Customer Reviews

Cool Hand Luke (Original Soundtrack Lp, 1967)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Yes, the music is from the movie Cool Hand Luke. But, no, it is not the sound track from Cool Hand Luke. This is the "elevator music" version of the sound track. You'll find no lyrics here -- and the lyrics were what I was after.

If you are looking for the actual songs from the film, this isn't it. This is the actual music, which makes a big difference for this film.

I wanted to hear Paul Newman singing "plastic jesus", but this is a recording studio orchestra covering the song.

If you want the song the road crew sings to Luke while he re-digs the Boss's hole the 3rd time, it isn't on here either.

Also, if you are looking for quotes from the film like "what we have here..." it isn't on this disk.

The music on the disk is good and certainly brings back the film, but again - it wasn't what I was looking for in the soundtrack.

For your reference, here is the text off of the back of the cd (pressed in Japan with a pretty cool cover):

"'What we have here is a failure to communicate' says Paul Newman [wrong!], in the character of LUKE, when his confrontations with The Establishment reach the inevitable impasse. But what we have here in these grooves, is a triumph of communication - the kind of communication which results when a story as compelling as 'Cool Hand Luke' is matched with the music of a sensitive composer. Lalo Schifrin has given paramount value to communication in his life and career: verbally, he is fluent in four languages and handy in a few others; musically, he represents an incredible versatility - sort of a musical Renaissance Man. His range of activity is prodigious, beginning, in his native Argentina, as a classical wunderkind of the piano, and developing into an impressive jazz pianist with Dizzy Gillespie. As a composer, some of his lessons were learned while arranging for Dizzy and for Count Basie, complementing the solid academic background acquired as a student of the Paris Conservatory. THese lessons were resoundingly applied in such varied television successes as 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' and 'Mission: Impossible;' in the sixteen motion picture scores of which two still to be released are 'The Fox' and 'The President's Analyst;' in the NARAS Award-winning 'Jazz Suite on the Mass Texts;' in 'The Ritual of Sound,' conducted in Carnegie Hall by Gunther Schuller; in ballet, opera, and concerti. Nowhere are the results of his training and talent more evident than in his uniquely appropriate use of the instruments and the rythmic and harmonic patterns of rural America in the score of 'Cool Hand Luke.' The folk blues sound of the banjo and harmonica are cannily juxtaposed with staccato burts of violence as in 'Tar Sequence' and 'The Chase,' and with the sensuous siren-song of 'Lucille.' Add the humor of 'Egg-Eating Contest' to the righteousness of 'Just a Closer Walk' and 'Arletta Blues,' and you'll have the picture of Lalo Schifrin, Musical Renaissance Man, unforgettably in mind."

This is one of the finest film scores ever. I am amazed at the reviewers who are disappointed in not finding the "songs"; what is on this disc is one of Lalo Schifrin's most creative scores, and is FAR from "elevator music". The main title theme is beautiful and memorable (and later became "Down Here On the Ground," recorded by Wes Montgomery and others) and the incidental music adds immeasurably to the emotional impact of the film. I love this entire score, and truly wish it were available domestically at a better price (although I am grateful to amazon.com for making the import available). Incidentally, in his review on this page, Burt Culver is incorrect of his "correction" in the liner notes; Paul Newman does indeed say the famous "What we've got here..." line; it is, in fact, his last line, as he makes fun of the Strother Martin character.

If you want to know how powerful this music is, consider the fact that in 1970, when ABC Network began Eyewitness News, they used Schiffrin's string music to open the show, and it is used to this day.
Those bold swirls that depicted Luke on the run are forever stamped on our collective consious, and justly so.

The rest of this music is, fitting for the 1967 film, country blues with strong jazz spices. Schiffrin is so polished a composer, you cannot help hear, always, the sophistication in even the most down home music on this soundtrack, but here, that is an asset.

Master music from a master composer, making the simple sophisticated and the sophisticated simple.

The pieces on this CD are beautifully orchestrated by Lalo Schifrin, the most moving for me being Luke's theme itself, the first and last tracks. For those that want to hear the live banjo music and singing by Paul Newman and some of the other inmates, this is not for you. This music was obviously made in a recording studio. Still, there is a lot of music on this CD that evokes a lot of memories of Luke, and if you're a dyed-in-the-wool "Cool Hand Luke" fan, as I am, I would think you would want to own this. It is an import, so the price is high, but worth it.

This really is a great soundtrack. The music is good even if you havent seen the movie, and Great if you have seen the movie. It is a must for anyone who loves Cool Hand Luke.

A great soundtrack to one of America's (and Newman's) greatest films. The soundtrack gives feelings of nostalgia, and anyone who knows and loves Cool Hand Luke will love the CD. The songs recall seens such as Newman singing "Plastic Jesus." A must have.