Three First Victims in Basic Instinct

Last year I had the pleasure of working with Quartet Records and scoring mixer Bruce Botnick on an expanded re-issue of Jerry Goldsmith's Oscar®-nominated score to Basic Instinct. This was the third release of the score on CD, but we were able to locate material that had never been released before and fix some sonic anomalies in the original recording. We're all very proud of the album, and I wanted to write about one cue in particular.

The expanded Basic Instinct album from Quartet Records.

The film segues from the main titles into a cue titled, "The First Victim". Basic Instinct pushed the boundaries of the American film rating system and two versions of this scene were created. One featured more sex and violence than the other. The more "adult" version was shown overseas while American audiences got a toned down cut. Goldsmith scored this scene twice, once for each version. The unrated version opens our album, combined with the "Main Title", as it is heard in the film. The R-rated version appears as a bonus track. Interestingly, during the murder, the R-rated cut uses the music intended for the unrated cut. The album presents the cue as recorded, not as it was edited in the film.

Don't pick your nose! Johnny Boz (Bill Cable) becomes "the first victim" in a close-up from the unrated cut.

However there is a third version of "The First Victim" on our album that may not be as obvious. The "End Titles" featured a combination of the "Main Title" with "The First Victim". While the "Main Title" is the same performance that opens the film (albeit, one slightly shortened with edits not duplicated on our album) the replay of "The First Victim" in the film is an entirely different take. To summarize, the unrated cut uses take 61 of "The First Victim" and the R-rated version uses a combination of takes 63 and 61, while all versions of the movie end with take 59.

Sometimes when making these albums one cannot help but have multiple alternates play in a row. In the case of Basic Instinct, there was an elegant way to get the three versions of "The First Victim" used in the film on the album without becoming monotonous.

The Quartet Records release of Basic Instinct is available here.