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)

The Magnificent Seven
John Sturges, director
Charles Lang, cinematographer

…58…59…60.