Search - Charles Fox, Barry Manilow :: Foul Play

The 1978 comedy/thriller Foul Play starring Goldie Hawn and Chevy Chase is a salute to Alfred Hitchcock, most notably the grand assassination plot of The Man Who Knew Too Much. Hawn plays Gloria Mundy, an innocent victim of knowing too much (or at least thought to know too much) about a plot to kill the Pope and she becomes a target of an albino gunman and a nefarious "dwarf." Chase plays a handsome, glib detective who believes Mundy s seemingly tall tales when no one else will. Together they make an effervescent screen couple like hip updates of Cary Grant and Grace Kelly, in a San Francisco-set film that affectionately references Hitchcock classics. Charles Fox with lyricist Norman Gimbel created a melancholy, yet empowering song Ready to Take a Chance Again. Sung by Barry Manilow during a visually sweeping opening sequence of Gloria driving to San Francisco, Fox incorporated the song's melody into the body of the film as an instrumental Love Theme. Though director Colin Higgins was saluting Hitchcock, Fox would draw his musical style from the tense, orchestral sound of 1940s and 50s film noir, linking Foul Play s score with a 3/4 misterioso motif, as well as a breathless orchestral chase theme for piano, brass and percussion. While Fox s score reaches unusually dark heights, its menace is countered with a harmlessly hilarious action theme as Gloria s kindly landlord (Burgess Meredith) demonstrates his karate chops on an anti-religion fanatic. Get Me to the Opera is the score's dramatic highlight, as Detective Tony and Gloria commandeer a van and cab to reach a performance of The Mikado (where an albino assassin has the Pope in his crosshairs), and Fox turns such Gilbert and Sullivan highlights as Three Little Maids into rollicking orchestral chase music, sequing into his own jazzy pursuit, interspersed with a harmonica and Chinese bells for the hippy cowboy and Asian tourists who are shanghaied. It all comes together in a colorful, energetic and thrilling listen! Released on July 14, 1978, Foul Play went on to become one of the year s biggest hits. Not only did Fox and Gimbel s Ready to Take a Chance Again top the pop charts, but their tune also received Best Original Song nominations from both the Oscars and the Globes. The soundtrack s success ensured that Fox would team with Higgins again on the 1980 secretary revenge comedy 9 to 5 (also available from Intrada). This release features the original Arista LP program, remastered and limited to 2000 copies.