The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973)

Limited Edition of 3,000 Copies.
Composed by: Henry Mancini

Few of Henry Mancini’s classic 1960s and ’70s scores are available in their original soundtrack recordings, as the composer typically re-recorded his scores for RCA Victor (concentrating on source cues and pop arrangements of themes). An exception was The Thief Who Came to Dinner (1973), released by Warner Bros. Records in its original film performance, and presented by FSM on CD in complete form.

The Thief Who Came to Dinner was a light comedy/suspense/caper film—exactly the sort of project that Mancini often scored for Blake Edwards. Mancini’s friend Bud Yorkin directed and produced Thief from a screenplay by Walter Hill (adapting a novel by Terrence Lore Smith). The film stars Ryan O’Neal as a charming, self-made cat burglar who takes to robbing wealthy Houston mansions almost for the fun of it; along the way, he falls in love with a beautiful socialite (Jacqueline Bisset) and outsmarts a well-intentioned insurance investigator (Warren Oates).

Mancini’s delightful, groove-driven score updates the composer’s classic light suspense/comedy sound from the 1960s (The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, Arabesque) for the “mod” era of the early ’70s, with electric keyboards and Fender bass adding a pulsating, modern component and “cool” moods to his flawless big brand brass and suspenseful strings. It has often been said that Mancini packed more melody into his bass lines than the typical composer did in an entire score; The Thief Who Came to Dinner is a perfect case in point, hooking the listener from the opening conga riff and maintaining interest as a masterful and enjoyable romp. In addition to the dynamic “heist” music (which grows out of the main theme) the score features a soothing love theme for Bisset’s character, catchy source cues and dynamic one-off Mancini score creations like the boogie-woogie “Tail Gate.”

This premiere CD of The Thief Who Came to Dinner features the Warner Bros. Records program followed by the rest of the score—previously unreleased score and source cues. Two early demos of the main themes are included as well. The entire recording has been newly mixed from the original 2” 16-track masters engineered by Dan Wallin on the Warner Bros. scoring stage (then known as the Burbank Studios scoring stage). The album is designed so that the tracks can be programmed in film sequence if so desired. New liner notes are by Scott Bettencourt and Lukas Kendall, giving FSM’s customary detailed information as to the production and the recording.

Tracklist:

The Thief Who Came to Dinner

Music Composed and Conducted by Henry Mancini

Theme From The Thief Who Came to Dinner 5:09
Love Theme for Laura 2:43
Tail Gate 2:31
Jackie’s Theme 1:45
Dog Eat Dog 2:19
Soft Scene 2:52
Love Theme for Laura (Reprise) 2:04
First Job 1:43
The Patter 2:58
The Really Big Heist 7:41
Getaway 1:52
Theme From The Thief Who Came to Dinner 0:38
Total Time: 34:39

Bonus Tracks

Trav’lin’ Music 1:04
First Job (Part II) 3:31
Late 1:13
The Meeting/Over the Fence 0:52
Settle Down 2:09
It’s in the Car 0:20
Watching Dynamite/Webster vs. Zukovsky 1:37
Two Knight to Pawn 0:28
An Honest Man/Sneaky Reilly/Lock Up 1:12
Don’t Worry/Webster Worries/Casing the Joint/Lake House 2:39
Ass on the Grass/The Big Heave 1:43
Love Theme for Laura (3rd Time) 1:10
Total Time: 18:21

Country Source Music

Houston by Night 1:46
At the Dance 0:32
Hank’s Square Dance 1:12
Total Time: 3:35

Demo Tracks

Ryan’s Theme 3:28
Love Theme for Laura 2:47
Total Time: 6:16

Total Disc Time: 63:13

Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)

Limited Edition of 2,000 Copies.
Composed by: Arthur B. Rubinstein

The collaboration between director John Badham and composer Arthur B. Rubinstein has yielded such excellent scores as Blue Thunder (1983), WarGames (1983), Stakeout (1987) and The Hard Way (1991). FSM proudly presents their first feature collaboration, Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981), in which Rubinstein makes expert—and affecting—use of Baroque styles to elevate Badham's superior adaptation of the stage play by Brian Clark.

Whose Life Is It Anyway? stars Richard Dreyfuss as a dynamic artist, Ken Harrison, who is paralyzed in an auto accident. Feeling his life is over without the ability to pursue his art, he goes to court for the right to die. John Cassavetes, Christine Lahti and Janet Eilber costar in this acclaimed film adaptation.

Despite the stagebound origins—and potentially downbeat subject matter—Rubinstein wrote a lively symphonic score bristling with energy. “Because the film is about life, I knew the score must reflect that,” Rubinstein says in the CD liner notes. “The music starts upbeat and it ends upbeat. In my own sort of strange dissecting of what the film was about, it was clear to me that it was about the life force, and Ken’s life force was sculpting. The intellectual side of my pea brain led me to Baroque music—Bach. Bach is, for me, the essence of structure, architecture, sculpture. His music is the embodiment of the life force.”

The concept decided upon, Rubinstein crafted a unique sound palette (eliminating flutes, clarinets and violins) and wrote in a variety of classical forms—passacaglia, gavotte, bourée and many others. But his adherence to these styles never gets in way of the music’s essential feeling or its sensitive support of the movie’s expertly crafted drama. The film was Rubinstein’s first major feature (he had scored television and smaller films beforehand) and it is easy to see how he would become so successful in the field—the score is not only terrific in and of itself as music, but is carefully designed (theatrically, emotionally, intellectually) to support a thoughtfully intimate story.

This premiere release of the complete score to Whose Life Is It Anyway? is presented in excellent stereo sound, with liner notes by Jeff Bond and Alexander Kaplan incorporating new comments by Rubinstein, who has graciously assisted with the production.

Tracklist:

Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Music Composed and Conducted by Arthur B. Rubinstein

Main Titles 3:08
Intensive Care 1:37
Trumpet Voluntary (source) 1:20
Baroque Sweet 1:36
Hand Job/Spills 2:38
The Diagnosis 1:06
You Eat the Pill/I Want You to Sleep 2:03
Montage (Sculpting Pat) 3:39
The Parting 2:14
Purple Pimpernel (source) 1:49
I Can’t Breathe 1:43
Nice Breasts 4:10
Dialysis 2:14
Candid Camera 1:28
Ken’s Studio 1:24
Art Thief 2:21
Find a Judge 2:52
Bad News in the Snow 2:53
Brave and Thoughtful Man 2:37
Don’t/Finale and End Credits 3:38
Total Time: 47:17

Bonus Tracks

Jump in the Line (source) 1:02
Hospital Lady (source) 2:46
Intensive Care (film version) 1:37
Main Titles (piano) 1:58
Montage (Sculpting Pat) (pre-recording) 2:40
Total Time: 10:13

Total Disc Time: 57:37