My Favorite Themes - Part XXII

Score: Game of Death by John Barry (Somewhere in Time)

About the film: A martial artist refuses to play ball with the gangsters threatening him. Their attempt to kill him fails and he comes back for revenge. Before his death, Bruce Lee had an idea for a movie, utilizing some of the most impressive fights ever captured on film. To even think that this represents his vision is almost as much of an insult to his legacy as the film itself. The fights (including an impressive showdown with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) are there, but unfortunately, one has to slog through a rather uninteresting and amateurish first 75 minutes, where outtakes from previous Lee films, doubles and cardboard masks (don’t miss that mirror shot toward the beginning) try to create (badly) the illusion of a coherent Lee film.

Title: "Main Theme". Judging from the end product, Barry seemed to see this as the worst Bond film never made, and if there is one constant about Bond films, it’s that even the worst of them have good music. The main theme, as in many Barry scores, appears quite a bit, its three parts forming much of the score. The 'A' section is a wonderfully kinetic melody on blaring brass and popping percussion. The 'B' section is somewhat more reflective, again spotlighting the brass with string backing (a slightly militaristic take - with harpsichord! - begins "Billy‘s Funeral Dirge"). The 'C' section, with its sweeping and rising strings, could easily be mistaken for a love theme. There is also a building sub-theme on strings and drum hits (possibly to reflect the pagoda that figures into the film’s climax?), featured in "The Big Motorcycle Fight".

Other themes of interest: "Will This Be the Song I’ll Be Singing Tomorrow?", for which Barry wrote the lyrics, was a pleasant if unremarkable attempt at a Bond-type ballad. The song was performed by co-star Colleen Camp who, in terms of acting and singing, did quite well given the circumstances. It was worked into the body of the score as "Billy and Ann’s Love Theme".

Availability: It was released in the '90s, then re-released a couple of years ago on Silva Screen Records. In both instances, it was paired with Barry’s lovely score for the dire-sounding Night Games.