In Like Flint/Our Man Flintby Anonymous
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February 28, 2005:
For those of us old enough to remember, there was some confusion and disappointment with the release of this cd. Following the release of the 1966 movie "Our Man Flint", as was customary, 20th Century Fox released an LP titled "Our Man Flint -- Original Musical Score". It contained twelve distinct tracks, each based on the main Flint theme as well as others written for the movie. Each was a complete and finished arrangement by composer Jerry Goldsmith (with a little help from a young Randy Newman). Putting out this unique music in this format provided a very enjoyable listening experience. It quickly became one of my all-time favorite "soundtrack" albums. In the nearly forty years that followed, I eagerly awaited a clean cd version. And, although I had seen reproductions of the cover art for the companion album "In Like Flint", I had never found an LP copy until recently. So, when Varese released this new "original soundtrack" cd from both movies, I naturally assumed it would be the music as it appeared on the original vinyl LPs. It isn't. Instead, the producers of this cd have given us the disjointed, scene-by-scene soundtrack of the music as it is actually heard in the movies. This means we hear long strings of incompletely arranged and abruptly changing themes, which, when viewing the films, are OK. But for a strictly listening experience, I find this very unsatisfying when compared with the arrangements as they appeared on the LPs. Perhaps there were legal considerations involved. I don't know. But it's my hope that someday soon the music as it is found on the LPs will be release in cd format.
In Like Flint/Our Man Flintby Anonymous
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May 26, 2004:
This collection really brings back the "feel" of the Flint movies with James Coburn. There's something uniquely haunting about the recurring theme that winds its way through the different cuts in a variety of musical flavors. The only reason I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is that the original material, being recorded in the mid-sixties, lacks the sparkle and punch of modern releases. This is to be expected, but digital remastering generally can overcome these limitations. I would love to see more attention paid to recreating the score using modern techniques. It's a shame that the film score, like the two features themselves, seem to be relegated to the dustbin of movie history. One can only hope that high-quality remakes (or even new episodes) are on the radar of the folks that own the rights to this franchise.
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