In The Line of Fire is one of my favorite of Clint Eastwood's recent movies. He shows his age but that's on purpose. He still has that tough guy personae that makes him such an effective tough guy. I hadn't seen this soundtrack anywhere before and when I saw it, I figured I might as well try it. I liked the opening and end titles and some of the music in the middle was pretty good too but being so involved in the movie, I hadn't really paid close attention to the music. And now that I have the soundtrack, I am glad that I invested in the soundtrack. Owning a copy of The Untouchables soundtrack, I am only slightly familiar with Morricone's work, but having enjoyed that previous effort, I was looking forward to this one with great expectations and I wasn't disappointed.
On looking at the back of the CD, I was a little distressed to see tracks such as Arriving in L.A. listed twice and Lilly and Frank listed four times! Usually that indicates that the CD isn't very long and has a limited amount of music. However that isn't the case at all. I popped this thing into my CD player at work and gave it a whirl. The first rendition of Lilly and Frank is the version heard at the end. My two favorite and previously known tracks were right there in the beginning! The second, third and fourth versions of Lilly and Frank was what pleasently suprised me. It was the same theme played by a variety of instruments adding a little variety to each one. It is great to finally hear a good love theme in several different formats. As for Arriving in L.A., one version is when John Malkovich's character arrives in Los Angeles, the other is when the Secret Service arrives in L.A..
In regards to the other tracks, the syle of the music isn't like The Untouchables. The action is there but kept at a minimum, that is to say that although the music is tense and exciting, it doesn't overpower the rest of the action going on. The best part of the action music is Taking The Bullet which keeps the action going with a combination of strings and brass instruments and culminates to an intensity broken by the assassins bullet being fired. And the love theme is one of the best that I've heard come out of an action film in a long time. Sometimes the love theme is too mushy for an action film, but the style of this soundtrack is such that it fits in nicely with the rest of the tracks. Another good effort by Ennio Morricone that is worth looking into, but please note, this soundtrack is a about five years old now and it wasn't very popular at that time so copies have been in somewhat limited supply so be on the lookout.
Total time: 63:41
1: In The Line of Fire (2:18)
2: Lilly and Frank (3:59)
3: "Aim High" (4:19)
4: The Boat (2:07)
5: Leary's Shrine (2:03)
6: On The Rooftops (4:26)
7: Discovery in Phoenix (2:57)
8: Lilly and Frank (2:25)
9: Frank is Depressed (2:35)
10: Arriving in L.A. (2:34)
11: Lilly and Frank (1:43)
12: Telephone Call (3:29)
13: Dinner Date (1:57)
14: Frank (1:33)
15: Solving the Puzzle (1:42)
16: Another Telephone Call (4:02)
17: Dallas Recalled (3:06)
18: In The Park (2:06)
19: Taking The Bullet (2:36)
20: Arriving in L.A. (1:54)
21: Lilly and Frank (1:30)
22: Collage (5:15)
23: On The Trail (1:50)
Review copyright � 1997 Jay Tipnis. Comments always welcome!