Most of us know Lalo Schifrin for his jazz music and scores to Dirty Harry and Bullitt. That's how I first became aware of him and found other scores of his over the years that are completely different. THX 1138 is definitely one of those scores. Sure there are some jazz cues in here but mostly this score is more laid back, in a sense that is underscores the forbidden romance and mystery of the world this movie projects.
The Liquidator (1966) was an MGM spy spoof starring Rod Taylor as "Boysie" Oakes, a cowardly assassin who takes orders from Trevor Howard and falls for Howard's secretary, future "Bond girl" Jill St. John. The film was a black-comic look at the secret agent milieu popularized by the James Bond series, filmed in England and on the French Riviera, directed by noted cinematographer Jack Cardiff, and based on the novel by John Gardner. Scoring The Liquidator soundtrack was Lalo Schifrin - the composer who would become iconic for another '60s spy franchise, Mission: Impossible. The Liquidator was one of Schifrin's first feature-film assignments, which he tackled with his characteristic jazz/symphonic panache, combining eclectic, tuneful source cues with dramatic, avant-garde score - all with a gloriously '60s flair. Schifrin did not attempt to emulate the James Bond scores, but provided his own sense of danger and excitement, making use of many of England's finest jazz players.