Silva Screen

Wim Wender’s 1982 film (executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola) Hammett starred Frederic Forrest as the titular American crime writer who becomes mixed up in a fictional mystery, similar to his own stories.

It is often assumed that composer John Barry’s association with Francis Ford Coppola had been cemented through his work on two entirely different 1980s films: The Cotton Club (1984) and Peggy Sue Got Married (1986), but in truth, their relationship began earlier, when Barry was hired to score Hammett.

Barry had great fondness for his Hammett score telling Ford Thaxton in 2001, “I loved doing Hammett. That was a terrific movie. If the director’s got it correctly onto the screen and that intimacy is present, it’s just great to be able to write that simply and orchestrate that sparsely.”

This release is newly remastered and edited with additional and alternate cues and includes extensive sleeve notes from Geoff Leonard and Pete Walker, authors of John Barry Plays 007: The Music And Art Of James Bond.

Tracklist

1. Hammett Main Titles
2. Hammett's Dream
3. Ryan is Missing
4. Chinatown Incident
5. Moonlight Over Spring River
6. Cookie's Speakeasy
7. Shoeshine Blues
8. Shadow Man
9. The Library
10. Hammett Meets Salt / Suicide is Fascinating / I'm Calling It In
11. Look For Me at Fong's
12. Potted Palms
13. The Opium Den / Escape from Fong's
14. Hide and Seek
15. The Numbers Ticket Clue / A Belly Full of Daylight
16. Dixieland
17. You Can't Forget Her Ever / Don't Be A Chump, Let Her Go
18. A Cool Million
19. Waterfront Rendezvous
20. The Wrap Up
21. Hammett End Credits
22. Gumshoe Piano
23. Do You Like Bad Girls
24. Last Call
25. Hammett End Credits (Alternate)