but mostly this is played completely The scores for both films were written straight, with even Lester’s visual style by Lester’s frequent musical collabora - completely in service of the material. tor, Ken Thorne. Thorne’s score for Jug - Unfortunately, the film didn’t do that well gernaut is very brief but very effective – at the box-office, although it did receive it is filled with tension, has some great many excellent reviews. But in the inter - action scoring when the bomb squad is “MY NAME vening years, the film has achieved cult, parachuting aboard the Brittanic, and IS JUGGERNAUT” if not classic, status – some films are his music heightens every scene in just a victim of timing or public taste or which it’s used. There’s also a very nd with that line, so begins one of whatever – but ultimately if they’re great, pretty theme to accompany scenes with the great unsung films of the as this film is, they find their audience. Shirley Knight and Omar Sharif, but A1970s, Richard Lester’s 1974 film, Everything about the film works well, es - mostly his music plays the same cat and Juggernaut . Lester was, by that time, pecially its cast – Harris and Hemmings mouse game that the characters play. known for his two wonderful Beatles’ are superb, Omar Sharif, Shirley Knight, films, A Hard Day’s Night and Help! , the Ian Holm, Lester regular Roy Kinnear, a Thorne’s score for The Bed Sitting film version of the Broadway show A young Anthony Hopkins, and especially Room is the polar opposite of Jugger - Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Freddie Jones, are equally great. naut – whimsical, jaunty, rueful, and the Forum , as well as The Knack, The filled with one great melody after an - Bed Sitting Room, and How I Won the Lester actually took over the direction of other. Thorne was really adept at writ - War , all of which were suffused with the film after both Bryan Forbes and ing comedy scores, in a way that few Lester’s visual style and humor. He’d Don Medford left during pre-production. composers are. And he especially had also made the drama, Petulia , which He and writer Alan Pater rewrote the an affinity for complimenting Lester’s vi - was a whole different kind of film for original Richard Alan Simmons script. suals. Lester, and just prior to Juggernaut , he’d Simmons was not happy with the new made a boisterous and wonderful film script and used the name Richard The source material for both scores of The Three Musketeers . But nothing DeKoker on the film, and Pater was came from Mr. Thorne’s personal tapes. Lester had done could have prepared credited with additional dialogue. For Juggernaut, those tapes had the en - audiences for the tension-filled, excru - tire brief score, save for one cue, the ciating suspense of Juggernaut . While WE’VE GOT A BOMB ON end titles. We were able to take most of it’s sometimes spoken of as a disaster OUR HANDS that from the DVD (there is a tiny bit of film, it’s not really in the Irwin Allen mold sound effects – ocean noise – for the at all. The set-up comes quickly – a man Ironically,“We’ve got a bomb on our first few seconds). The Bed Sitting identifying himself only as “Juggernaut” hands” was the ad line used five years Room is quite a long score, but Mr. calls the owner of a shipping line and earlier for Lester’s film version of John Thorne only had highlights from it on a says there are seven barrels of amatol Antrobus and Spike Milligan’s post- reel, and we’ve included everything he (explosives) on board the luxury-liner apocalyptic comedy, The Bed Sitting had, as no tapes from either film were in Brittanic. They are set to explode by Room. Lester brought his unique comic the MGM vault. dawn of the next day. Any attempt to de - visual style to this very weird comedy, fuse them will cause them to detonate. which features an amazing cast (listed So, two completely different films with If a ransom of 500,000 pounds is paid, in the credits not alphabetically, but by two completely different scores by one Juggernaut will then send instructions height) – Ralph Richardson, Michael completely great composer – Ken on how to defuse the bombs. Jugger- Hordern, Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Thorne. naut then gives a little demonstration by Marty Feldman, Mona Washbourne, triggering a few small explosions. All this Roy Kinnear, Arthur Lowe, and fellow — Bruce Kimmel happens during the film’s terrific open - Goon Show members, Spike Milligan ing sequence. and Harry Secombe. There’s not much plot – Lord Fortnum thinks he’s mutat - As it is the policy of the British govern - ing into a Bed Sitting Room (and he ment to not negotiate with terrorists, a eventually does), a girl is seventeen bomb expert, Anthony Fallon (played by months pregnant, the girl’s mother finds Richard Harris, in one of his best per - a paper that says she’s been dead for formances) is called in. He brings his several years and then ultimately the right-hand man (played by David Hem - mother becomes a chest of drawers, mings) and his team. From there on out and on and on. It’s all very surreal, very it’s a game of edge-of-your-seat cat and funny, and beautifully photographed by mouse scenes between Harris and David Watkin. company and Juggernaut. Yes, there’s still Lester’s occasional quirky humor,