Broxton Comment-MB-002-29

AD OGNI COSTO [GRAND SLAM] (1967)

Ad Ogni Costo, released as Grand Slam in the United States, is a crime caper directed by Giuliano Montaldo, starring Edward G. Robinson as an American professor living in Brazil who, having grown bored with his life in academia, decides to try to pull off a diamond heist during the Rio Carnival. To this end he gathers together a team of skilled crime specialists, including an electronics engineer and a safecracking expert, to help him complete the job, while elsewhere a French playboy is hired to romance the only key to the building from its beautiful female owner, played by Janet Leigh.

The score is based around three main recurring themes. The main title, “Punto e Basta,” is an irrepressibly sunny piece of Herb Alpert -style Tijuana jazz, with a jaunty trumpet refrain, a light pop percussion section, and a choir ‘la la la’-ing and ‘ba-da-ba-ing over the melody. “Vai Via Malinconia” is a more lounge-based jazz piece with its roots in Brazilian bossa nova, with a moody trumpet melody and glittering rhythmic guitars. The eponymous “Ad Ogni Costo” is a little darker and more intense, but still based around jazz music principles, with an unusually metered rhythmic centerpiece for harpsichord and guitars, surrounded by all manner of ethnic shakers and percussion items.

Elsewhere, “Ai, Moreno” is a clattering, flamboyant carnival piece for trumpets and voices that make you want to done a fruit-encrusted headdress and shake your hips. “In Chiesa” is a gorgeous piece of liturgical church music for strings and pipe organ. Finally, “Dirgli Solo No” has a soft rumba beat and, oddly, a set of vaguely Chinese-sounding chord progressions, oddly juxtaposed against wistful vocals. None of this is really going to appeal to anyone who doesn’t care for Morricone’s Latin-flavored pop scores, but I like it a great deal.

I personally own the 1999 RCA Records release which combines 24 minutes of music from Ad Ogni Costo with score from the 1965 movie Menage all’Italiana. However, the most complete release of the music appears to be 2010 edition from GDM Music, which expands the score to 54 minutes with eleven variations on several of the core themes, and presents it with enhanced digital sound.

Track Listing: 1. Punto e Basta – Titoli di Testa (2:56), 2. Vai Via Malinconia (1:30), 3. Ad Ogni Costo (2:43), 4. Vai Via Malinconia #2 (1:37), 5. In Chiesa (2:27), 6. Dirgli Solo No (2:12), 7. Tudo e Nada (2:43), 8. Voce (2:30), 9. Ai, Morena (2:22), 10. Samba do Desprezo (1:59), 11. Eu Fiz Mal Em Dizer (2:03), 12. Samba Bamba (Versione Coro (3:20), 13. Ai, Morena #2 (2:05), 14. Punto e Basta #2 (2:56), 15. Dirgli Solo No #2 (2:32), 16. Samba Bamba (Versione Strumente con Tromba) (3:20), 17. Ad Ogni Costo #2 (1:59), 18. Vai Via Malinconia #3 (1:41), 19. Ai, Morena #3 (3:22), 20. Dirgli Solo No #3 (3:07), 21. Tudo e Nada #2 (2:07), 22. Vai Via Malinconia #4 (2:29). GDM Music 7086, 54 minutes 00 seconds.

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