1. Practical Magic – Alan Silvestri did his usual bang up job, but nobody seems to give a hoot about this score. It worked marvelously in the picture and the two tracks on song album give a hint. Oh, I hear people clamoring for Predator (Which is a hard listen for me) but I never hear anyone complaining about the unreleased score this film. What Gives?

2. Five Card Stud – All you mavens of AMC have seen this Dean Martin flick form the late sixties. IT also stars Roddy McDowell, Robert Mitchum, Yaphet Kotto and others. I didn’t need IMDB to tell me that it was Maurice Jarre who scored this classic, but what I do need someone to tell me is why I never hear anyone talk about it. It is masterful how he weaves the song crooned by Dean Martin into the main themes of movie. No release. No Chat.

3. Caine Mutiny – I have beaten this drum before, but a few more pounds won’t hurt. An awesome film with and awesome Max Steiner score. The whole mystery surrounding its non-release and the great nautical march tell me that we MUST have it.

So, I am much better now. What are some of your Odd Scores that we don’t know about.

Five Card Stud was a fairly good movie with a top notch score. Probably the main reason why nobody talks about it is because anyone who actually saw it in the theater has died of old age--cept for me and my sister. You are right about the composer. It was Maurice Jarre. No score was ever released because-- I think--the movie was a bust at the box office. But it had a good score.

The Caine Mutiny is the classic of all classics. I don't know anything about the "mystery surrounding its non-release", and if you do it would be nice if you speculated some about why the score was never put out on an lp. The only thing I know about the score was when I first began collecting soundtracks--yikes --several generations ago, The Caine Mutiny was considered to be one of the rarest soundtracks in the world. A soundtrack auction place down in Costa Mesa (RTS) had a standing offer of between $5000 and $10,000 to anyone who could sell them one of the orginal Lps of mutiny.

Some of the odd scores which no one talks about that come to mind for me are : The Stalking Moon. Music composed by F. Karlin (An old Gregory Peck western. Excellent movie;haunting music) And The Cincinnati Kid. Music by Lalo Schifrin.

Another score, another Western score at that, that's hardly ever discussed in any film score forum yet is a true stunner is Jerry Fielding's score for Lawman. From it's determined and unsettling Main Title all the way through the closing music, this is a top Western score on a level with Fielding's far more famous The Wild Bunch or Goldsmith's Western scores. What are the chances of Lawman ever seeing the light of day, perhaps as a Prometheus CD a la Bite the Bullet?

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Originally posted by Nicolai P. Zwar:

Another score, another Western score at that, that's hardly ever discussed in any film score forum yet is a true stunner is Jerry Fielding's score for [b]Lawman. From it's determined and unsettling Main Title all the way through the closing music, this is a top Western score on a level with Fielding's far more famous The Wild Bunch or Goldsmith's Western scores. What are the chances of Lawman ever seeing the light of day, perhaps as a Prometheus CD a la Bite the Bullet?

[Message edited by Nicolai P. Zwar on 10-13-2000][/B]

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I can think of several scores that are rarely if ever discussed.
One that used to blare throughout my home when I was a wee tike
(you know, shortly after Adam and Eve) was Malcolm Arnold’s
INN OF THE SIXTH HAPPINESS. My mother actually purchased
that lovely score. We also sometimes talk about TV scores, but I’ve
never seen VICTORY AT SEA discussed. It has just been
re-released. What a powerful score for a television (long running)
documentary. Such an intricate score for television is almost non-
existent now. Waxman’s powerful, melodic, and sad score for
MR. ROBERTS is rarely mentioned. Lalo Schifrin is discussed
often in relationship to his action scores like Mission Impossible,
Enter the Dragon, etc. However, one of his most subtle and
melodic was COOL HAND LUKE. A quiet guitar and a few gentle
strings score his main melody, and a theme that reflects the passage
of time is memorable.

I rarely seen Bill Conti discussed unless it is in relationship to The Right
Stuff. Maybe his hit ROCKY was too well-liked by the public to be
considered amazing; however, its strong, unique boxing music and
heraldic, heroic summons motif that ironically opens the movie to a
basic loser character reminded me to come back to my interest in film
music.

Joan, I'm with you there on the Bill Conti thing. NOBODY IN THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSE HAS EVER MENTIONED HIS BRILLIANT SYMPHONIC ONSLAUGHT WHICH IS F.I.S.T.! Or even The Formula.

Perhaps some day..........

I also really liked Waxman's musical solution in stressing the difficult struggle Burt Lancaster's character goes through with his addiction to alcohol. The one scene I have in mind is when Lancaster gives into his urge to drink the (wine?) bottle held in the kitchen cupboard. Waxman's music is very subtle and restrained initially, but as Lancaster's need for a drink increases, so does the music. The mounting, relentless tension of this piece kind of reminded me of SORRY, WRONG NUMBER, or even "The Creation" from THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN. Not in terms of themes or phrases, but stylistically. All three pieces have that rising intensity that reaches an unforgettable, shattering climax. Just amazing stuff.

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Originally posted by BMikeJ:
Music from Lawman turned up on Jerry Fielding Film Music Vol.1, a double CD from Bay Cities. A great score and an underrated film...

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THE MECHANIC (1970)
THE BIG SLEEP (1978)
STRAW DOGS (1971)
CHATO'S LAND (1971)
THE NIGHTCOMERS (1972)

NP : because I'm in a good mood I'm putting on another undisgusted composers music....