Well it isn't Petri talking. So Morricone has the problem and so do I. I was obviously looking at Elio's writing credits when I checked past composers. I didn't notice those came up first. I also ignored the documentary. With all this slop on my first listing perhaps I am too old to do this stuff. Perhaps some younger guy should try.
FSM has needed a series of threads like this for years, and I doff my cap to you, Henry, for taking it on and making it your own.
Any anecdotal evidence is prone to a lack of strict accuracy, but the gist is what matters to me. Before Morricone, Petri jumped from composer to composer like a hungry cat; once he'd worked with Morricone he stuck with him. That's what's important.
Whilst this specific thread is about INVESTIGATION and not FISTFUL, it seems to me that composers come up with a melody first and then surround it with harmony and effects to put meat on the bones. Having written the unusual background for the Guthrie song, Morricone then took everything but the melody and came up with a new one to perfectly match the background he'd already written. And a great one, at that.
I'm now going to hop along to your CALIFFA thread, because I can't wait to see what you think of that...
Well done for initiating this series, I hope it will encourage more film music fans to give some of EM's Italian scores a try.
Now we need somebody to do a series of the same for other brilliant Italian composers like Piccioni, Rustichelli, Nicolai, Lavagnino etc.
Dave
Yes indeed Dave it would be great to see ones on many of the great Italian composers only have a few scores from Rustichelli and Lavagnino,Seems like you are a great writer as for me I am hopeless.
I saw the film again last year on video, after originally seeing it in the theater in 1970 and watching it on cable 15 years ago. I haven't listened to the score apart from the film, and this most recent viewing didn't make me rush to obtain the CD. I'll make a point of paying more attention to the score during my next viewing (hopefully before another 15 years goes by).
Good luck in your worthwhile project. I am one of the many who have never quite "got" Morricone and who hasn't seen enough of his films to form valid judgments.
You say this music sets the tone. I sensed (chiefly from the odd instrumentation) that the tone was somewhat goofy, even cartoonish. I was expecting the scene to build to some sort of gag -- or perhaps a bit of horror (which is really a kind of gag). But perhaps I still don't get it. Tone can be a personal thing, and we are all conditioned by our previous listening and moviegoing experiences.
I've been fascinated with Morricone's music ever since his FISTFUL score was released by RCA on this side of the Atlantic (and I've heard the the Peter Tevis single that inspired the score before). Yet I have to admit that it is very much a love-hate attraction. Rarely am I every completely satisfied with any soundtrack album of his. Maybe it's because his bel canto melodies alternate with cues that are often astringent, dissonant and rather amorphous (something that he has in common with Georges Delerue at times). Many of his themes are repeated several times on a disc with only minor variations in orchestration, without any sort of development and synthesis. Often the orchestrations are, as John points out, quirky, exaggerated and cartoonish. Every time I buy a new Morricone release and listen to it, I swear that it will be my last Morricone purchase. Nevertheless there seems to be something that keeps drawing me back to his themes, a potential in his compositions that is never quite fulfilling but has me wanting to hear more.
Keep educating us, Henry. Your efforts are appreciated.
In 2006, the CBC ran a documentary called:The Power of Nightmares. The show was tracked with various music to great effect.
Among the titles there was: Paul Sawtell (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea), John Carpenter (Prince of Darkness), Brian Eno (Another Green World - "In Dark Trees") and most importantly Ennio Morricone : Le Trio Infernal, Ogro (very effective) and A Citizen Above Suspicion. The Morricone cues were the most effective in nailing the conspiracy and paranoia elements of the subject matter.
The music may sometime seem quirky I admit, but at the same time it fits the films to a tee. Somehow, the films would be incomplete without Morricone's deft touch.
Cheers!
P.S . Ogro was used as the trailer music for Bugsy. Very, very effective. Almost makes you want to see the film.
Thanks! Really cool info. The score was really landmark for him. But it seems to have faded off in prominence. Hell, I'm not sure how many know who Kafka is nowadays.
"Investigation" is one of only a few films where I have noticed the theater audience reacting to the music score. During the main title, people were abuzz with whispers, perhaps even annoyed, but by the end of the titles, they were stomping their feet to the insistent rhythm.
This is a score which took a few plays to grab me. My first exposure to it was the main theme Indagine as included on that wonderful 2LP set Un Film, Una Musica but on its own, amongst so many beautiful, melodic themes, it jarred somewhat.
Its variation Finale came next on another vinyl compilation and I never thought too much about expanding my exposure to this score, even when CD compilations replaced those vinyl tracks.
But when I went on an Ennio Morricone binge at the start of the decade (due 100% to the internet) then this was one (of many) scores I bought ... and, to my surprise, I found I picked to play it quite often. Its repetitiveness is what makes it so addictive.
I haven't bothered acquiring the expanded CD release as it appears to be more of the same but, who knows ... if it comes up when I'm in a spending mood.
I recall the film having a UK TV broadcast back in the 1970s or early 1980s (I didn't watch it) and whilst I'm not desparate to see it I probably would now if broadcast again.
I have known this score for quite a long time but only got a chance to watch the film last week. For those who weren't so lucky, this is an excellent political movie by Elio Petri with tour-de-force acting by Volonte. There is lots of dialogue, some if not most of it delivered in a theatrical, over-the-top manner, and it is all quite engaging, from the camera angles to the editing. Stylishly photographed. It must have been very difficult to find the right tone for this quirky movie, yet Morricone somehow nailed it. The music fits the movie like a glove, from the offbeat instrumentation to the insistent tempo. The first 10 minutes or so (the murder that ignites the story) are played without dialogue, with music and effects only. There is also an effective use of silence. To sum it up, I'd say this is top notch Morricone!
Petri doesn't make another move for the rest of his career without Ennio at his side.
An interesting reversal of the above is director Francis Girod. Girod started out using Ennio Morricone on his first films TRIO INFERNAL, RENE THE CANE, & THE LADY BANKER, then began to alternate with Pierre Jansen and Georges Delerue. From the 1990s until his death, Girod was alternating between Laurent Petitgirard and Alexander Desplat.
As much as he's done, Morricone can't score everything for everybody
Petri doesn't make another move for the rest of his career without Ennio at his side.
An interesting reversal of the above is director Francis Girod. Girod started out using Ennio Morricone on his first films TRIO INFERNAL, RENE THE CANE, & THE LADY BANKER, then began to alternate with Pierre Jansen and Georges Delerue. From the 1990s until his death, Girod was alternating between Laurent Petitgirard and Alexander Desplat.
As much as he's done, Morricone can't score everything for everybody
Very true! Not just Girod but a number of directors did not use Morricone again after a number of collaborations. The remarkable Marco Bellocchio, the famous horror director Lucio Fulci, Carlo Lizzani, Duccio Tessari and even the guy who discovered him Luciano Salce, who gave him his first assignment IL FEDERALE.
I've finally found proof that Elio Petri's 1961 L'ASSASSINO exists not just in cinema reference data! The beginning of L'ASSASSINO has been posted in YouTube:
L'ASSASSINO appears to have had a limited distribution in the U.S. in August 1965, then disappeared from circulation and to my knowledge never surfaced onto home video. The print quality looks fine, according to this clip, so it no doubt has been restored; perhaps there is hope that it'll arrive some day on Region 1 DVD?
This is Piccioni in a crime jazz mode, using the same big band sound that can be heard in ADUA E LE COMPAGNE, which he had recently completed about a half year prior (and also starring Mastroianni).
I've finally found proof that Elio Petri's 1961 L'ASSASSINO exists not just in cinema reference data! The beginning of L'ASSASSINO has been posted in YouTube:
L'ASSASSINO appears to have had a limited distribution in the U.S. in August 1965, then disappeared from circulation and to my knowledge never surfaced onto home video. The print quality looks fine, according to this clip, so it no doubt has been restored; perhaps there is hope that it'll arrive some day on Region 1 DVD?
This is Piccioni in a crime jazz mode, using the same big band sound that can be heard in ADUA E LE COMPAGNE, which he had recently completed about a half year prior (and also starring Mastroianni).
Very cool! ...and look at other those credits:
written by Pasquale Festa Campanile (who directed THE GIRL AND THE GENERAL, AUTOSTOP ROSSO SANGUE and WHEN WOMEN HAD TAILS), Massimo Franciosa (SEASON OF THE SENSES) and Tonino Guerra (Antonioni's and Francesco Rossi's writer)
Cinematograhy Carlo Di Palma (Antonioni's and Woody Allen's Cinematographer).
assistant director Giuliano Montaldo (GIORDANO BRUNO, MARCO POLO, SACCO AND VANZETTI, MACHINE GUN MCCAIN, GRAND SLAM)
I actually have the poster sitting around for this somewhere.
It seems when director Elio Petri approached Ennio with this film he explained that he never works with the same composer twice.
This update/thread bump is not about Morricone, but, rather, related to soundtracks from films directed by Elio Petri. Years prior to the Petri/Morricone collaboration, Piero Piccioni provided music for 2 of Petri's flicks, as mentioned in this thread above.
Quartet Records releases the soundtrack from L'assassino (1961):
Petri's earliest film now has its corresponding soundtrack!
Still haven’t seen this film, despite working through important films as voraciously as I can find them. I’m self-limiting to Blu-ray, though, which doesn’t help other than in restricting the amount of cash I go through.
as for me I am hopeless. 
