INTRADA Announces:
MR. MAJESTYK
Composed and Conducted by CHARLES BERNSTEIN
INTRADA Special Collection Volume 109
Director Richard Fleisher’s effective 1974 crime drama Mr. Majestyk made Charles Bronson a rugged everyman as Vince Majestyk, a Polish-American melon grower who hasn’t lost his destructive expertise as a Vietnam vet. Majestyk is a reluctant hero -- a guy who’d rather be farming than taking on mob goons and sticking up for migrant workers. It’s the latter that lands Majestyk in jail on assault charges, where he runs afoul of Mafia hitman Frank Renda (The Godfather’s Al Lettieri). After inadvertently foiling Renda’s getaway and escaping himself with the shackled Renda in tow, Majestyk tries to get his own charges thrown out by turning the killer over to the police. But Renda escapes and Majestyk’s moral blunder ends up costing many innocent migrants and cops dearly when Frank returns for payback.
Composer Charles Bernstein brought a singular voice to Mr. Majestyk, with a unique ensemble that includes a trumpet, harmonica, nine violins, four cellos, three guitars, three keyboards, fender bass, drums and percussion, creating an acoustic-driven score that played Mr. Majestyk with a feel that’s as much classic western as it is modern crime drama. Bernstein’s use of a Greek bouzouki and a harmonica particularly gives Majestyk the sound of a taciturn ex-gunslinger, with an outlaw attitude that’s driven his wife and daughter away. “The music has a larger burden with someone like Charles Bronson, because his emotions are so hidden,” the composer says. “So the score has to make us understand what’s motivating him. And I found Majestyk to be a really interesting main character, especially because he’s older, and heartbroken. The music needed to touch a lot of bases. It’s set in Colorado. That dusty, Mexican migrant environment is very much a character in the picture. Then add to that the suspense and the chases. But the most important thing was that Mr. Majestyk would have a musical voice that didn’t sound like other action scores. That gave me a tremendous amount of freedom.”
This release is limited to 1200 copies.
INTRADA Special Collection - Volume 109
Retail Price: 19.99
AVAILABLE AUGUST 18th, 2009
For track listing and sound samples, please visit
http://store.intrada.com/s.nl/it.A/id.6312/.f
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