“Quartet Records presents a remastered reissue of the long-out-of-print soundtrack by Ennio Morricone for the 1983 police thriller COPKILLER (aka ORDER OF DEATH).
Side A with inner sleeve
Coproduced between Italy, France and the U.S., and directed by longtime Morricone collaborator Roberto Faenza, the film stars Johnny Rotten (famous punk-star from the group Sex Pistols), Harvey Keitel and Nicole Garcia. The plot is about a pair of corrupt cops spending their illegal cash on an uptown New York City apartment.
Side A
Morricone’s score comes from the composer’s fertile period of poliziotteschi thrillers and his collaborations with Henri Verneuil in Belmondo’s French polars in the early 1980s. The music features the psychedelic, percussion-heavy and often ostinato-based cues that Morricone typically reserved for the steamy chaos of his crime-film scores.
Side B
General Music released the score on LP in France and Germany in 1983, and GDM on CD in 2002. This new edition contains the same program, produced by Claudio Fuiano and Dániel Winkler, rebuilt and remastered by Chris Malone from the first-generation stereo master tapes. The package includes a richly illustrated booklet with in-depth liner notes by Daniel Schweiger discussing the film and the score.”
The film was shot on-location in New York City and at Cinecittà Studios in Rome between March and April, 1982. It is Lydon’s only starring role in film to date.[5] Upon release, it received mixed-to-negative reviews from critics, and has since fallen into the public domain.[6] It has since undergone a reevaluation, and has become a cult classic due to the presence of Keitel and Lydon, while being acknowledged as a precursor to Abel Ferrara‘s celebrated and similarly-themed film Bad Lieutenant (1992).[6][7]
The premiere in Italy was on March 15, 1983.[1][8]New Line Cinemaacquired the U.S. rights and released the film under the title Corrupt in New York City in January 1984. and the film slowly worked its way through art theatres for months after.[9]
Thorn EMI Screen Entertainmentreleased the film on home video in America later in 1984 as part of a package they acquired from New Line. New Line also licensed the film for TV syndication to The Entertainment Network (a.k.a. TEN) along with other titles they then had rights to, including The Texas Chain Saw Massacre and The Cars That Ate Paris; the film was retitled Copkiller for television broadcast.
For undetermined reasons, after New Line’s initial rights expired, the film became regarded as public domain[6] in America. Scores of bad-quality copies have been floating around the market, usually either sourced from the Thorn EMI videotape, or a 16mm print of the edited-for-television TEN version.[10] It has not only been offered under its UK titles The Order of Death or Order of Death (mostly in the United Kingdom), its US title Corrupt, or the alternate Cop Killer or Cop Killers titles, but also as Bad Cop Chronicles #2: Corrupt (from the VHS sleeve, part of the video series Bad Cop Chronicles) and Corrupt Lieutenant.[5][11] The latter was devised after 1992 to capitalize on Abel Ferrara‘s Bad Lieutenant, a critically acclaimed film also featuring Harvey Keitel.[10] On July 24, 2017, Code Red DVD released the film on Blu Ray in America, sourced from the original New Line Cinema elements, obtained directly from the Warner Bros. vault.[12]
Alternate title and dvd cover art
Copkiller was reviewed on BBC 1‘s Film 83 as Order of Death. Well-known British film criticBarry Norman refers to Lydon’s voice as a “speak-your-weight machine”, and sums up by calling the movie “stupid”.
UK dvd cover art
In the book Harvey Keitel Movie Top Ten edited by Creation Books in 1999 and compiled by film author Jack Hunter, featuring his personal “Top Ten” of Keitel’s best films or performances, there is a chapter dedicated to Copkiller. The chapter is written by film critic David Prothero, who describes the film as “undoubtedly one of Keitel’s finest films”. Prothero makes the link between Keitel’s character in the film and his character in Bad Lieutenant. Another comparison he brings is the parallel relation between Copkiller and Lydon’s role with the relation drawn from the film Performance and Mick Jagger‘s role there; Prothero describes the blurring of Lydon’s stage persona with his onscreen character, stating that defining proofs about this hypothesis are Leo Smith’s tantrums ala Johnny Rotten, his mixture of arrogance and cynicism and the fact that Lydon wears his own clothes throughout the film.”
“Quartet Records presents a remastered reissue of the long-out-of-print killer soundtrack by Ennio Morricone for the 1975 police thriller IL GIUSTIZIERE (aka THE HUMAN FACTOR).
Directed by Hollywood veteran by Edward Dmytryk, the film stars George Kennedy, John Mills, Raf Vallone and Rita Tushingham. The plot is about John Kinsdale (Kennedy), a computer engineer whose family gets brutally murdered while he is working in Naples on a top secret project. Aided by fellow engineer Janice (Tushingham), Kinsdale uses a combination of his expertise as well as brute force to take revenge on the left-wing terrorists—Charles Bronson style!
Morricone’ score comes from the composer’s fertile period of poliziotteschi thrillers and “Years of Lead” dramas that he approached in a similar manner. The music features several variations on the beautiful family theme which eventually gains new meaning as Kinsdale must carry the burden on his own. The music for the terrorists features the psychedelic, percussion-heavy and often ostinato-based cues that Morricone typically reserved for the steamy chaos of his poliziottecshi titles.
The Film:
Aka: The Human Factor. Not to be confused with:
Il Giustizierre was directed by film noir legend Edward Dmytryk (Crossfire), a Canadian-born former communist filmmaker who was one of the so-called “Hollywood Ten,” who refused to testify during the McCarthy witch-hunt hearings. Dmytryk, like his fellow nine, was blacklisted and sentenced to a prison term. But after a brief abscondment to England, Dmytryk returned to Los Angeles and named names to the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC).
“CAM Sugar is proud to announce the definitive release of the original soundtrack composed by EnnioMorricone for Ilclandeisiciliani (The Sicilian Clan) by Henri Verneuil (1969), one of the most celebrated European noir films of the late 1960s, starring JeanGabin, AlainDelon, and LinoVentura.
Album cover sticker
This new edition comes in a limited italian exclusive 3LP Gatefold edition plus poster and it stems from an extraordinary discovery in CAM Sugar’s historical archives: the original master tapes of the complete recording sessions, preserved for decades and never before heard in their entirety. From these tapes emerged precious material, including eight previously unreleased themes—never issued in any format—now fully restored and presented to the public for the first time.
Inner gatefold (l)
With this release, CAM Sugar continues its mission to rediscover and enhance the immense heritage of Italian film music, returning to collective memory one of EnnioMorricone’s most emblematic works—finally in its complete, restored, and definitive form.
Sleeve 1A
· LP 1 – The Original 1969 Soundtrack Album
· LP 2 – Outtakes & Alternates
· LP 3 – The Lost Tape
Thus is born Archivio Segreto, a new series of CAM Sugar physical releases designed to bring to the public the composers’ works in their most complete and definitive form, enriched with unreleased tracks and studio materials.
Side 1
The restoration work, carried out with strict philological rigor, has fully recovered the authentic sound of the orchestra conducted by Morricone. High-resolution digitization and precise restoration have preserved the warmth and dynamic range of the original tape, recreating a spatial sound faithful to the Maestro’s vision. Available as a triple LP and double high-resolution CD, this edition represents the most complete and philologically accurate version ever released of this legendary score, reproducing the full recording session exactly as it was captured.
Sleeve 1B
The music of Il clan dei siciliani occupies a prominent place in Morricone’s career and in the history of European film music. His score combines elegance and tension, exquisitely portraying Verneuil’s protagonists—criminals bound by an ancient code of honor, caught in a world of modernity and betrayal. The main theme, “Il clan dei siciliani,” has become one of the composer’s most iconic pieces, with its clear melody, melodramatic structure, and orchestral arrangement that blends melancholy with sophistication. Since its first release as a 45 RPM single in 1969, the piece has stood as a classic of the genre, uniting popular appeal with musical depth.
Side 2
A musical journey through the soul of crime and honor—between melancholy and formal precision—signed by one of the greatest composers of the twentieth century.
Inner gatefold (c)
The CAM Sugar edition is not a mere reissue: it is an act of historical and cultural restoration. The eight unreleased tracks found on the master tapes reveal new shades of Morricone’s work, including thematic variations, sequences removed from the final edit, and musical ideas that shed light on the Maestro’s creative process at the height of his artistic maturity. The new edition also includes a booklet featuring period images, production notes, and a critical essay on the genesis of the soundtrack—offering listeners a fully immersive experience in the sonic and cinematic world of the film.”
In Paris, robber and murderer Roger Sartet escapes from custody with the help of the Manalese, a small, well-organized Sicilian Mafia clan consisting of patriarch Vittorio, his two sons, and his son-in-law. Sartet pays them with some valuable stamps he had stowed away, and the Manalese hide him in an apartment above the arcade game manufacturing company they own as a front. Jeanne, the French wife of Vittorio’s elder son, looks after Sartet, but he sneaks out to see a prostitute at a hotel and narrowly avoids getting captured by Commissaire Le Goff.
Alternate illustrated film poster
While in prison, Sartet got to know an engineer who worked on the security for a jewelry exhibition in Rome before becoming incarcerated, and he learns the details of the system. He proposes that the Manalese help him rob the show, but they are dubious of the hot-headed outsider, so Vittorio and his old friend Tony Nicosia, who has lived in New York City for decades, go to the exhibition to check it out. They notice additional security measures negate Sartet’s plan, but, after learning the show will soon be moved to New York, Nicosia comes up with a plan to steal the jewels in transit. He sends Jack, an alcoholic ex-pilot, to Paris to help the Manalese with the heist.
Figuring Sartet will need fake papers to leave the country, Le Goff tracks down the forger who made his previous fake passport. By coincidence, Vittorio was having the same man make several fake passports as part of the heist, and Le Goff finds the phone number of one of Vittorio’s employees at the forger’s studio. Le Goff questions Vittorio, but he says the employee no longer works for him
The Manalese clan retreat to a hideout near the Italian border. Jeanne sunbathes nude in front of Sartet and they start to make love, but are interrupted by Roberto, her six-year-old nephew. She entreats him not to tell anyone.
Sartet goes to Rome, where he discreetly kidnaps Edward Evans, an English insurance man, and takes Evans’ place among the small group of officials sent to guard the jewels during their trip on a passenger flight. As Jack, Jeanne, Vittorio, and his sons wait to catch the plane when it stops in Paris, they are surprised to see Evans’ wife arrive and, intending to accompany her husband to New York, board the plane early. Thinking fast when Mrs. Evans returns from the plane, Vittorio leads her to believe that Evans will be on the same flight the next day, as that is when the jewels are really being transported. While the plane loads and takes off, Mrs. Evans puts through a call to her husband’s hotel in Rome. When she learns he never arrived there, she contacts the police and identifies Sartet as one of the men she saw on the plane.
During the plane’s descent towards New York, the Manalese clan hijack the aircraft. Warned of Sartet’s imminent arrival in the United States, the local police race to the airport, but Jack lands the plane on a new stretch of highway that is not yet open. Nicosia’s men are waiting to unload the jewels, and the gangsters split up. Sartet hides out in New York while he waits for his share of the proceeds and a ticket to Veracruz.
Back home in Paris, the Manalese family watch a film in which a couple start to make love, and Roberto exclaims that it looks just like what Sartet was doing with Jeanne. Though Jeanne denies everything, Vittorio lures Sartet back to Paris by withholding his share of the loot. Jeanne calls Sartet’s sister, Monique, and asks her to warn him of the trap. Monique goes to the airport, where she finds Vittorio’s sons and son-in-law waiting for Sartet, and they are all arrested by Le Goff, who was monitoring Monique’s telephone.
Sartet, who had arrived in Paris by an earlier flight than expected, calls Vittorio to arrange a meeting at an isolated spot. Vittorio brings Jeanne with him, and, while Sartet examines the money, Vittorio shoots Sartet and Jeanne dead, leaving the cash by the corpses. When Vittorio returns home, Le Goff is waiting to arrest him.
Development
The Sicilian Clan was based on the second novel in a series by Auguste Le Breton. The first, which also featured the characters of Sartet and Le Goff, had been filmed by Bernard Borderie as Brigade antigangs in 1966.
The epitome of 1960s French cinema cool
The film rights to The Sicilian Clan were bought by Henri Verneuil, who teamed with Jacques-Eric Strauss and signed a deal with 20th Century Fox.[8] Verneuil wrote a screenplay with Pierre Pelegri and then José Giovanni. The two lead roles were written with Jean Gabin and Alain Delon in mind, as Verneuil had worked with both men before.[9] As the writing progressed, Verneuil began to feel that the police officer was another strong role, and he decided to cast Lino Ventura, who had made his film debut 15 years earlier in Touchez pas au grisbi, which also starred Gabin.[8]
Jean Gabin
Irina Demick was unhappy with her character in the film compared to the novel, in which she was more active, and wanted her to take part in the hijacking. Verneuil felt this would not be believable, but Demick had considerable influence, as she was the mistress of the head of Fox, Darryl F. Zanuck, so Verneuil rewrote the sequence.[8]
Lino Ventura
Filming
Second unit filming started in New York in March 1969. The main unit went into production on March 24 at Franstudio’s Saint-Maurice Studios. The film was shot in two versions: with the actors speaking French, and with the actors speaking English.[8]
Jean Gabin (l) and Alain Delon (r)
During production, Delon was involved in a real-life scandal, the Marković affair, which surrounded the still-unsolved murder of his former bodyguard Stevan Marković several months earlier.
Delon
Box office
In France, The Sicilian Clan drew 4,821,585 admissions,[10] making it the third-most-popular movie of 1969 in France, behind Once Upon a Time in the West and The Brain.[11] It was the second-highest-grossing film of all time in France, behind La Grande Vadrouille(1966), when only considering films not shown on a roadshow release basis.[1] In the United States and Canada, the film earned $1 million in theatrical rentals during 1970.[12]
According to Fox records, the film required $7,925,000 in rentals to break even, and it had earned worldwide rentals of $9,250,000 by 11 December 1970.[5] By September 1970, it had made Fox a profit of $533,000.[13]
Retrospectively, and more positively, in the book French Cinema: From Its Beginnings to the Present, author Rémi Fournier Lanzoni wrote: “This gangster film reinvented the classic gangster genre, elevating it to a higher level with its hard-boiled acting, deep character studies, and attractive photography.”[9]
Release
The film had its premiere in Paris on 8 December 1969.[1]
The stars of The Sicilian Clan at work…
References
“‘Sicilians’ Moves In French Stakes; Now B.O. Second”. Variety. 11 February 1970. p. 11.
Solomon, Aubrey. Twentieth Century Fox: A Corporate and Financial History (The Scarecrow Filmmakers Series). Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press, 1989. ISBN978-0-8108-4244-1. p256
Michael L. Stephens Gangster films – 1996 “A surprising success in the United States (where it grossed over $2 million), The Sicilian Clan was an enormous box office success in Europe, and remains one of the all-time moneymakers in France. It is yet another variation on the heist gone wrong”
Cam Sugar releases The Maestro’s “dreamy, dark-tinged and psychedelic giallo score” on double LP yellow vinyl.
From Cam Sugar’s website:
“Senza Sapere Niente di Lei (1969, Luigi Comencini) is one of the first scores composed by Ennio Morricone for a Giallo movie, just ahead of the great season of the cult Italian thrilling genre forged by Dario Argento.
Reverse cover
The soundtrack perfectly mirrors the philosophy behind the Morricone Segreto series, not only for its extraordinary dark-tinged and psychedelic vibes, but also because of the rarity of the score, which so far has surprisingly remained unreleased on vinyl (with the exception of two tracks included on a 1980 CAM anthology LP, now pretty much impossible to find).
Album sticker
With “Senza Sapere Niente di Lei” Morricone composed one of his most dreamy and ethereal scores, with a sweet and delicate theme unfolding in a lullaby to the rhythm of a valzer, and interpreted in multiple keys: from lounge-jazz to experimental music. The final result is a sensual and suave sound that well matches the quintessential morbid style of Giallo cinema and of the film’s plot. In Milan, in winter time, a young lawyer (Philippe Leroy) meets a girl with a mysterious past (Paola Pitagora), falling in love with her and inevitably heading towards irreparable consequences.”
The MaestroNothing says “giallo” quite like the ubiquitous yellow label of J&B.
Aka The Fifth Cord, Giornata Nera Per L’ariete stars this site’s favourite Italian leading man, Franco Nero, as a reporter caught in a game of cat and mouse with a serial killer, and the score sits alongside other classic giallo compositions from The Maestro, such as What Have They Done To Solange and his Dario Argento Animal Trilogy (The Bird With The Crystal Plumage; Cat O’ Nine Tails; Four Flies On Grey Velvet).
This is Morricone at his creepy, dissonant best. The music unnerves you slowly and completely. Accompanied by the visuals directed by LuigiBazzoni (The Possessed) and lensed by master of colour and light Vittorio Storaro (Apocalypse Now), Morricone‘s score primes you for unbearable suspense.
2-LP special edition for the 1975 Henri Verneuil (The Sicilian Clan) cult thriller, Peur Sur La Ville fromWe Want Sounds.
Reverse album cover
This is a gorgeous re-issue of Morricone’s exciting score featuring great liner notes in the form of an interview, or “conversation” between AM and Jean-Benoit Dunckel (AIR) and a stunning gatefold layout.
Liner notes
“The music has a searching quality, like a shadow on your back…”
-AM
Your friendly neighbourhood serial killer and crank callerSide 1Side 2Side 3Side 4
The Film:
French theatrical posterBelmondo takes aim
The film is a perfect star vehicle for Belmondo in his post-Nouvelle Vague phase of his career.
Belmondo, on top of the world.
Belmondo was, indisputably, one of France’s greatest movie stars.
He distinguished himself as a truly great actor in classic auteur pictures from some of the greatest French masters. From multiple collaborations with Godard (Breathless; A Woman Is A Woman; Pierot Le Feu) and Melville (Le Doulous; Leon Morin Pretre), to more commercial work with Vernuil (this film; Le Casse; ), that “most American of French directors,” Belmondo could do it all.
Title card
The story concerns a tough Parisian cop (Belmondo) on the hunt for a serial killer who targets the city’s young, single women, stalking them with obscene calls.
Paris, mon amour.Director and star
Vernuil’s film was a big success in France, but it was greatly underappreciated elsewhere. It’s a shame, because in my personal estimation, it may be the greatest Paris-set cop thriller ever made. Certainly the most entertaining.
It plays today like a pop art francophone version of The French Connection.
Verneuil’s film is replete with a breathtaking chase on top of a moving subway car – upping the ante (and danger) from Friedkin’s own subway chases.
It’s certainly pulpier than the French-set, John Frankenheimer-directed sequel (where the action took place in Marseille, rather than Paris). The Frankenheimer picture features an incredible performance from Gene Hackman that adds incredible nuance and hidden depth to his Oscar-winning portrayal of tough NYC cop, Popeye Doyle, in Pt. I. The “withdrawal” sequence alone was worth the price of admission and worthy of a 2nd Oscar.
Casual hero.Liam Neeson, an actor with a particular set of skills.
As Commissaire Jean Letellier, Belmondo isn’t exactly going for Academy gold. This is his “Liam Neeson period,” where the roles require less of the intense, tortured, plumbing-the-depths character work of something like Leon Morin.
Films like this, and other notable Belmondo vehicles from this era – like Le Marginal and Le Profesionnel (all scored by Morricone!) require only that he kick ass. And that he does.
German lobby card
In this one, it may be more accurate to call him the French TomCruise or JackieChan than LiamNeeson. This is a film of set pieces built around jaw dropping stunts, like the above mentioned chase through the Paris Metro.
One of the great pleasures is how clear the picture makes it that Belmondo is performing his own stunts. This is pre-green screen and digital effects. And there are no cutaways to wide masters to hide the bait and switch of a stunt performer filling in for the star. There is no 007-like face-replacement technology (see the motorcycle sequence in SamMendes‘ Skyfall for comparison).
It’s really Belmondo on top of that elevated subway train!
And hanging from that helicopter!
A movie starAn actor
It’s a true testament to Belmondo’s versatility as a performer that he could play the movie star parts and the art house actor roles, both, and equally, with such apparent ease. The camera loved him. And he seemed to love it right back.
American poster and title
Film Stills:
Waiting for your callA view to a killAnybody home?A request ala collage.Keeping an eye on the leading manThe extras are a little stiff Lighten up, fellas!Bogart coolMaking an entrance on a German lobby cardCorner manWall of cool
“Quartet Records presents the premiere complete vinyl release of Ennio Morricone’s fascinating score for Folco Quilici’s OCEANO (1971), a pseudo-documentary film about a young Polynesian, Tanai, who goes in search of the island of his dreams. On an epic sea voyage from Polynesia to Alaska aboard a tiny fragile raft, he is guided by the voices of his ancestors.
Morricone’ score for OCEANO seeks to merge nature with mythology. It breathes, vibrates, transmits, and is characterized by its episodic and atmospheric structure, taking the form of an evocative soundscape. The composer draws on resources that recall a primitive, spiritual component: tribal percussion (tablas and bongos), solo woodwinds (flutes and clarinets), guitar, sitar, clanging metal and harp. The fusion of timbres in this instrumentation is unconventional. He expressively sets to music ideas associated with wind or nature, sound textures that construct Tanai’s intimate journey: we hear the sea, we feel the air roaring over the sail of his canoe, the danger lurking in the ocean, his loneliness. The music is another character that gives the film a lyrical dimension and complements the visual element, transcending its narrative function to become a gateway to meditation on the mystery of the sea and existence. Through his unmistakable style, Morricone invites us to immerse ourselves in a world of introspection, beauty and silent emotion.
The original 40-minute program was released on vinyl in 1971 in Italy and Japan, and both those LPs quickly became collector’s items. Quartet Records recently released a CD featuring the complete 70-minute score. This is the first release of the same program on vinyl, presented as a transparent blue-ocean 2XLP, mastered by Chris Malone, and packaged in a deluxe gatefold sleeve.”
Album Review from Main titles:
” On the one hand, it sounds like natural improvisational music, while on the other hand, it feels like precisely notated music. “
Written by Joep de Bruijn – Review of the expanded release
“Oceano is a 1971 semi-documentary directed by Folco Quilici, who usually made films and (semi)documentaries set in tropical climates and illustrated interesting social issues. After having made a semi-documentary about a Polynesian boy who raises a baby Shark (Ti-Koyo e il Suo Pescecane 1964), Oceano follows in those footsteps, following another Polynesian boy who goes on an adventure across the Pacific Ocean in search for his dream island.
Ennio Morricone’s score uses some specific sounds and instruments – who doesn’t expect to hear tribal percussion and a twirling woodwind? – to illustrate the setting in Oceano. Before I delve deeper into that, there’s a bit of surprise, which is evident in the opening cue ´Oceano (04:03)´ that introduces its main theme. It’s almost an exact replica of the breezy main theme of Il Grande Silenzio, minus the expressive main melody on top, and adding a new melody and more emphasis on tribal percussion. Most of its renditions in Oceano have more than enough deviating ingredients to keep it fresh, but is rather difficult to fully accept it. The composer did not only use the template of the western theme, he also re-introduces several instruments that characterised that score; the tribal percussions (tablas) and sitar foremost. Especially in some of their eerie, slightly dissonance performances, Morricone also emulates the underscore of Il Grande Silenzio. Even the disjointed woodwind and metal clanging. Luckily, they mostly serve an entirely new purpose.
Oceano as a whole is best described as a textural soundscape for the boy’s adventures on the island, with little dramatic progression, if you exclude different variations on the main theme, sometimes for solo woodwind. On the one hand, it sounds like natural improvisational music, while on the other hand, it feels like precisely notated music. I especially love the variations on tribal percussion, chirping woodwinds, understated use of Edda Del Orso, and all the additional instruments, in providing illustrative phrases to establish an intriguing atmosphere. It bears feelings of mystique, a certain eeriness, and because of the textural music, even no emotion or feeling at all. The encompassing highlight to illustrate this is the wonderful 10 minutes long Il vento è il vento e soffia dove vuole (#2), which includes one of the few musical variations on the sound of a bird. However, the most interesting bird sound is heard in the rather brooding tension of Il Sole è il Sole e brucia ciò che vuole, which includes an interesting echoing sound, sitar, slightly more, and less, intense percussion and a strange woodwind emulating an unpleasant high-pitched bird.
Oceano is not a score for everyone, given the soundscape that mingles with a traditional theme. But the seemingly undirected textural ideas are what set this score apart.
Aka “The Voyage of Tanai”
The score received three vinyl releases by the labels Soundtrack Listeners Communications/RCA, after which it was paired with L´Avventuriero by RCA, marking its CD debut, only to be expanded by the excellent GDM cd release in 2010.”
Tracklist 1. Oceano 4:03 2. Isola di Pasqua 2:01 3. Vulcano 1:01 4. Speranza per una terra amica 1:36 5. Le maschere morte 2:43 6. Il vento è vento e soffia dove vuole 4:47 7. Tanai 2:18 8. Odissea 1:58 9. Notte 1:40 10. Piccola ouverture 1:46 11. Viaggio 3:03 12. Il Sole è il Sole e brucia ciò che vuole 3:30 13. Partenza 2:14 14. Il vento è il vento e soffia dove vuole (#2) 10:42 15. Viaggio (#2) 1:23 16. Oceano (#2) 2:03 17. Isola di Pasqua (#2) 4:11 18. Notte (#2) 4:24 19. Partenza (#2) 1:13 20. Odissea (#2) 3:34 21. Oceano (#3) 6:19
EneaLeone’s (no relation to Sergio) hauntingly beautiful arrangements of Morricone’s most iconic scores for guitar were recorded the year before the Maestro’s death, and recently re-issued on vinyl. This is a collection of many of Morricone’s best known and most beloved scores, from the Once Upon a Time films (…The West; …America), The Dollars Trilogy, The Mission, Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, and more, rendered with much love and care.
Italian director Damiano Damiani (A Bullet for the General) reunites with this site’s favourite Italian movie star, Franco Nero (Django) a year after their collaboration on Confessions of a Police Captain(1971), for the story of “an architect jailed for a traffic violation discovers the grim reality of life behind bars, including corrupt staff and inmates, an inhuman judicial system, and the power of the Mafia.” (Courtesy of IMDB.)
How to Kill a Judge poster,
Director and star would continue working together two years later on 1974’s excellent crime drama, How to Kill a Judge.
Reverse album cover.The Maestro.The Maestro’s screen credit.Theatrical poster.Morricone/Argento/Animal Trilogy
With the success of 1970’s The Bird With a Crystal Plumage, the first instalment in Dario Argento’s so-called “Animal Trilogy” (also comprised of Cat ‘o Nine Tails and Four Flies on Grey Velvet – all three scored by Morricone), came a succession of gialli (Italian thrillers) with animals or insects in the title (Argento rival, Lucio Fulci’s Don’t Torture a Ducklingand Lizard in a Woman’s Skin;Sergio Martino’s The Case of the Scorpion’s Tail, etc.).
Original poster art. Blu-ray cover art.
Black Belly… was directed by fellow Italian filmmaker, Paolo Cavara.
Cavara helmed the infamous Mondo Cane;as well as Los Amigos, starring Anthony Quinn and this site’s favourite Italian superstar, Franco Nero).
Giancarlo Giannini.
Cavara’s filmstars the always-watchable Giancarlo Giannini (7 Beauties; Hannibal) as a worn-out detective chasing a serial killer whose method of dispatchment involves injecting their victims with the poisonous venom of the titular arachnid before tearing their bellies open, much as a wasp would do to a tarantula.
Giallo fans will appreciate the presence of both Barbaras – Bouchet (The Red Queen Kills 7 Times) and Bach (The Spy Who Loved Me).
Barbara Bach (r) in Black Belly of the Tarantula.Barbara Bouchet in Black Belly of the Tarantula.Barbara Bach in Black Belly of the Tarantula.Barbara Bouchet, cover girl.
Genre stalwarts, both Barbaras are, as always, effective, but underused, in roles that require little more from them than to be beautiful and frightened.
The picture is far from one of the best gialli, certainly inferior to the Argento pictures that inspired its title, but it’s well anchored by Gianni’s world weary portrayal of the detective, and buoyed greatly by the classic score from the Maestro.
According to our friends at ChatGPT:
Ennio Morricone’s score for The Black Belly of the Tarantula (La tarantola dal ventre nero, 1971) is one of his most striking contributions to the Italian giallo genre—sensual, icy, and psychologically disorienting.
Japanese theatrical poster.
Overall Character
The music blends eerie avant-garde textures with lush, melancholic melody, a contrast typical of Morricone’s giallo soundtracks. Rather than leaning on sharp, stabbing motifs (a common horror approach), he creates tension through softness, fragility, and restraint, which makes moments of violence feel even more disturbing.
Edda Dell’Orso in concert.
Key Musical Features
Breathy, wordless female vocals Performed by Edda Dell’Orso, these ethereal lines float above the orchestration, suggesting both seduction and dread. They’re one of the score’s signature elements.
Hypnotic, pulsing rhythms Morricone employs slow, repeating bass lines and low percussion to produce a sense of creeping inevitability—almost like the crawling movement of the film’s titular tarantula.
Unsettling instrumental colors Whispery flutes, muted strings, and unusual electro-acoustic effects create an atmosphere of voyeuristic suspense, a hallmark of Morricone’s experimental 1970s work.
Melodic noir-like themes Amid the tension, Morricone inserts a haunting, sorrowful theme that underscores the film’s emotional undercurrent, giving the thriller a surprisingly tragic tone.
Tone and Impact
The score is sensual but chilly, beautiful yet unnerving, and it plays a major role in shaping the film’s identity. Many listeners consider it one of Morricone’s defining giallo works, alongside his music for The Bird with the Crystal Plumageand Four Flies on Grey Velvet. Its mixture of avant-garde fear and hypnotic beauty has helped it remain a cult favorite among soundtrack collectors.
Track-by-Track Breakdown
Here’s a track-by-track style breakdown of Ennio Morricone’s score for The Black Belly of the Tarantula. Because the soundtrack exists in a few different releases with slightly different sequencing, this follows the commonly circulated track list while focusing on the major cues and themes.
1. La Tarantola (Titoli)
A whispery, suspended opening built on soft bass pulses, delicate bells, and wordless Edda Dell’Orso vocals. It sets the tone: dreamy, erotic, and quietly menacing. The rhythmic figure underneath already hints at “predator and prey.”
2. Ragnatela
One of the more experimental cues. Morricone uses plucked strings, tense tremolos, and fluttering woodwinds to mimic the sensation of being caught in a web. Nearly atonal, it provides pure psychological tension.
3. Filamento Rosso
A slow, sensual theme. The breathy vocals glide over an almost bossa-like rhythmic sway. Its beauty is deceptive—Morricone uses softness to create a sense of vulnerability, a recurring device in his giallo scores.
4. Visioni
A more melodic, melancholic cue. Sustained string chords and a wandering flute line paint a feeling of isolation and lingering threat. This is one of the most “cinematic” pieces in the score.
5. Le Donne Guardano
A motif representing observation, sexuality, and danger. Built on hypnotic keyboard patterns and muttering percussion. It has a voyeuristic quality, as if the camera were gliding through the scene.
6. Sospiri da una Telefonata
Sparse and anxious. The telephone motif uses sharp piano clusters and breathy exhalations, creating a sense of fragments in the dark. Classic Morricone suspense writing.
7. La Vittima
A tragic, almost resigned melody for strings, punctured by dissonant harmonies. It captures the helplessness of the killer’s victims without resorting to melodrama.
8. Morte di una Larva
One of the score’s creepiest tracks. The pacing is funereal, built from slow heartbeat-like percussion and hissing string textures. Morricone builds tension through understatement.
Fuller orchestra
More emotional pathos
Less experimental texture work
9. Paura e Aggressione
More aggressive than most cues: sharp string attacks, swirling woodwinds, and disorienting tape effects. Morricone briefly allows chaos to take over—one of the score’s darkest moments.
10. Ossessione di un Delitto
A deep dive into the killer’s psychology. Low, throbbing electronics and whisper-level vocalizations create an obsessive, claustrophobic atmosphere.
11. Ritorno della Tarantola
A reprise of the main title idea, but thicker and heavier. The rhythm is slightly more pronounced, and the harmonic tension more explicit, as if the “tarantula” now fully reveals itself.
12. Finale
A return to the score’s melancholic side. Morricone ties together the sensual theme and the suspense material, ending on an unresolved chord—an echo of lingering danger and emotional residue.
Overall Themes and Structure
1. The “Sensual-Menace” Duality
Morricone alternates between:
beautiful, soft, intimate writing, and
nerve-shredding avant-garde experimentation
The contrast is what gives the score its iconic emotional shape.
2. Use of Voice as a Psychological Instrument
Edda Dell’Orso’s voice doesn’t function as melody alone; it becomes:
a sigh,
a whisper of fear,
a symbol of vulnerability.
3. Organic, Crawler-Like Rhythms
Subtle percussion patterns mimic small, creeping movements, reinforcing the tarantula metaphor without becoming literal.
4. Minimalism over Bombast
Instead of loud stabs or shocks, Morricone builds unease through:
slow pulses,
fragile timbres,
texture-based suspense.
Here’s a focused comparison between The Black Belly of the Tarantula and Ennio Morricone’s other major gialloscores. Morricone was one of the composers who defined the sound of the genre, but each of his giallo soundtracks has a distinct psychological angle.
Below is a clear breakdown by tone, musical technique, and narrative function.
Comparisons with Morricone’s Other Giallo Scores:
⭐ 1. The Black Belly of the Tarantula (1971)
Tone: Sensual + icy
Signature elements:
Breath-heavy Edda Dell’Orso vocals
Hypnotic, crawling bass patterns
Soft, minimalist tension over explosive shocks
Psychological angle:
Fear through vulnerability; beauty as an instrument of dread.
This score’s hallmark is restraint: the horror comes from quietness, softness, and eerie eroticism.
Where Tarantula uses sensuality and icy surfaces, Bird uses infantile motifs (especially the la-la-la female vocals) to create a disturbed inner psyche.
More overt avant-garde writing (clusters, tape manipulations)
A more explicitly fractured, neurotic sound
More prominent dissonance and rhythmic instability
Similarity: heavy use of the female voice as psychological symbol. Difference: Plumage is far more jagged and surreal; Tarantula is smoother, hypnotic, and suffocatingly controlled.
3. Four Flies on Grey Velvet (1971)
Tone: Paranoia + urban nervous energy
How it compares:
This score is more rock-influenced, with electric guitars, drum kit, and psychedelic textures.
More rhythmic drive
More overt danger cues
More “external” threat, less “internal” psychological disintegration
Similarity: experimental sound design and Morricone’s love of unconventional timbres. Difference: Four Flies is edgy and modernist; Tarantula is intimate and atmospheric.
4. Cat o’ Nine Tails (1971)
Tone: Clinical + suspenseful
How it compares:
This score has a colder, more analytical feeling—reflecting its plot about genetic experiments.
Glassy piano sonorities
Clean lyrical themes mixed with sterile, precise tension cues
Less sensuality; more investigative feel
Similarity: both rely on textures more than melody for suspense. Difference: Tarantula feels humid and erotic; Cat o’ Nine Tails feels dry, sterile, scientific.
5. Lizard in a Woman’s Skin (1971)
Tone: Dreamlike + hallucinatory
How it compares:
This score is Morricone at his most lysergic: swirling orchestration, surreal dream sequences, and expressionistic choral writing.
More colorful orchestration
More impressionistic harmony
Larger emotional range (from horror to quasi-spiritual passages)
Similarity: both use the female voice as a sensual-psychological instrument. Difference: Lizard is psychedelic; Tarantula is cool and knife-like.
6. Spasmo (1974)
Tone: Minimalist dread + psychological erosion
How it compares:
This is Morricone’s closest relative to Tarantula in terms of whispered tension and internal anxiety, but it’s even more minimal.
Sparse notes
Very slow build-ups
Less melodic; more atmospheric
Similarity: hypnotic, creeping suspense built on subtle patterns. Difference: Spasmo is bleaker and more abstract; Tarantula is melodic by comparison.
Summary: What Makes Tarantula Unique Among Morricone’s Giallo Scores
1. Most sensual/erotic use of fear
Other scores use psychological distress or surrealism; Tarantula uses softness and breath.
2. One of his most minimalist yet melodic
Few notes create the entire atmosphere; the beauty itself is the threat.
3. Strongest integration of rhythm as metaphor
The subtle pulse—slow, crawling, inevitable—evokes the tarantula motif without gimmick.
4. Edda Dell’Orso’s voice at its most haunting
Here it becomes a whisper in the dark, rather than the childlike or operatic functions in other films.
