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A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

After the success of A Fish Called Wanda, the same team got back together again for Fierce Creatures, amusingly called Death Fish II during its production.  Unfortunately, nothing in the film was remotely funny as its working title, and the director Robert Young was fired and replaced by Fred Schepisi for extensive reshoots.  The first thing Schepisi did was hire his favourite composer, Jerry Goldsmith, who probably never expected to find himself scoring a low(ish) budget British comedy, but that's life.  (Sadly, they haven't worked together since, their schedules never managing to combine well enough to allow it, meaning Goldsmith missed out on the chance of scoring the director's best movie, Last Orders).

Goldsmith's score is as low-key as they come, but also extremely charming.  It is a rare Goldsmith comedy score in that it doesn't attempt to accentuate the on-screen antics with "funny" music, but is content to sit back and let the film be funny by itself.  In other words, more Matinée than Mr Baseball. Unfortunately, the film wasn't funny by itself, because it was mostly infantile toilet humour, perhaps in a conscious attempt to appeal more to the US market.  This probably made it a far more entertaining album (Goldsmith is rather hit and miss when it comes to comedy) and the opening "Willa's Theme" is delightful, composed just for piano, electric guitar and synths, it moves along well and sticks in the memory.  And, amazingly, virtually every track brings a new theme, with the rumbling light jazz of "First Day" another highlight, as is the tender and surprisingly moving "The Funeral"; only Goldsmith could write such an emotional piece of music for a movie like Fierce Creatures, it really is beautiful.  Another charmer is "Trained Seals" with a lovely cello solo, quite delightful.  "Under Control" is one of the more bouncy tracks and seems to have an energy and excitement about it that makes it obvious what a good time Goldsmith had creating the score.  Everything gets wrapped up very nicely in the wonderful end credits suite, which covers several of the more important themes.

There was so little music needed in the film, and much of it was just short cues connecting scenes, that many of the pieces heard here were actually written by Goldsmith just for the album.  It is all terribly inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, of course, but strange though it may sound, Fierce Creatures is probably the most charming and infectious score Goldsmith's ever written.  To hear the lighter side of him (bearing in mind virtually everything he has written since has been for action thrillers), this is a perfect place to start.

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Tracks

1. Willa's Theme (2:10)
2. First Day (1:17)
3. Chores (2:17)
4. To the Zoo (2:07)
5. The Funeral (2:33)
6. Trained Seals (1:55)
7. Under Control (2:30)
8. Contact (1:27)
9. A Good Idea (2:13)
10. The Grave (2:04)
11. A Long Story (2:25)
12. You're Fired (2:07)
13. End Credits (3:34)