Interlude: the Marathon Man score

Friday, October 30th, 2009 • Horrorthon Posts

Michael Small’s music for the 1976 John Schlessinger classic Marathon Man, one of my favorite movies of all time, has never been put out on a record. (Judging by Google searches I’ve run, I’m not the only person looking for Michael Small’s music, both from “Marathon Man” and from “Parallax View,” but there’s never been an official release of either soundtrack.)

http://www.jordanorlando.com/ns/marathon_man

This is one of the great ‘seventies scores, exemplifying the tonalities and mood of the movies of that period. I’ve had these melodies running in my head for more than twenty years. I did what I could to pull the music off the movie DVD. I was able to remove dialogue, noise etc. to some extent (due to duplicated tracks through the movie) but there’s still a lot of ambient sound. I draw your attention to Szell’s theme and to the solo instrumental in the “Closing Suite” that alters the timbre of Babe’s Theme. (Obviously I’m making up all the names.) Look at all the trouble I have to go to, just because Paramount won’t put out a record! But there can’t possibly be more appropriate music for running in Central Park, can there?