The Car
Released by Intrada
26 Tracks, with a total running time of 40:50 min.
Composed and Conducted by Leonard Rosenman

The Car was a film that stuck in my head as a kid, even though it took years for me to finally get to see it, Just seeing the trailer on TV had etched it in my brain, especially the part with the car coming at the window. Such a great scene.

Composer Leonard Rosenman did quite a few made-for-TV projects that I remember, such as The Phantom of Hollywood (1974), and The Possessed (1977), as well as working on films like Fantastic Voyage (1966), Race with the Devil (1975) and even Robocop 2 (1990). For The Car, he gives a musical score that really shows what this movie really is, Jaws on wheels. The score really seems to play on that theme, and does it effectively. From the first track, The Car (Main Title), there is a low melody playing while in the background some strings coming in and out in little fast bursts. Then comes it’s version of the famous Jaws theme, and it works. The other tracks where attacks are taking place, we get little bursts of music, picking up pace as we get closer to the attack. Again, very similar to the Williams score. I’m not comparing these to imply that Rosenman copies Williams, but in fact I would make a strong guess that was exactly what his instructions were to do. None the less, it works in the film.

This release has some extra tracks that are interesting to hear but almost seems like some of them were just trying to fill out running time. There are 3 different versions of the Apparition track, which is interesting to hear, but the 3 Universal Promo tracks , which are less than 90 seconds total, really didn’t need to be on there. Granted, it is only 90 seconds, but still, does it need to be on there?

I do have to say that I was pretty disappointed that the sound of the car’s horn was not included on this disc. Even though it would have only been a few seconds of a track, it is one of things that make this film so memorable.

While this might not be the most memorable score and one that you might listen to over and over again, for fans of this movie, it is pretty cool. Plus, it is pretty cool to have this ‘Jaws on Wheels’ score to make any car ride a lot more interesting!

Major kudos to Intrada for putting out such an obscure but much loved title.