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A review by JAMES SOUTHALL

One of countless forgettable thrillers scored by Jerry Goldsmith during the past couple of decades, Malice starred Alec Baldwin (an extremely talented actor who rarely seems to get films worthy of his talents) and a pre-attractive Nicole Kidman during her dodgy perm days.  Directed by Harold Becker, photographed by Gordon Willis, written by Aaron Sorkin, featuring Anne Bancroft and George C. Scott, reading the credit list is in truth probably more exciting than watching the film, whose fairly hokey plot is far too convoluted to go into in any great depth, but essentially it's another retread on the old psychological thriller format seen in Cape Fear, Dead Calm and so many other films over the years.

The score opens with a lovely, beautiful main theme somewhat similar to the classic "Carol Anne's Theme" from Poltergeist.  Keyboards, strings and a female chorus perform a terrific lullaby, which somehow seems beautiful, tragic and (appropriately!) malicious all at the same time.  It's an ingenious piece.  The theme doesn't appear again in that form until the end of the final cue.  In between comes lots of action and suspense music which plays as a kind of lightweight Basic Instinct.  There are lots more synthesisers (though the orchestra still has the dominant role) and things take a while to get going (after the opening title the next piece of any particular interest is "Clues", a solid seven-minute piece of action music) so it's a fair distance behind that other, classic score - but then, I can't think of any modern thriller scores that aren't.  Another highlight is certainly the finale, the ten-minute "The Body", which has more excellent action music, along with a reprise of the lovely main theme.  

However, for its qualities (the two long tracks and the main theme), this score really does come off as a kind of poor man's Basic Instinct.  It's certainly better than the vast majority of film composers would manage for this type of film, but to be honest Goldsmith has written far better scores for the genre both before and since.  

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Tracks

1. Main Title (3:31)
2. A Lift Home (1:45)
3. No Friends (1:33)
4. With Malice (2:54)
5. The Handman (2:45)
6. Clues (7:15)
7. No Choice (2:39)
8. The Body (10:43)