Search - Lalo Schifrin :: Sudden Impact (Score)

Lalo brings Dirty Harry into the eighties

Media Mike | Georgia, U.S. | 05/30/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This soundtrack is a reflection of its times. Remember that when listening to the opening track.



Sudden Impact's main title lays on the the record player "scratch" sound that we who grew up in the eighties received a lot of exposure to. While modern listeners may call this a dated syle, I actually enjoyed the vigorous opening theme...and the entire soundtrack...more than Lalo Schifrin's previous soundtracks for the original Dirty Harry and Magnum Force. Schifrin's technique is first-rate; he acknowledges the original "Dirty Harry" theme at two key points, while giving the soundtrack a style update by replacing the flutes from the 70's with some 80's synthesizers.



This and the other Dirty Harry soundtracks succeed on a technical level...they are inventive and evoke the proper mood whe watching the movie. But as listening experiences detached from the movies, they are a little more challenging. While the carnival music here works in context of the movie, it is not the kind of music that, by itself, will just settle into the background."

Whither Roberta?

DL Minor | Chicago, IL USA | 11/15/2008

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I was excited to learn that a CD of Eastwood's "Sudden Impact" soundtrack had finally been released, only to notice in the tune listing the glaring absence of the aching Roberta Flack vocal "This Side of Forever" that is included on the original lp. What happened here? Why was that haunting love ballad omitted? I can't find it on any of Flack's releases..."