Tuesday Minute
No. 48 | March 9, 2010

What’s the Score?

Our theme this week (theme introduction)
Unforgettable film scores of the 1960s

Featured this week
Monday         —   Bernard Herrmann:  “Psycho” (1960)

Elmer Bernstein:  “The Magnificent Seven” (1960)

About Elmer Bernstein

• American, 1922-2004; active in film 1951-2004
• Educated at the Walden School and New York University
• Was friends with, but not related to, composer-conductor Leonard Bernstein
• A versatile composer, his work ranged from orchestral to jazz to light comedic scores
• The score for The Magnificent Seven, probably his best-known work, was used for Marlboro TV commercials in the 1960s

Honors

• Academy Awards:  1 Oscar, 14 nominations (the only person to be nominated in each of six decades, from the 1950s to 2000s)
• National Board of Review:  Career Achievement Award
• ASCAP Film & Television Music Awards:  Lifetime Achievement Award, ASCAP Founders Award
• Two scores among the top 25 American film scores chosen by the AFI in 2005 (The Magnificent Seven, #8; To Kill a Mockingbird, #17)

Select list of film credits

• Sudden Fear (1952)
• The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
• The Ten Commandments (1956)
• Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
• The Magnificent Seven (1960)
• To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)
• Walk on the Wild Side (1962)
• The Great Escape (1963)
• Return of the Seven (1966)
• Thoroughly Modern Millie (1967)
• True Grit (1969)
• The Trial of Billy Jack (1974)
• The Great Santini (1979)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• My Left Foot (1989)
• The Grifters (1990)
• Cape Fear (1991)
• The Age of Innocence (1993)
• Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
• Far from Heaven (2002)

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The Magnificent Seven
John Sturges, director
Charles Lang, cinematographer

 

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Movie Lexicon
Foley Artist:  A crew member who creates sound effects during a film’s post-production.  The foley artist uses a wide variety of props to mimic the sound of the action.  Often, the source of the sound effect is unrelated to what’s onscreen.  For example, the sound of thunder can be created from flapping an aluminum sheet, or the sound of breaking bone from snapping a celery stalk.  The name foley artist comes from Jack Foley, one of Hollywood’s early sound effects specialists.

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