The Stone Killer, a 1975
Michael Winner film that starred
Charles Bronson (the two did
Death Wish together, too, with a killer score by
Herbie Hancock), featured one of
Roy Budd's most unabashedly funky
jazz scores.
Budd was himself a
jazz pianist (self-taught) and whenever given the opportunity to work it into the movies, he did so. The fact that the Fender Rhodes was all the rage in 1974 when he was composing for this baby must have been his wet dream come true.
Budd digs it and makes most of his cues funky, taut, and very tight. His more elegiac and romantic ones, such as
"In the Shadows" and
"In the Graveyard" use cool flutes, horns, and exotic percussion along with
chamber strings and yes, even here the feeling and invention of
jazz is everywhere.
Budd also loved tabla drums and he dug the cheesy synths they had back then and used them to fine effect rather than syrupy schmaltz. Cues such as
"SK 10" and
"M5" push them to the moody wig city limit.
The Stone Killer is another high point for
Budd in a cinema scoring career filled with them. ~ Thom Jurek
