialist contains some of the sound that Barry might
have employed for
Goldeneye the following year, had he been
assigned to the project. Keep in mind, however, that unlike the Bond
films,
The Specialist was primarily treated as a darkly romantic
thriller, and so the level of action is held to a minority of the album.
In its favor,
The Specialist leaves behind Barry's lushly layered
strings that had redefined melodramatic romance on screen throughout the
1980's, so at the very least, the score has a sound largely distinct
from the stale instrumentation and/or orchestration of his concurrent
efforts. Still, every aspect of
The Specialist is trademark Barry
in its underlying rhythm and construct. The title action piece has the
snare rips and brass motifs straight from the Bond franchise, with more
suspenseful cues in the middle offering familiar meandering deep-note
piano performances and tingling metallic percussion that would yield
better results in
The Scarlet Letter the following year.
Far more intriguing in
The Specialist is Barry's
seductive love theme, which is performed generously throughout the
score; if a film were to ever over emphasize a theme in an attempt to
sway the entire demeanor of the film, it would be this one. Straight
from the echoing halls of Barry's well-respected, sultry
Body
Heat, the "Did You Call Me" theme (based on a song version in the
film) is Barry's response to Jerry Goldsmith's
The Russia House.
Featuring elegant piano (by Mike Lang, the same performer from the
Goldsmith score), lonely sax, stylish bass, and light percussion, the
theme slowly builds in its performances throughout the film until it is
joined by a brass-dominated orchestra (led by full-fledged noir trumpet)
with fantastic effect in the "End Titles." Unfortunately for Barry, his
ambitious "End Titles" performance of the theme was removed from the
film in favor of the vocal song, which prompted Barry to insult the head
of Warner's music department in a public interview. One other standout
cue in the score is "Ray Meets May at her Funeral," which offers a tight
crescendo of slightly dissonant choral layers, in the same style as some
of
Moonraker's choral use. Overall sound quality is strong, but
not quite as clear as in
Chaplin or his three scores in 1995. On
album, the score is has significant repetition, with some of the
suspenseful underscore perhaps unnecessary for inclusion. A song album
with significant cuts from Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine
include the opening and closing tracks from the score-only album, which
fell badly out of print and remains difficult to find. For Barry,
The
Specialist is a troubled, but ever intriguing effort.
**** @Amazon.com: CD or
Download
| Bias Check: |
For John Barry reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 3.85
(in 27 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.56
(in 26,876 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
|
