The 1980's did not really provide
Elmer Bernstein with the kind of assignments that were worthy of
his not inconsiderable talents. There was no decline in the
quality of his writing, nor was his music stylistic out of date,
but for some reason he seemed to be offered countless comedy
films, many of which were quite dreadful. This was of course the
time before Marc Shaiman and Alan Silvestri were around to fill
this particular film music niche. Lost in Yonkers
was perhaps more of a comedy-drama than an out and out comedy and
so at least Bernstein had some dramatic substance to get his
teeth into. The opening track, inspiringly called Beginnings sets
the score off apace with a bouncy, slightly jazzy big band kind
of thing. It never quite gets to a level of fervor that could be
described as rollocking, but is certainly extremely catchy. This
opening exuberance is something of a red herring as from then on,
the music takes on a much smaller scale. Bernstein is no stranger to
family drama territory, one need only think of To Kill a
Mockingbird as a high water point, but so many others
are almost as wonderful. While Lost in Yonkers
is not by no means the best entry in this area of Bernstein's
output, it is certainly a cut above younger composers writing for
similar films, yet again proving how adept he is with smaller
scale efforts. It has a lightness of touch throughout that
doesn't resort to endless meandering and that makes it well worth
hearing. Bernstein's ability to warm even the hardest heart has
in no way diminished and is thus recommended to all. Rating ~ Total Time ~ 32:21Getting lost in Yonkers seems
like a terrible careless thing to do and on my visit to this
particular part of New York with Mr Southall resulted in very
little getting lost, remarkable for a pair so inept at navigation
as we. Had we got lost, then I'm sure Geoffrey Rush could have
played Mr Southall and perhaps Rupert Everett could have played
my good self. I'm sure it would have been an hilarious film.
However, this particular version of the story stars Richard
Dreyfuss as a small time criminal with a dodgy moustache as well
as the rather comely Mercedes Ruehl and sports a very pleasing
score by a certain Elmer Bernstein.
