History Music / ElmerBernstein

After completing his first three Hollywood film scoring assignments between 1950 and 1952, the composer became another in a long list of liberal-minded professionals who Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=] considered a threat to the American way of life because of alleged Communist leanings--accusations which of course were fabricated to bolster [=McCarthy=]'s own political agenda. Undaunted, Elmer quietly persevered by taking on a series of low-budget science fiction movies, where minuscule budgets forced him to use creativity and ingenuity to compensate for a lack of resources. (''Film/CatWomenOfTheMoon'' and ''Film/RobotMonster'' are fun favorites of all serious Elmer Bernstein devotees.) His Hollywood career turned around when Creator/OttoPreminger and Creator/CecilBDeMille ignored the blacklist and chose him to write two very different scores for two very different projects, a jazzy score for Preminger's addiction drama ''The Man With The Golden Arm'' and a symphonic score for [=DeMille's=] Biblical blockbuster ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956''. The two films established Bernstein as one of the most versatile composers in film and he rarely lacked for work after that.

After completing his first three Hollywood film scoring assignments between 1950 and 1952, the composer became another in a long list of liberal-minded professionals who Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=] considered a threat to the American way of life because of alleged Communist leanings--accusations which of course were fabricated to bolster [=McCarthy=]'s own political agenda. Undaunted, Elmer quietly persevered by taking on a series of low-budget science fiction movies, where minuscule budgets forced him to use creativity and ingenuity to compensate for a lack of resources. (''Film/CatWomenOfTheMoon'' and ''Film/RobotMonster'' are fun favorites of all serious Elmer Bernstein devotees.) His Hollywood career turned around when Creator/OttoPreminger and Creator/CecilBDeMille chose him to write two very different scores for two very different projects, a jazzy score for the addiction drama ''TheManWithTheGoldenArm'' and a symphonic score for the Biblical blockbuster ''Film/TheTenCommandments1956''. The two films established Bernstein as one of the most versatile composers in film and he rarely lacked for work after that.

After completing his first three Hollywood film scoring assignments between 1950 and 1952, the composer became another in a long list of liberal-minded professionals who Senator Joseph [=McCarthy=] considered a threat to the American way of life because of alleged Communist leanings--accusations which of course were fabricated to bolster [=McCarthy=]'s own political agenda. Undaunted, Elmer quietly persevered by taking on a series of low-budget science fiction movies, where minuscule budgets forced him to use creativity and ingenuity to compensate for a lack of resources. (''Film/CatWomenOfTheMoon'' and ''Film/RobotMonster'' are fun favorites of all serious Elmer Bernstein devotees.)

In an interview conducted for a book on film composing, Elmer once said that the wonder of music is that the listener doesn't need to bring anything to the table. He or she doesn't need to have an intellectual understanding of it, a knowledge of how it is made, or even why it was written. The listener can respond to it purely on an emotional level. Director John Sturges once remarked that he could direct an actor to look out a window, but Elmer's music could tell you what that actor was thinking or feeling.

* Selected by Cecil B. [=DeMille=] to score ''The Ten Commandments'', even though the young 34-year old composer had only been scoring films for 5 years.

* 'Film/TheGreatSantini'' (1979)

* RevivalByCommercialization: "Step to the Rear" from 1967 flop Broadway musical ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_Now,_Dow_Jones How Now, Dow Jones]]'' managed to get a strange second life outside of it. It was used in Hubert Humphrey's 1968 presidential campaign, in car commercials for Lincoln-Mercury, and was adapted into the FootballFightSong for the University of South Carolina Gamecocks.

* ''The Scalphunters'' (1968) -- Bernstein brings everything to the table for this social satire with a moral lesson about the evils of slavery and greed: good action cues, great theme song, fun comedic music.

* ''The Buccaneer'' (1958).
* ''Film/{{Hud}}'' (1963).

* ''The Tin Star'' (1957).

* ''Rampage'' (1963).

* ''Men in War'' (1957).
* ''Kings Go Forth'' (1958).
* ''Cast a Giant Shadow'' (1966).

* ''Film/{{Oscar}}''

* ''Theatre/{{Oscar}}''

One of the greatest film music composers in the history of American film, Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004) was born in New York City. While in his teens, his piano teacher realized he had a creative gift and later was introduced to the legendary Music/AaronCopland. Copland being impressed, sent him at the age of 13 to see a gifted pupil, Israel Sitkowitz. He subsequently enrolled at the Juilliard School in New York, where he continued as a piano student and also took up composition. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, it became necessary to differentiate between two very successful and popular composers/conductors with apparently the same last name -- Bernstein. Music/LeonardBernstein (pronounced Burn-STINE) was the famous pianist/conductor of the New York Philharmonic, star of the enormously popular Young People's Concert series that introduced classical music to the younger generation, and acclaimed composer of numerous concert and musical theater works, including ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' and ''Theatre/OnTheTown''. Elmer Bernstein (pronounced Burn-STEEN), also a concert pianist, earned his acclaim in the West-coast film industry, composing some of the most memorable, melodic, and exciting film scores over five decades. This is the man who wrote music for [[Film/TheTenCommandments1956 Moses]], ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'', [[Film/TheGreatEscape the Cooler King]], [[Film/ToKillAMockingbird Scout and Jem]], [[Film/TrueGrit Rooster Cogburn]], the Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}, Creator/DanielDayLewis, and Creator/MartinScorsese. So, lest there be any confusion identifying the two (and to dispel the myth that they were brothers), Leonard became known as Bernstein East (signifying New York), and Elmer was dubbed Bernstein West. [[note}} It helped that when they first met they quickly became good - if occasionally rather competitive - friends. [[/note]]

One of the greatest film music composers in the history of American film, Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004) was born in New York City. While in his teens, his piano teacher realized he had a creative gift and later was introduced to the legendary Music/AaronCopland. Copland being impressed, sent him at the age of 13 to see a gifted pupil, Israel Sitkowitz. He subsequently enrolled at the Juilliard School in New York, where he continued as a piano student and also took up composition. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, it became necessary to differentiate between two very successful and popular composers/conductors with apparently the same last name -- Bernstein. Music/LeonardBernstein (pronounced Burn-STINE) was the famous pianist/conductor of the New York Philharmonic, star of the enormously popular Young People's Concert series that introduced classical music to the younger generation, and acclaimed composer of numerous concert and musical theater works, including ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' and ''Theatre/OnTheTown''. Elmer Bernstein (pronounced Burn-STEEN), also a concert pianist, earned his acclaim in the West-coast film industry, composing some of the most memorable, melodic, and exciting film scores over five decades. This is the man who wrote music for [[Film/TheTenCommandments1956 Moses]], ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'', [[Film/TheGreatEscape the Cooler King]], [[Film/ToKillAMockingbird Scout and Jem]], [[Film/TrueGrit Rooster Cogburn]], the Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}, Creator/DanielDayLewis, and Creator/MartinScorsese. So, lest there be any confusion identifying the two (and to dispel the myth that they were brothers), Leonard became known as Bernstein East (signifying New York), and Elmer was dubbed Bernstein West.

One of the greatest film music composers in the history of American film, Elmer Bernstein (April 4, 1922 – August 18, 2004) was born in New York City. While in his teens, his piano teacher realized he had a creative gift and later was introduced to the legendary Music/AaronCopland. Copland being impressed, sent him at the age of 13 to see a gifted pupil, Israel Sitkowitz. He subsequently enrolled at the Juilliard School in New York, where he continued as a piano student and also took up composition. During the late 1950s and early 1960s, it became necessary to differentiate between two very successful and popular composers/conductors with apparently the same last name -- Bernstein. Music/LeonardBernstein (pronounced Burn-STINE) was the famous pianist/conductor of the New York Philharmonic, star of the enormously popular Young People's Concert series that introduced classical music to the younger generation, and acclaimed composer of numerous concert and musical theater works, including ''Theatre/WestSideStory'' and ''Theatre/OnTheTown''. Elmer Bernstein (pronounced Burn-STEEN), also a concert pianist, earned his acclaim in the West-coast film industry, composing some of the most memorable, melodic, and exciting film scores over five decades. This is the man who wrote music for [[Film/TheTenCommandments Moses]], ''[[Film/TheMagnificentSeven1960 The Magnificent Seven]]'', [[Film/TheGreatEscape the Cooler King]], [[Film/ToKillAMockingbird Scout and Jem]], [[Film/TrueGrit Rooster Cogburn]], the Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}, Creator/DanielDayLewis, and Creator/MartinScorsese. So, lest there be any confusion identifying the two (and to dispel the myth that they were brothers), Leonard became known as Bernstein East (signifying New York), and Elmer was dubbed Bernstein West.

* ''Film/TheTenCommandments'' (1956) -- Grand, elaborate spectacle as only Creator/CecilBDeMille can create. The Ten Commandments is akin to Elmer Bernstein's First Symphony.

* Four of Elmer's most memorable scores were composed for films starring Creator/SteveMcQueenActor: ''The Magnificent Seven'', ''The Great Escape'', ''Love With the Proper Stranger'', and ''Baby, the Rain Must Fall''.

* ''Film/{{Genocide|1981}}'' -- Holocaust documentary.

** Creator/VareseSarabande issued a re-recording conducted by the composer (Walt Disney Productions didn't release the film tracks at the time, perhaps because [unusually for a Disney film even then] there were no audience-friendly songs); /Creator/{{Intrada}} later released the complete original soundtrack in 2012, including the bits deleted from the actual film by last-minute ExecutiveMeddling.

** Creator/VareseSarabande issued a re-recording conducted by the composer (Walt Disney Productions didn't release the film tracks at the time, perhaps because [unusually for a Disney film even then] there were no audience-friendly songs); Intrada later released the complete original soundtrack in 2012, including the bits deleted from the actual film by last-minute ExecutiveMeddling.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'' (1984) -- shows the whimsical side of the composer. The score prominently features the Ondes Martenot--an oscillating electronic instrument that was the precursor for the modern synthesizer. Developed in 1928 by Maurice Martenot, the Ondes sounds similar to the Theremin, which was invented a decade earlier and which is no doubt familiar to fans of Bernard Herrmann (''Film/{{The Day the Earth Stood Still|1951}}'') and Music/TheBeachBoys (Good Vibrations); in fact, Bernstein ''used'' the {{Theremin}} StandardSnippet in ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal1981''. Like the Theremin, the Ondes produces an eerie oscillating tone reminiscent of fingers delicately passing along the rim of a crystal wine glass. Bernstein uses the Ondes to good effect here, employing it to accentuate the unpredictable behavior of the mischievous ghosts lurking in hotel hallways and ballrooms.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'' (1984) -- shows the whimsical side of the composer. The score prominently features the Ondes Martenot--an oscillating electronic instrument that was the precursor for the modern synthesizer. Developed in 1928 by Maurice Martenot, the Ondes sounds similar to the Theremin, which was invented a decade earlier and which is no doubt familiar to fans of Bernard Herrmann (''Film/{{The Day the Earth Stood Still|1951}}'') and Music/TheBeachBoys (Good Vibrations); in fact, Bernstein ''used'' the {{Theramin}} StandardSnippet in ''Film/HeavyMetal1981''. Like the Theremin, the Ondes produces an eerie oscillating tone reminiscent of fingers delicately passing along the rim of a crystal wine glass. Bernstein uses the Ondes to good effect here, employing it to accentuate the unpredictable behavior of the mischievous ghosts lurking in hotel hallways and ballrooms.

* ''Film/{{Ghostbusters|1984}}'' (1984) -- shows the whimsical side of the composer. The score prominently features the Ondes Martenot--an oscillating electronic instrument that was the precursor for the modern synthesizer. Developed in 1928 by Maurice Martenot, the Ondes sounds similar to the Theremin, which was invented a decade earlier and which is no doubt familiar to fans of Bernard Herrmann (''Film/{{The Day the Earth Stood Still|1951}}'') and Music/TheBeachBoys (Good Vibrations). Like the Theremin, the Ondes produces an eerie oscillating tone reminiscent of fingers delicately passing along the rim of a crystal wine glass. Bernstein uses the Ondes to good effect here, employing it to accentuate the unpredictable behavior of the mischievous ghosts lurking in hotel hallways and ballrooms.

* ''Far From Heaven'' (2002) -- The composer concluded his illustrious film music career with this stunning achievement. Having honed his craft on films like Desire Under the Elms, Some Came Running, and From the Terrace, Elmer knew just the right approach to take with Far From Heaven's score. In the end, Elmer's score is rendered with the same artistic strokes as the film's rich New England autumn color and the simple but very naturalistic dialogue. A great film and a fitting swan song for one of the greatest film composers of the 20th Century.

* ''Film/CapeFear'' adapting Music/BernardHerrmann's score for the 1962 version.