This week on Film Score Friday, we listen to the score from The Sons on Katie Elder. Elmer Bernstein wrote the score for this 1965 western. Those familiar with Benstein's work with westerns will feel right at home here. The Horns have plenty of time to shine with the triumphant main theme. Enjoy!
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This week on Film Score Friday, we listen to the score from The Great Escape. Elmer Bernstein wrote the score for this 1963 World War 2 tale. This is a great film that few have seen these days. Despite, you'll almost certainly recognize this iconic score. Bernstein's score has been reused a number of times in various media. It's also easy to to see how much future film composers were influenced by this one. Enjoy!
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This week on Film Score Friday, we listen to the score from Stripes. Elmer Bernstein wrote the score for the 1981 comedy about enlisting in the army. For a score that was not released when the movie premiered, it's quite good. We wouldn't attempt to make any argument for this being Bernstein's best work, but it's still a good listen. There's cross-pollination with other scores from Bernstein so it will feel familiar with his other works.
Bernstein keeps close to the army theme and has a march feel for much of the score. The motive he uses at the beginning crops up throughout the film in many different ways. The main theme is catchy and we find ourselves humming it unexpectedly quite often.
Let us know in the comments if the theme from Stripes was an ear worm for you too.
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This week on Film Score Friday we listen to the score from To Kill a Mockingbird. This 1962 Elmer Bernstein score was tasked with the difficult task of providing accompaniment for a heavy story. Bernstein succeeds and hits the overall right tones for this treasure.
As with a number of Bernstein films, you will hear the influence of Copland throughout. It does border on the lines of what would be appropriate for a western. When you consider the period this comes from it makes much more sense. Bernstein chose to be subtle with this score in sharp contrast to some of his other works. There is not a tremendous amount of brass in this film, but where it is present it's fantastic.
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The Magnificent Seven debuted in 1960 with what we now consider iconic actors and iconic music. When we watch the story, you see very familiar themes of an unlikely band of rough characters coming to train townspeople to fight oppressors. It's familiar because this movie did it first and movies have copied the winning formula for decades. The same kind of ground was broken with the score.
Most of the movie takes place in Mexico and this certainly comes out in parts of the score. Elmer Bernstein set a standard here not just for westerns, but for how programmatic music can add so much to the highs and lows of a movie. Fun fact: John Williams (yes, that John Williams) played in the orchestra when this was recorded.
How magnificent do think this score is?
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