Movie Wave Home
Reviews by Title | Reviews by Composer

A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

The only film that Jerry Goldsmith has scored in over twenty years to have won widespread critical acclaim, LA Confidential presented the composer with some unique challenges; director Curtis Hanson decided to use period songs as underscore over the majority of the movie's key scenes, meaning that Goldsmith was left with the task of trying to bind the rest of the film together.  Hanson wanted music that evoked the period but was also relevant and not distracting to the modern audience; as he always does, Goldsmith delivered, revisiting territory he previously explored in Chinatown.

The score album opens with the standout track, "Bloody Christmas", whose bleak violence is one of the highlights of the composer's 1990s output, a magnificent attack by the timpani and high strings to underscore policy brutality.  It works brilliantly in the movie and just as well on disc.  The rest of the score doesn't approach the sheer volume of that opening, but nevertheless remains a compelling portrait of despair and corruption.  There are actually several themes on offer; the most notable of all isn't actually by Goldsmith, who chose to work in Leonard Bernstein's theme from On the Waterfront, though the fact that Bernstein goes uncredited is highly odd.  Regardless, it works a treat, and has the desired effect of binding the film together.

Elsewhere Goldsmith uses a number of devices to heighten the suspense.  "Out of the Rain" is a wonderful piece of suspense scoring, with rumbling brass, electronics and percussion combining to furniture-chewing effect.  Goldsmith also uses an ingenious device, with tick-tock electronic rhythms accompanying a rolling piano and trumpet solos, mirroring Danny DeVito's character in the movie; it's used a few times through the score, such as towards the end of "Rollo Tomasi".  "Shootout" is a fine piece of action music, blissfully bleak; the composer's trademark low-end piano writing has never sounded better.  "The Victor" is a fine way to wrap up the album, with the main theme getting its fullest workout; another fantastic piece.

This is Goldsmith's least melodic score for a number of years and is very far-removed from the kind of romantic works he was generally writing at the time.  It's such a pity he doesn't score serious adult drama such as LA Confidential more frequently, but the fact that he doesn't means scores like this one are truly ones to savour.

Buy this CD from amazon.com by clicking here!

Tracks

1. Bloody Christmas (2:50)
2. The Cafe (2:20)
3. Questions (2:20)
4. Susan Lefferts (2:54)
5. Out of the Rain (2:47)
6. Rollo Tomasi (3:08)
7. The Photos (2:28)
8. The Keys (1:52)
9. Shootout (4:09)
10. Good Lad (2:19)
11. The Victor (2:32)