Though never a fan of the Ryan O’Neal-starring Love Story – both the simper-fest that was the film and the syrupy score – its composer, Francis Lai, died recently.
Not wanting to sound like Trump and use meaningless distant phrases like ‘he had a long, illustrious career’ – it happened three weeks ago; I missed the obituary, and so on.
I’m more bothered by Nic Roeg passing – this is instead an opportune moment to celebrate the stone-cold fact that every score composer, be they Ennio Morricone, Elmer Bernstein, Jerry Goldsmith, Johnny Harris or Henry Mancini, has at least one killer cue in their back catalogue.
The French composer’s work was best suited to tracking soft-focus Renoir visuals such as Bilitis, but, on one occasion, he miked up the drums. Gave the brass and wind section the nod. Threw caution out the back door along with erotica and went hell for leather.
From the soundtrack to the Tatum O’Neal-starring International Velvet, Escapade. Take a bow, Mr. Lai.
#mellow 