Posts from Jay J. Foraker in thread „Duke's Movie Soundtracks- Past Discussion (Archive)“

  • Duke's Movie Soundtracks- Past Discussion (Archive)

    Hi All -
    My choice would be, first and foremost, Dimitri Tiomkin. "The High and the Mighty" with its memorable theme, "The War Wagon" with its title ballad sung by Ed Ames (he of tomahawk notoriety on Johnny Carson's "Tonight Show") and "The Alamo" for exciting music to heighten action and a several ballads to boot, which, if not on the first rung of memorability, still are tuneful.
    Elmer Bernstein would be my second choice. He did a number of Duke's films, all very noteworthy.
    As I mentioned in another post a few weeks ago, I wish Jerry Goldsmith had the opportunity to do more JW movies than "In Harm's Way" and "Rio Lobo." He was the consummate craftsman and innovator with music.
    Cheers - Jay :D

  • Duke's Movie Soundtracks- Past Discussion (Archive)

    My gosh!! I just went over to imdb.com to check out John Williams and found he has been cranking out movie music since the middle 50s. Some of his film scores from the 60s include "The Rare Breed" with Jimmy Stewart and Maureen O'Hara (our favorite feminine co-star for JW), "How To Steal A Million" with Peter O'Toole and Audrey Hepburn and "Penelope" with Natalie Wood. So he already had years of film scoring experience when he did "The Cowboys" and, of course later, the "Star Wars" sagas and beyond.
    Cheers - Jay :D

  • Duke's Movie Soundtracks- Past Discussion (Archive)

    All the great composers have a musical fingerprint, sometimes obvious, sometimes not so obvious. Of film music composers, Tiomkin was almost always recognizable, even if you did not know beforehand who had written the music. So too, Elmer Bernstein had a pretty obvious style. Jerry Goldsmith was more the chameleon, but once you knew he had written the music, it was identifiable to him. The best composers were able to rework material in many ways so that the variations were innumerable.


    Cheers - Jay :D