I think it is the best of the four scores after Hitchcock unceremoniously dumped Bernard Herrmann as his musical composer after "Marnie" and on "Torn Curtain". (A jerk, Hitchcock was on that one.)
Funny how John Williams did this 1976 score right between "Jaws" in '75 and "Star Wars" in '77. Nice to do the last little Hitchcock movie between Spielberg and Lucas blockbusters,I guess.
It's an interestingly "mixed and matched" score for a Hitchcock film. Very angelic for the psychic scenes; a nice military march for Black's retrieval of the first diamond; a witty harpsichord for some scenes...
...and a main theme that isn't played in full til the very end of the movie, but recurs throughout, most magnificently on the overhead shot of the Mustang heading up the winding mountain road to its fateful rendevous.
To your question: there is no full recording of the score, but the "main theme" is available on an album filled with "Hitchcock main themes" for Herrmann ("Psycho") and non-Herrmann ("Topaz," "Frenzy") scores alike. It's out there.
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Beatowner
18 years ago
Yeah, it's a shame this one doesn't have an album of it's own. You'd think John William's wouldn't mind going back and releasing a cd for the last Hitchcock score ever. Maybe the recording didn't survive all that well?
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VinnieRattolle
17 years ago
If you know where to look, there actually are a few good bootleg copies of the complete score circulating on the net. It's rumored that the score's going to get an official CD release soon, but this may just be rumor.
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