The Killer Elite

Music by Jerry Fielding

 

 

 

 

The musical score of Killer Elite is one of the few virtues of this action-espionage adventure directed by Sam Peckinpah, notably in a bad period of his career.

Killer Elite has not yielded what could. Despite the good production, respectable cast and interesting story, the result was under average considering Peckinpah´s better days. For its turn, Jerry Fielding´s music shows as one of the most consistent elements in the production. Again using military percussion as a sound basis, the score goes for suspense, which reaches abstraction at times, as In the Limo and Crane Stance. The dynamism of Sailing to Suisun Bay and Mothball Karate are great moments with the sum of the melodic and climatic virtues of work. The score also includes the jazzy elegance of Hot Waltz on Thin Ice, big band in Club Sequence and Fielding surprises in musical richness even in an regular coutry-muzak as in Mack's Garage. Noteworthy is the plaintive and reminiscent main theme for trumpet (You're Back In), which symbolically concludes the latest partnership between Jerry Fielding and Sam Peckinpah.

 

The Outfit (1973) repeats the same inventive verve of other works of Jerry Fielding. Predominantly percussive and of rhythmic emphasis, the score has great moments, typical of the cop movies of the period, such as Corridor Hotel and Office Scuffle, where even the piano and plucked strings work in rhythmic effect. Tracks as the jazz-thriller (acoustic bass, military drumming) of Casino Heist or the abstract tension of Mansion Gates (nine minutes suite), are remarkable as great moments in cop movies and composer´s career. Also are included pop songs (Fielding´s originals) ranging from soul ballad (Quentin Blue) or slight country reference (Through the Fields of Summer). The Outfit accompanies the score for Point Blank in the Film Score Monthly´s CD.