Indagine su un Cittadino al di sopra di ogni Sospetto (Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion) [Original Soundtrack]

Give Ennio Morricone a chance to get a little sardonic, and he’ll take it for all its worth. Elio Petri’s 1970 political thriller Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion treated the actions of a corrupt, murderous, and arrogant high-ranking cop with the sly contempt they deserved, and Morricone’s score uses springy jaw harp, skulking rhythms, and a perfectly needling tightrope-wobble melodic motif  to create one of the best examples of a score practically bellowing can you believe this asshole? in his whole filmography. Even with all its eyerolling at authority, however, the music brings some spectacular tension to the fore in just the right moments, the kind of clenched-fist stuff Bernard Herrmann would no longer be alone in mastering.