Touch Of Evil | Soundtrack Suite (Henry Mancini)

Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1958). Composed by Henry Mancini, Conducted by Joseph Gershenson, performed by the Universal International Orchestra.

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Music Awards:
- None

Playlist:
00:00 Main Title
01:52 Borderline Montuna
02:57 Flashing Nuisance
04:29 Something For Susan
05:03 The Boss
06:01 Rock Me Too Sleep
07:46 Background For Murder
10:15 Son Of Raunchy
11:08 Pigeon Caged
12:43 Blue Pianola
14:00 The Chase

Source:
Fresh Sound Records FSCD 2016

More Information:

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[jamesmonroe]

WOW!!! This is the first time I’ve really listened to this classic film’s score-Man, Hank Mancini could JAM with the best of them!!! Some of his BEST work can be found in this score!!! What a tribute to the genius that was Henry Mancini!!! One of the TRUE film/TV music for this jammin’upload!!!

[biancabarbasgrimiao]

Hi, Fred! Although Welles made this film without music ( he only had 850.000 to spend ), the Universal didn't like the result and made several changes, adding scenes ( directed by Harry Keller ), cutting others, putting credits at beginning and demanding a soundtrack. Welles didn't get along with the studio and filmed knowing that someone would change it. By letter, he asked Henry Mancini ( just an arranger who dreamed of being like Victor Young ) for a lot of Latin music, a little jazz and even rock. Far from Welles, Mancini preferred to do everything in the big band style, convincing, with large difficulty, the Director of Universal Music Department Joseph Gershenson to summon jazz musicians ( Shelly Manne, Milt Bernhard, Conrad Gozzo, Pete Condoli and Jack Constanza ) to help. Gershenson, grudgingly, took over the regency. Mancini said years later that the studio's changes made it all a little weird. But it was his first soundtrack released on disc ( by the small " Challenge Records "). Well, that's all! Thanks again, Fred, and nice weekend!!

[SoundtrackFred]

"Touch Of Evil" (1958) shows a thrilling story between the American-Mexican border, calling for Mexican police officer Miguel Vargas (Charlton Heston) and American police Captain Hank Quinlay (Orson Welles) to solve a crime but of course things are turning out differently as expected...
Often acclaimed to be one of Welle's most thrilling works (infront- and behind the camera), "Touch Of Evil" earned its place as a classic, which didn't lost a bit of its bite over the years.
The music was written by a relatively new kid in town, Henry Mancini. As Welle's wished, the composer didn't write a usual film score with incidental music, but one almost entirely being so called "source music" (music tracks, played on a piano or a radio that the film's characters can also hear and could react to). Mancini, being the right choice for songs and jazzy tunes, would be responsible for a lot of the movie's flair, which, thanks to a request by longtime friend of this page, Morlock we will enjoy today!

[ericseal]

Hello Fred! Thanks for posting Henry Mancini's masterpiece! A great soundtrack, and a great movie! I would give almost anything to go back to 1958, and see this in a theater, just to hear this swinging and powerful music!

[morlock]

YES!!!! Thank you my friend! I've been wanting this treatment for a very long time. I love Mancini's early stuff when he plays around with percussion. Here is where it starts with Latin Jazz and Rock n roll. This is a blast to listen to and must have been a lot of fun to record. Rock Me To Sleep is such a wonderful concoction to listen to (kinda like some of Badalamente's efforts during Lynch's best years) as is Raunchy. A very un-noir soundtrack for a great noir film.

[JohnInTheShelter]

A brilliant score. Mancini is sometimes dismissed as 'the guy who scores those Blake Edwards movies, " but like the very best film composers he really thought out his approach to each movie. This one combines the music in the world of the movie AND dramatic scoring. The music really elevates the movie. I wish he'd written a 'straight' score for Welles--imagine if Mancini scored THE TRIAL, or CHIMES AT MIDNIGHT.

[Owlzindabarn]

I've never heard this isolated. Still relatively early in his career. I can hear his growing interest in rhythm and percussion. He is experimenting a little. Scores from just a couple years later are a lot more confident. He is on his way to becoming a master. But here is where the inspiration begins...

[robertcohn]

Just had to say that this music was so good I had to play it twice. You can really hear traces of the theme from "Peter Gunn" sprinkled through some of the tracks. Thanks for posting this.

[TheDejael]

Recorded in 1957 at Universal Studios Sound Stage, with the 40-piece Universal Studio Orchestra. Mancini's first film under his new independent contract, and his last at Universal where he had worked since 1952. One of the greatest Film Noir movies ever made.

[miltonabbiati]

Grande Fred.👏🏻
Trascinante Henry Mancini.👍🏻
Il film l'ho visto molto poco.
È liberamente tratto dal romanzo "Badge Of Evil" di Whit Masterson.
Nel 1993 è stato scelto per la conservazione nel National Film Registry della Biblioteca del Congresso degli Stati Uniti.
I primi tre minuti del film sono girati senza tagli, con uno dei piani sequenza più famosi della Storia del cinema. L'azione è ripresa in uno spazio molto grande, in cui viene presentato l'antefatto (la sistemazione della dinamite nella macchina) e tutti i personaggi principali del film.
Le riprese si sono svolte negli Universal Studios di Hollywood e in esterni a Venice,  California, la maggior parte dei casi con un grandangolo di 18, 5 mm.
Quando fu realizzata la versione estesa o integrale del film, qui fu ridoppiato nel 2003. In Italia, il film si chiama "L'infernale Quinlan".
L'impatto del film è comunque sconvolgente: Un thriller dove la politica sporca si impasta con le perversioni personali e collettive, dove l'eroe è un poliziotto obeso e corrotto, che però conserva una sua grandezza rispetto al piccolo taccheggio del sottobosco che lo circonda. Un film oppresso da soffitti e pareti, da un cielo messicano che pesa tragicamente, dal taglio delle inquadrature, dalle deformazioni della macchina da presa. Quinlan è il Male nel suo patetico disorientamento; Vargas, per quanto faccia, è troppo sano per strappargli il suo scettro d'ombra. Segnato dall'ambiguità, come i capolavori moderni.

[willowstreet]

Great stuff! One of the best noirs for sure. Certainly contributed by this marvelous score!!!

[ufukyon]

Great listen for graphic design working. Thanks....

[fewmaster]

Can't remember exactly, too long ago. I watched a TV piece about Mancini once where he told the interviewer that he hang several loudspeakers in passways of the studio and recorded (?) the resulting strange sound including spooky hall effects to get the atmo of a jazzy, boiling and sweaty red-light mexican town.

[andyjackson]

This sounds great, I have never seen the film but will seek it out, thanks Fred.

[njuham]

I saw this excellent but, for me, anxiety inducing, film 1st of October in 1983.

[geoluce]

Hello,
Do you have the Bill Mc Guffie's score for The Asphyx ?

[danielagallo]

Thanks:the devil is wright for me, because I met always devils.