 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I`ve always loved that film. I think it was the last acting role for Ronald Reagan and one of his very few bad guy roles. And the John Williams music, while not being groundbreaking, still was a solid 60s jazzy action score.
It would be a perfecet candidate for the Varese Club. IMO. Hopefully the master tapes still exist.
Here`s the end of the film:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5KgrC95gqU
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Criterion DVD has an isolated score + effects track (unfortunately it wasn't included in the recently released Blu-ray from Arrow).
So, i would think that the master tapes don't exist, because they would have used them for an isolated score without FX track.
(unless they found them lately)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Did Williams write main titles music and they substituted it, or he didn't write any at all?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
With the existence of the isolated score track, I would at the very least think an official soundtrack release is feasible. But I have no idea if any label has tried. Like all other unreleased Williams scores, this deserves to be out.
But as i've said it includes the FX too.
It's not an only music track.
So... it seems difficult.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Did Williams write main titles music and they substituted it, or he didn't write any at all?
The history of this film is rather interesting.
The film was originally a MADE FOR TV Movie for NBC, who felt it was too violent by the network and they rejected it
So the studio decided to release to theaters to recoup their costs.
Now the following is just guesswork..
After it was decided to make it a feature film, a new title sequence was commissioned and someone thought the music from TOUCH OF EVIL would work better then whatever Mr. Williams had done for the TV Movie tiles and since the studio owned it, it made it very easy to clear.
It's also very possible that there were some reshoots for the new version of the film and they pulled some cues by Fred Steiner they owned to cover this as well. This was fairly common practice at the time.
The song "Too Little Time", which was composed by Henry Mancini with lyrics by Don Raye as the love theme from The Glenn Miller Story, was sung in a new arrangement by Nancy Wilson for THE KILLERS.
The score to the film is sort of a Frankenstein-like creation, but there are some great cues by Mr. Williams such as the finale where pretty much everyone dies....
According to Director Don Siegel, it was the policy at Universal at the time to shoot the last scene of the film first. On that first day of filming, according to Siegel and Clu Gulager, Lee Marvin arrived late and had been drinking, but because he had no dialogue, the scenes were used as shot, despite the fact that when Lee Marvin shot down and falls, he was really drunk.
This is a great little "B" movie and if you haven't seen it, seek it out.
Ford A. Thaxton
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
