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Point Blank/The Outfit (1967/1973) |
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Music by Jerry Fielding, Johnny Mandel |
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Click to enlarge images. |
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Line: Silver Age |
CD Release:
June 2002
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Catalog #: Vol. 5, No. 8 |
# of Discs: 1 |
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Released by Special Arrangement with Turner Classic Movies Music
The character of Parker has endured in the crime novels of Richard Stark (a pen name for Donald E. Westlake) for 40 years: a relentless, unstoppable thief typically seeking money owed him by the Mob. The character was most recently portrayed on screen by Mel Gibson as "Porter" in Payback (1999), adapted from the first Parker novel, The Hunter (1962). However, The Hunter was first filmed in 1967 as Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin as "Walker" under the direction of John Boorman (Deliverance, Excalibur).
Point Blank is a landmark of 1960s American cinema, a neo-noir thriller set amidst the steely, impersonal architecture of Los Angeles. The film was influenced by the French new wave, turning the book's simple story into a kind of avant garde fable that is possibly a revenge fantasy: Walker, shot and left for dead by his friend Reese (John Vernon), awakens to wreak havoc through the criminal organization that has wronged him.
Scoring Point Blank was Johnny Mandel, a widely acclaimed composer and arranger whose film credits include The Sandpiper and MASH. Mandel's score is a singular achievement: he uses the twelve-tone system of atonal composition not for shocks but for emotion in the style of Alban Berg, creating a type of trance-like cage in which Walker mechanically but artfully tears through the underworld. Combined with chamber-style accompaniments particularly for woodwinds (a Mandel trademark) and gorgeous, tonal variations for Walker's romantic relationships, the score has virtually no peers. FSM's premiere presentation features Mandel's complete work (including unused cues) along with source cues and Stu Gardner's "Mighty Good Times" from the film's nightclub sequence.
In 1973 M-G-M brought another Parker novel to the screen: The Outfit, starring Robert Duvall as "Macklin." The Outfit is the blue-collar '70s counterpart to Point Blank's arty sophistication: spare, gritty and naturalistic, as co-stars Karen Black and Joe Don Baker help Macklin fleece the Midwest Mob and avenge his brother's death. The score was by a veteran of '70s crime thrillers: Jerry Fielding, best known for his work for Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs). With his pulsating rhythms, avant garde sensibilities and jazz arranger's skill, Fielding excelled at the hit-and-be-hit genre, and for The Outfit drew upon his earlier "shades of black" score to The Mechanic. Unusually, his score for The Outfit features three songs, none of which are heard in vocal version in the finished film: an unused main title and two source cues. With country-styled performance by Steve Gillette, the songs add a sense of folksy compassion to the "Parker" aesthetic, and show a rarely represented, easily accessible melodic side of the composer.
FSM's "Parker" doubleheader is entirely in stereo (save "Mighty Good Times") and comes with an illustrated 24-page booklet. |
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Instruments/Musicians |
Click on each musician name for more credits |
For more specific musician lists for the scores on this album, go here: |
Point Blank |
The Outfit |
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Leader (Conductor): Robert Armbruster, Jerry Fielding
Violin: Israel Baker, Robert Barene, Arnold Belnick, Harry Bluestone, Henry Arthur Brown, Bette Byers (La Magna) (Marks), Bonnie J. Douglas (Shure), Henry Ferber, Elliot Fisher, Jacques Gasselin, Jack M. Gootkin, Janice Gower, Jerome Kasin, George Kast, Irving Bane Katz, Murray Kellner, Bernard Kundell, Marvin Limonick, Alfred Lustgarten, Joy Lyle (Sharp), Stanley Plummer, Lou Raderman, Sally Raderman (aka Sarah Kreindler), Nathan Ross, Henry L. Roth, Ambrose Russo, Myron Sandler, Ralph Schaeffer, Marshall Sosson, Spiro Stamos, Helen Tannenbaum-Katz, Marcia Van Dyke, Gerald Vinci, Heimann Weinstine
Viola: Myer Bello, Samuel Boghossian, Allan Harshman, Virginia Majewski, Reuben Marcus, Robert Ostrowsky, Paul Robyn, David Schwartz, Barbara A. Simons (Transue), Milton Thomas
Cello: Douglas L. Davis, Armand Kaproff, Raymond J. Kelley, Jerome Kessler, Raphael "Ray" Kramer, Frederick R. Seykora
Bass: Suzanne Ailman (Stokes), Raymond M. "Ray" Brown, Monty Budwig, George "Red" Callender, Charles L. Domanico, Arni Egilsson, James D. Hughart, Milton Kestenbaum, Abraham Luboff, Peter A. Mercurio, Keith "Red" Mitchell, Joseph Mondragon, Robert King Stone
Flute: C. E. "Bud" Shank, Sheridon W. Stokes
Oboe: Arnold Koblentz
Clarinet: Gene Cipriano, Dominick Fera, Joseph Soldo
Bassoon: Norman H. Herzberg
Woodwinds: Gus Bivona, Gene Cipriano, Robert Hardaway, Harry Klee, Arnold Koblentz, Don Lodice (Logiudice), Jack Nimitz, Hugo Raimondi, C. E. "Bud" Shank
French Horn: John W. "Jack" Cave, Vincent N. DeRosa, George W. Hyde, Arthur Maebe, Jr., Richard E. Perissi, Alan I. Robinson, Henry Sigismonti
Trumpet: Marion "Buddy" Childers, Maurie Harris, Carroll "Cappy" Lewis, Uan Rasey, George Werth, James C. Zito
Trombone: Francis L. "Joe" Howard, Richard "Dick" Nash, George M. Roberts, Thomas Shepard, Kenneth Shroyer, Lloyd E. Ulyate
Tuba: Mario Camposano
Piano: Artie Kane
Keyboards: Paul Beaver, William Mitchell Byers, Ralph E. Grierson, Artie Kane, Ray Sherman
Organ: Larry G. Muhoberac, Jr.
Guitar: Richard Bennett, Alton R. "Al" Hendrickson, Orville Rhodes, Trefoni "Tony" Rizzi, Thomas "Tommy" Tedesco
Harp: Verlye Brilhart-Mills, Catherine Gotthoffer (Johnk), Dorothy S. Remsen
Harmonica: Tommy Morgan, Christopher Steven Smith
Accordion: Carl Fortina
Drums: Hubert "Hugh" Anderson, Frank L. Carlson, Victor Feldman, Mel Lewis, Emil Radocchia (Richards), Charlie Shoemake
Percussion: Larry Bunker, Emil Radocchia (Richards), Kenneth E. Watson
Unknown: Robert K. Morris
Orchestrator: Jerry Fielding, Greig McRitchie, Leonard "Lennie" Niehaus
Orchestra Manager: Harry W. Lojewski, James C. Whelan
Supervising Copyist: Harry W. Lojewski
Copyist: Gene Bren, Jack Dulong, Willard W. Jones, Ray Mace, Donald J. Midgley, Edward E. Ocnoff, Randolph Joseph Rayburn, Fred Sternberg, Harry Taylor
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