One-eyed Jacks/Friedhofer

KR20016 KRITZERLAND

Originally reviewed in 9-2010 this is an encore edition for those of you who missed this fine release. It is limited to 1000 copies so hurry before it sells out again. The review nor my opinion has changed. I’m including an audio clip of the main title.

Has there ever been a film made that stirred the pot more than the Marlon Brando, Karl Malden film One-eyed Jacks? Other than Cleopatra one doesn’t come to mind. Stanley Kubrick was involved at one point and fired, replaced by Brando. Sam Peckinpah was hired at one point to do the screenplay and he was let go. Louis L’Amour, Rod Serling, and Spencer Tracy have all been mentioned in regards to this film. Brando shot a five hour film used more film than George Stevens which I thought impossible and when Paramount took the film away from him and edited it down to a more manageable time for the viewing audience Brando was unhappy with the final product even though it had some measure of success at the box office. There are more choices of versions of this film than trying to decide which of twenty kinds of Folgers coffee you want. Did Friedhofer write material for a five hour film or not? According to the record producer of this new 1200 limited release 2 CD set, nearly sold out, whatever was written as it was intended to be heard by Friedhofer was made available on this recording. CD1 is the original album with two bonus cues and CD2 is the complete score 70+ minutes which includes 35 minutes of additional material.

The “Main Title” is instantly recognizable as classic Hugo with the brass chords, bongo drums, and then the romance of the string section. This is a theme that deserves to be on any western compilation you’re thinking about making. It is very well done. “The Kiss of a Scoundrel/Pursued by Rurales is a simple effective guitar solo with minimal backing from the string section almost putting you to sleep after a hard day at work, very much the western theme. Suddenly it changes to a bongo backed dissonant flurry from the horns to the end the track. “Toast to Friendship” is a long mourning clarinet solo which isn’t a memorable melody but certainly gets the attention of your emotion as it ends with a statement from the orchestra. “Seduction” revisits the main theme which is arranged in a lush romantic orchestration that Jackie Gleason would have approved of. “Finale” ends the film with the main theme again but very proud and majestic.

The alternate Main Title is not written by Hugo Friedhofer but is a Jerome Moross composition from his film The Jayhawkers. If your ears perked up and thought it out of place you get a gold star. The record producer Bruce Kimmel and liner notes author Nick Redman let it slip through the cracks and proper credit wasn’t given to Jerome Moross. My guess is that it was used as a temporary track as both films were released by Paramount. I’ve listed a recording of the theme but there are also others from Silva as they love to do compilation recordings. The alternate finale consists of three themes with long pauses between. The main theme is repeated with a smoother ending. According to Bruce Kimmel who produced the release-“they are a ‘hidden’ track added as a playful little bonus, for those completists who insist on every note of every source cue-including such nonsense in the body of the score is always a bad idea, IMO, unless they serve some real purpose. The guitar track ends abruptly because the guitarist just stopped playing-its source music and he was just going along until they had enough.”

The second CD offers the twelve tracks from the first CD and 35 minutes of additional material. Standing out is “Luisa in Love” a nice version of the main theme, warm and tender with the Friedhofer touch. The extra material is like your favorite toppings on your sundae, not essential but nice to have. I listened to the original LP for years so my ears had a bit of adjustment when the new material suddenly appeared.

This release is a nice improvement from the previous material we had available. While the remastering can’t turn this into a 24-bit/96kHz Chandos digital recording, an industry standard in my opinion, it is an improvement over what we had so I can heartily recommend this recording to you.

Discography of Recordings:

1….Original Soundtrack on Liberty LOM-16001(Mono) recording from 1961

2….Original Soundtrack from the Liberty LP remastered by Tsunami (TSU 0114)

3….The Main Title from The Jayhawkers. Paul Bateman conducting the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra (Silva# SILKD 6030), a two CD set.

Kritzerland KR20016-6

1. Main Title (02:28)

2. The Kiss of a Scoundrel / Pursued by Rurales (05:35)

3. Toast to Friendship (02:14)

4. Lonely Thoughts / Betrayal and Capture (04:07)

5. Escape (Parts 1 & 2) (01:56)

6. To Monterey / The Search (02:46)

7. Seduction (03:29)

8. Contrition (02:16)

9. To Point of the Devil / Gentle Visitor (04:24)

10. Dark Thoughts / Necklace and Idea (03:00)

11. Confession / Confidence Regained (02:50)

12. Finale (03:46)

BONUS TRACKS:

13. Alternate Main Title(theme from The Jayhawkers composed by Jerome Moross) (01:45)

14. Alternate Finale (06:44)

CD 1: Album Presentation

Disc/Cassette 2

1. Main Title (02:28)

2. The Getaway / The Kiss of a Scoundrel (03:54)

3. Pursued by Rurales (02:53)

4. Toast to Friendship (02:17)

5. Escape from the Cantina (02:16)

6. Lonely Thoughts / Betrayal and Capture (05:02)

7. Escape (Parts 1 & 2) (01:57)

8. The Search (01:37)

9. To Monterey (01:15)

10. Meeting After Five Years (02:00)

11. Meet My Family / Trouble Among the Four (01:39)

12. Luisa in Love (01:09)

13. The Seduction (03:31)

14. Contrition (02:16)

15. The Informer (03:12)

16. Dad’s Suspicions Allayed1 (01:55)

17. Dad’s True Colors (01:31)

18. To Point of the Devil (02:42)

19. Gentle Visitor (01:49)

20. Dark Thoughts / Necklace and Idea (03:04)

21. Prelude to Rape (03:26)

22. Luisa’s Confession / Confidence Regained (02:58)

23. Compulsion (03:17)

24. Adios Friend / Double Cross / The Ambush (04:34)

25. Confession of Love (01:33)

26. Chance to Escape / A Break for Freedom (05:19)

27. Finale (04:13)

CD 2: Complete Score

Total Duration: 02:01:07