The Adventure Begins With Safan's "Remo Williams" and Mancini's "Moneychangers"

Raise your hand if you remember the golden age of the television miniseries! Once upon a time, the miniseries was king: Rich Man, Poor Man, QB VII, North and South, Roots, The Thorn Birds. Sprawling novels were translated into multiple evenings of rich, dramatic television, with the small screen taking advantage of a length that even big screen fare couldn’t offer. One such miniseries was 1976’s The Moneychangers, based on a novel by Arthur Hailey (Hotel, Airport) and scored by the same man who would go on to win an Emmy for The Thorn Birds: Henry Mancini. The man born Enrico Nicola Mancini was the perfect choice for the miniseries format, well-versed in the grandeur of Hollywood cinema and the necessities of dramatic scoring. But while Mancini wrote one of his most ambitious scores (at nearly two-and-a-quarter hours’ length!) ever for The Moneychangers, a soundtrack recording was never released. 35 years after the miniseries’ premiere, Intrada is releasing the full Henry Mancini score on a special 1,500-copy limited edition 2-disc set. But that’s not all! The label has also announced a reissue of Craig Safan’s soundtrack from the 1985 pulp-inspired adventure film Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins! That one’s a 1,000-copy limited edition.

Arthur Hailey found unexpected drama in the machinations of a bank in his 1975 novel The Moneychangers. When a miniseries was shot the following year, a powerhouse cast was assembled. Kirk Douglas and Christopher Plummer led the ensemble as two executives with very different moral codes. Douglas is kindly and ethical, while Plummer is avaricious and self-centered. As they vie for control of the financial institution, those around them are caught in a web of intrigue. The supporting cast is filled with familiar names and faces, including Anne Baxter (All About Eve), Ralph Bellamy (Rosemary’s Baby), Timothy Bottoms (The Last Picture Show), Hayden Rorke (I Dream of Jeannie), James Shigeta (Flower Drum Song), Lorne Greene (Bonanza) and Robert Loggia, a favorite character actor of director Blake Edwards. Edwards, in turn, was the most frequent collaborator of Henry Mancini.

The Moneychangers’ director Boris Sagal intended to heighten the drama and the human situations of what could have been a cold story, and Mancini matched his vision musically. Intrada’s first-ever release of the score is sequenced in four parts, as the film was. The sweeping, expansive score offers lush romantic themes, suspenseful action cues and customary combo pieces. The license for release was granted by CBS to Intrada but the release wasn’t made possible until the bass trombonist from the sessions located the original ¼-inch full-track mono safeties of the complete score! The line-up of players assembled by Mancini was expectedly top-notch, drawing on many of the same key players who had contributed to his best-selling albums over the years. Players like Ted Nash, Vincent DeRosa, Graham Young, Dick Nash, Bob Bain, Terry Woodson and Shelly Manne all delivered that unique Mancini sound; Mancini, of course, conducted. As the only piece of music previously available was the re-recorded main theme on the Mancini’s Angels LP, much of The Moneychangers will be a major surprise to even the most dedicated Mancini fans. (This is, in fact, the perfect complement to Intrada's first Mancini world premiere of the year, March's Trail of the Pink Panther.)

There's more adventure, Remo Williams-style, after the jump!

Unlike The Moneychangers, the score to Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins has previously been released on CD. But the last edition on Perseverance Records reversed the channels; even the master tapes were incorrect in this regard! Intrada’s new release happily introduces the correct channel balance, adds source music to the program’s conclusion and slightly re-indexes the tracks. Remo Williams was based on the pulp adventure stories in The Destroyer, a series of novels about an American government operative which began in 1971. Like Henry Mancini, composer Craig Safan was at home on both the big (The Last Starfighter) and small (Cheers) screens, and for Remo Williams, he employed a number of colors including orchestra, synthesizers and even a group of Korean musicians for a sound that was authentic to the film’s setting.

Without a doubt, Remo Williams is eighties action/adventure in high-flying style. Director Guy Hamilton’s film starred Fred Ward as the titular character, supported by Wilford Brimley, Kate Mulgrew and Joel Grey. Already an Oscar and Tony winner, Grey received a Golden Globe nomination for his performance as Williams’ martial arts master Chiun. Though the film didn’t achieve blockbuster status, it nonetheless spun off a television pilot which didn’t lead to a full series; that pilot starred Jeffrey Meek as Williams and the venerable Roddy McDowall as Chiun.

The limited editions of both The Moneychangers and Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins are available for pre-order now from Intrada. The 2-CD Moneychangers sells for $29.99 while the single-disc Remo can be had for $19.99. You’ll find pre-order links below!

Henry Mancini, The Moneychangers: Original Soundtrack (Intrada Special Collection 172, 2011)

CD 1: Part One, Tracks 1-17 & Part Two, Tracks 18-34