Carter's Notes

I'm a fan of romantic comedies of the mid-20th century. I'm also a fan of the sexual revolution of the 60's. But somehow the latter has completely soured the former. Without some formal structure to romance, and some sophistication to courting, there's no room for the screwball or the zany. Today's romantic comedies often involve highly contrived premises to give them a structure against which to work.

When I was asked if I wanted to work on this late-20th century example of the genre I was not enthusiastic at first. My agent was determined to get me interested, however. Apparently another client of his had just exited the picture and he felt he had a fiduciary responsibility to provide a replacement. I'm an admirer of Andy Bergman's work, and this film was eminently "likeable", so in the end I agreed.

The film is based on a true story (its original and much better title was "Cop Tips Waitress Two Million Dollars"), and was very much in the tradition of films in which New York City is a major character. In the vaguest way I tried to suggest some of the musical diversity of New York's street life, but always the main goal was a warm, bouncy, romantic optimism.

Film Info

Directed by Andrew Bergman
Written by Jand Anderson
Produced by Mike Lobell

Composed by Carter Burwell
Orchestrated and conducted by Sonny Kompanek
Music Editor: Todd Kasow
Music Scoring Mixer: Mike Farrow
Recorded at the Sony Scoring Stage, Los Angeles, and Hit Factory, New York City

Starring Nicholas Cage, Bridget Fonda, Rosie Perez, Isaac Hayes, Stanley Tucci, Seymour Cassel

U.S. Release July, 1994

Audio Samples

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Film Stills