Search - Lalo Schiffrin :: Bullitt (1968 Film)

Music to remember McQueen by.

J. N. Marks | Near. . . Manicougan | 06/04/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, this is the theme music you will be thinking of everytime you see McQueen up on the silver screen. Even when he is kissing Natalie Wood in "Love With A Proper Stranger" you'll be asking yourself when he will pull out his pistol or ride off in his 1968 Ford Mustang.



The heart of this album is "Shifting Gears" because it leads into the famous streets of Frisco car chase scene that made this movie so famous. But you cannot forget the theme music that opens the film. There is a cool nonchalance about it that boils over into moments of heat but then, without much effort, drifts right back into a ruminating cool that was/is the perfect compliment to Steve McQueen's on screen persona.



Frankly, this is late 1960's acid jazz at its peak and somehow, after all of these years, it does not veer off into absurdity (or cliche) the way many of its contemporaries did. Who knows what will remain stylish several decades after its debut? Apparently Schifrin had good instincts. . . And while the movie's staying power has certainly helped the soundtrack one could argue rather persuasively that the music enhanced the film's reputation as well.



If you like greasy horns, clomping bongos, rolling maracca lines and lots of high hat stings accentuating the measures, this is your kind of music. It will make you wish you had your own cop drama where you had the time and money to become your own stunt driver.



Five stars. It's sinful pleasure."

The same problems facing every other Bullitt recording.

The Critic | Claremont, CA, USA | 05/13/2005

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Did Lalo Schifrin incinerate the original score to Bullitt? Because that's the only way I can explain the lack of a true to the film version of this soundtrack. Don't get me wrong, both this CD and the 12-track Warner Bros. release are exciting jazzy arrangements, but they are no closer to being the original Bullitt score than a high school marching band.



If you're looking for another pleasant arrangement of the classic score, purchase this. If you (like many other disappointed fans) are hoping to hear the menacing, thumping bass of the original "Main Title" as the camera pans across a darkened San Francisco, buy a copy of the film, because it's probably the only way you'll get to hear it in its original glory."

60's Brilliance in 2000 A.D.

Jason A. Levine | Seattle, WA USA | 09/19/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"One Word...BRILLIANT! Magnificent score, fabulous NEW recording and unbelievable reading of a true 1968 classic. This soundtrack was the pre-cursor to another of one Lalo's famous undertakings, that of DIRTY HARRY (1971) and the picture-filled liner notes tell you the tale of Lalo's unforgettable scores in all cases. As a new recording, you will be amazed...I mean, what made these 60s soundtracks so distinguishable were the SOUNDS of the instruments, let alone the actual notes they were playing. Well, rest assured, they've left every authentic element in tact, with the exception of the addition of Fine, True-Digital Fidelty..even the drums (which were clearly close and distance-miked) have that pure GROOVY feel...I can't rave enough about this. You can also find the Dirty Harry/Magnum Force collection available; that music, however, though beyond incredible, is from the actual movie (original recordings) and suffers from poor fidelity, 'fake' stereo imaging, and often over-modulated bass. BUY THIS CD...Relive the brilliance that was 1968 and long hail the grooviest film-scorer of them all...Rock on, Lalo Schifrin."