ABOUT THE FILM

After seeing his partner being killed in front of him by the Italian mafioso Palermo, the sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo manages to capture the murderer and travel to Europe to deliver him to his country's authorities. However, the criminal's allies manage to divert the plane to the tiny island of Malta and the villain escapes. The typical Texan cowboy Geronimo starts chasing his former prisoner while faces some resistance from local police officers. Among strip clubs, carnival parades and ports, the feature film Final Justice overflows with clichés: chase scenes and duels, repetitive dialogues, half-naked women with no purpose, sloppy photography and truncated video editing. On this genuine B movie, the sequences that take place during the carnival parade is accompanied by a Moacir Santos composition, with lyrics in Portuguese.

REDUCED CREDITS

Directed by Greydon Clark
Produced by Arista Films
Screenwriting by Greydon Clark

Music by David Bell
Music supervisor: John Caper Jr.
Songs by Bill Scott; and David Morgan
Additional music by Moacir Santos [Carnival Music]

COMPOSITIONS IDENTIFIED IN THE SCORE

"Samba Di Amante" – released in the album Choros & Alegria [2005]

FILM MUSIC DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

The film’s opening credits inform that the music was composed by David Bell, and it is represented by various instrumental excerpts that interact very closely with the classic suspense/thriller genre film scores. The final credits, however, list additional songs and compositions: "The Sound of Justice" by David Bell; "You Better Run" and "Look at me Dancin’ " by Bill Scott; and "Carnival Music" by Moacir Santos. The song attributed to Santos was recognized as "Samba Di Amante", recorded and released two decades later in the album Choros & Alegria of 2005.The film’s opening credits inform that the music was composed by David Bell, and it is represented by various instrumental excerpts that interact very closely with the classic suspense/thriller genre film scores. The final credits, however, list additional songs and compositions: "The Sound of Justice" by David Bell; "You Better Run" and "Look at me Dancin’ " by Bill Scott; and "Carnival Music" by Moacir Santos. The song attributed to Santos was recognized as "Samba Di Amante", recorded and released two decades later in the album Choros & Alegria of 2005.

It is remarkable how the form and structure of Santos’ song in the Final Justice soundtrack are very similar to those of the album, differing only in the arrangement, particularly due to the fact that the record’s arrangement was an adaptation by Mario Adnet based on Santos’ compositional style. In both cases, the song has as base a percussion section with a Carnival-like touch, a set of woodwinds, brass and voices, despite the percussion "drumming" on the film score being apparently performed by a synthesizer. The main difference is that in the film we hear a female chorus and it prevails over the wind instruments. In the album, however, the arrangement highlights more the brilliant instrumentation of the brass and woodwinds, in addition to being a solo male voice, recorded by Moacir Santos himself. Another interesting consideration is that the music in the film has some lyrics sung in Portuguese and others are just vocalized. In the 2005 version by Santos and Adnet, only vocalese is used, there are no lyrics.

Santos’ song is heard three times in the film and basically serves to situate the scenes where the characters are in a crowd during a carnival parade in the streets of Malta, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. During all these scenes, we see the sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III searching for the Italian mafioso Joseph Palermo, with the help of a local woman who guides him around the town.

In the composition’s first appearance, the two are at a hotel and the woman comments on the carnival parade. At this moment, Santos’ music can already be heard. They look out of the window at the crowd and the volume increases, reinforcing the impression that the music is actually being played at the parade. In the next scene, both of them go down into the streets and a "mysterious" music insertion is juxtaposed over Santos’ percussion, in a non-synchronic manner, dividing the soundtrack into two distinct plans.

The second appearance occurs right after another scene at a strip club where we once again see the two characters on the street. Santos’ music returns alone, without the presence of the other simultaneous musical layer, making its compositional elements more intelligible. The excerpt is short and it is soon gone.

In the third and last appearance of the excerpt, we see once again the characters on the street talking about the sought after Palermo. The music begins at the exact moment when they ask some of the town’s prostitutes about the mafia guy. Once again, the "suspense" musical insertion is juxtaposed over Santos’ composition, and both continue simultaneously throughout the entire next scene, being individually highlighted at certain moments. The scene shows various men on the lookout, observing the sheriff and his helper. As soon as the characters realize they are being watched, they manage to kill all the men.

Moacir Santos’ music for Final Justice is quite sporadic, but its analysis is important for this research as it adds to the bibliography one more example of the composer’s music for films that will later reappear in subsequent albums.

It is remarkable how the form and structure of Santos’ song in the Final Justice soundtrack are very similar to those of the album, differing only in the arrangement, particularly due to the fact that the record’s arrangement was an adaptation by Mario Adnet based on Santos’ compositional style. In both cases, the song has as base a percussion section with a Carnival-like touch, a set of woodwinds, brass and voices, despite the percussion "drumming" on the film score being apparently performed by a synthesizer. The main difference is that in the film we hear a female chorus and it prevails over the wind instruments. In the album, however, the arrangement highlights more the brilliant instrumentation of the brass and woodwinds, in addition to being a solo male voice, recorded by Moacir Santos himself. Another interesting consideration is that the music in the film has some lyrics sung in Portuguese and others are just vocalized. In the 2005 version by Santos and Adnet, only vocalese is used, there are no lyrics.

Santos’ song is heard three times in the film and basically serves to situate the scenes where the characters are in a crowd during a carnival parade in the streets of Malta, an island in the Mediterranean Sea. During all these scenes, we see the sheriff Thomas Jefferson Geronimo III searching for the Italian mafioso Joseph Palermo, with the help of a local woman who guides him around the town.

In the composition’s first appearance, the two are at a hotel and the woman comments on the carnival parade. At this moment, Santos’ music can already be heard. They look out of the window at the crowd and the volume increases, reinforcing the impression that the music is actually being played at the parade. In the next scene, both of them go down into the streets and a "mysterious" music insertion is juxtaposed over Santos’ percussion, in a non-synchronic manner, dividing the soundtrack into two distinct plans.

The second appearance occurs right after another scene at a strip club where we once again see the two characters on the street. Santos’ music returns alone, without the presence of the other simultaneous musical layer, making its compositional elements more intelligible. The excerpt is short and it is soon gone.

In the third and last appearance of the excerpt, we see once again the characters on the street talking about the sought after Palermo. The music begins at the exact moment when they ask some of the town’s prostitutes about the mafia guy. Once again, the "suspense" musical insertion is juxtaposed over Santos’ composition, and both continue simultaneously throughout the entire next scene, being individually highlighted at certain moments. The scene shows various men on the lookout, observing the sheriff and his helper. As soon as the characters realize they are being watched, they manage to kill all the men.

Moacir Santos’ music for Final Justice is quite sporadic, but its analysis is important for this research as it adds to the bibliography one more example of the composer’s music for films that will later reappear in subsequent albums.