Police Academy (Bootleg)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

Some people have become famous for starring in the Police Academy series namely Steve Guttenberg which went on to star in several popular family movies, Kim Cattrall starred in the first movie and appears now as a sexy fox in the hit series "Sex in the City" and Michael Winslow since he basically is a walkin' talkin' sound effects machine. Others have not and that concerns mostly G.W. Bailey who portrayed the excellent Lt. Harris and starred otherwise as a same casting role (with dog) in the fun movie Mannequin and other cult classic Short Circuit. Another one that hasn't become famous, yet is talented enough otherwise is composer Robert Folk, yes the man who scored such great scores as Tremors, Toy Soldiers and various other B-movie adventures. He also scored the entire collection of Police Academy movies which got worse from the fourth one. The first was actually along with the third the best and you might think you're getting the score of the first. Well, you're wrong. You actually get a sampler of all the movies (I think at least) because the moments I wanted from the first aren't found on this disc and since I know what is missing and remembered several very obvious pieces from other films, I'm sure that this bootleg of Police Academy is in fact a sampler of all the movies, with the mere fact that actually 90% of the tracks carry the main theme of Police Academy, a marching and heroic sounding B-classic theme which will instantly bring you back to the good days. You might think that hearing that theme over and over again will drag the score! A bit, but the variations are countless to be exact.

The score opens with very good sound quality for a bootleg and as expected with the marching main theme. And so it continues, but in fact with style, 'Track 2' uses an action adventure variation on the theme and in fact put this in Beastmaster 2, some people might not discover the difference, as here the flutes are whirling like in that score. A slight Horner variation of that theme is heard in 'Track 3' and 'Track 4' captures more of the great adventurous variation on the main theme, again these flutes are stunning to hear. In fact the first 5 tracks carry the theme over and over but they never sag since each variation is new onto itself. 'Track 9' shows in fact how much you can variate the theme while sounding completely different all the time, since Lt. Harris theme is in fact a menacing and almost comical version of the main theme, which works quite well I'll admit. 'Track 10' is a bit more light comical and silly and 'Track 15' is definitely the opening music for the fifth film, since it is different from the rest of the films in which it uses the 3 bad guys sliding down a wire to steal a precious diamond. 'Track 21' is a 10 minute suite containing the main theme, its adventurous counterpoint and some extra added (but already heard) music and in 'Track 18' and 'Track 21' (which are the same) we hear a nifty Superman variation on the theme. The only downfalls to this bootleg is the deletion of some excellent highlights (I wanted especially the action / suspense music of the first film which concerned the riots in the town) and that tracks 19 and 20 cover a dreadful sound quality of the Police Academy music. But overall an almost stunning sound quality and an over repetition but varied theme laden bootleg makes of Police Academy a nice sampler for the fans. Too bad it misses diversity, the overall music of the first film and the classic Blue Oyster gay tune, because we loved those scenes in the movie don't we!

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Track 1 (2.30)

2. Track 2 (2.17)

3. Track 3 (1.44)

4. Track 4 (2.18)

5. Track 5 (1.38)

6. Track 6 (1.04)

7. Track 7 (2.05)

8. Track 8 (0.44)

9. Track 9 (2.42)

10. Track 10 (1.49)

11. Track 11 (1.11)

12. Track 12 (2.16)

13. Track 13 (0.59)

14. Track 14 (2.23)

15. Track 15 (2.32)

16. Track 16 (1.40)

17. Track 17 (0.54)

18. Track 18 (2.04)

19. Track 19 (3.09)

20. Track 20 (4.00)

21. Track 21 (9.24)

22. Track 22 (2.03)

Total Length: 52.22

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

=== Link to Composer Site: Robert Folk ===