https://marianawhitmer.com/currentresearch daily 0.75 2024-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1613334020525-TO1D1YM9YWF15DTCRHO1/0127.1235_o6.jpg Current Research on Westerns and Their Music - Westerns typically feature a lot of action with little talk—music helps to convey the excitement and suspense. Scroll down to read some musings and samples of recent research. https://marianawhitmer.com/currentresearch/musical-representations-of-western-settlement-in-silent-westerns-the-covered-wagon-1923 monthly 0.5 2024-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1613053531798-JA1EUL0UQD2IF7FOSXW2/Hugo+Riesenfeld.jpg Current Research on Westerns and Their Music - Musical Representations of Western Settlement in “The Covered Wagon” (1923) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1613309073452-BMOLX9PCESLML0VUXGK1/westward_001.jpg Current Research on Westerns and Their Music - Musical Representations of Western Settlement in “The Covered Wagon” (1923) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1613053296132-OX56CSJMK1AS8P1CO95A/The+Covered+Wagon_1923.jpg Current Research on Westerns and Their Music - Musical Representations of Western Settlement in “The Covered Wagon” (1923) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1613053642700-ZMPA7DNVUZY1KWYOAPNB/Covered+Wagon_cue+sheet.jpg Current Research on Westerns and Their Music - Musical Representations of Western Settlement in “The Covered Wagon” (1923) https://marianawhitmer.com/currentresearch/urg4j7prd5zdgvdvgby050jcmpjxic monthly 0.5 2024-03-30 https://marianawhitmer.com/currentresearch/ernst-luz-and-the-abc-dramatic-sets monthly 0.5 2024-04-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/d5975fef-c30e-4803-b3b1-65b5eb82a0f2/Ernst+Luz+Photo.jpg Current Research on Westerns and Their Music - Ernst Luz and the A.B.C. Dramatic Sets - Make it stand out Ernst Luz in 1915 when he was introduced to the readers of Motion Picture News https://marianawhitmer.com/currentresearch/source-music-in-the-silent-western-direct-cues monthly 0.5 2024-05-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/df277205-e564-4aae-b3d0-b7374ca1a5ed/The+Wind_Bury+Me+Not.png Current Research on Westerns and Their Music - Source Music in the Silent Western: Direct Cues - Make it stand out Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference. https://marianawhitmer.com/welcome daily 1.0 2024-01-15 https://marianawhitmer.com/about daily 0.75 2024-04-05 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/741b04f6-f890-46c5-bd01-9bb403f866fb/Whitmer_1.jpg About - Mariana Whitmer Feel free to contact me: marianawhitmer[at]gmail.com https://marianawhitmer.com/films daily 0.75 2020-12-30 https://marianawhitmer.com/films/project-one-58blk monthly 0.5 2020-12-12 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602032162218-RUGNFWV0TMNYPAK05A22/Marlboro+Men.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties - On October 21, 2001, National Public Radio (NPR) aired a segment of their series “Present at the Creation” about the successful Marlboro Man advertising campaign that started in the 1950s. It featured historical perspective along with quotes from Leo Burnett, the head of the agency that created it. The main title theme from Elmer Bernstein’s score for The Magnificent Seven (directed by John Sturges and released in October 1960) was a significant feature of these advertisements starting in the early 1960s, yet this music (which also provided the musical introduction and underscoring for the story) was not mentioned in the program. For admirers of this score, this can only be considered a mind-boggling oversight since the music was so integral to the evocation of the cowboy that was the Marlboro Man. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602033141922-R14801TZDZKUK04M4A3T/350px-The_Magnificent_Seven_cast_publicity_photo.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties - Yet that policy was only in its formative stages when the film was released, Slotkin cautions, so we should temper this assessment with an understanding that “Movie and policy [simply] address the same ideologically loaded images of heroism and savagery, . . . [and] the same hope that all problems can be solved by a burst of action and a spectacular display of massive yet miraculously selective firepower.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602464488382-KVUZ2L04FR2RO7Z1HC30/sturges-800x646.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties - John Sturges and Elmer Bernstein, who have been paired as a director-composer team likened to Hitchcock and Herrmann or Spielberg and Williams, probably first worked together in early 1958. At that time Sturges was asked to repair (uncredited) Robert Parrish’s Western Saddle the Wind, while Bernstein, possibly in tandem or shortly thereafter, replaced Jeff Alexander’s now unusable original score with his own. Their collaboration was simple. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602465925858-AQQV30QT81AV8644S3OD/Mag+7_Main+Theme.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602468573031-A1KY9P0EJXUGQY5HUL50/43dabd818cd13253e4dd2935af04aa5f.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602468596966-NLCZ1WSGWAEQWG39TM76/7443987_orig.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602032636472-85R8UFSTYCQEPHE278FS/51175A95QSL._SY445_.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties - The Magnificent Seven is an adaptation of Akiro Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai (from 1954), a film that was inspired by the Westerns of John Ford and proved to be exceptionally popular and critically successful in the U.S. With geographic, temporal, and societal alterations, Sturges’ film explores the changing relationship between the United States and other countries in the 1950s, particularly third world or developing nations. The Magnificent Seven was one of the first so-called Mexico-Westerns, re-locating the genre’s mandatory confrontation to foreign soil to represent these shifting attitudes. An early review noted, “Without giving the appearance of sermonizing [Sturges] eloquently gets across the themes that man must take a strong stand against evil and that there are varieties of courage and fear.”[1] Thus neatly summing up the film’s implied narrative as well as the era’s political climate. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602032897701-QMOJ1M24YHK1VZ1SFEYB/green+berets.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties - Stanley Corkin in his study Cowboys as Cold Warriors is less equivocal in his assessment, “A film that is so explicitly about military intervention in regional conflict as The Magnificent Seven must have at its core some vision of an incipient conflict, such as Cuba or even Vietnam.” [3] https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1602466171494-A8D08RDVH3LJO7LID094/Mag+7_Rhythms.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1607608873388-FVHV76C5H4SBFCL05WDA/9781442281790-us.jpg Films & Topics - The Magnificent Seven: Defining a Soundscape for the Sixties - For more information and detailed analysis of Bernstein’s score for The Magnificent Seven, I refer you to Elmer Bernstein’s The Magnificent Seven: A Film Score Guide (Scarecrow Press, 2017. https://marianawhitmer.com/films/max-steiner-dodge-city monthly 0.5 2023-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1594677183277-T4ZLUY28Z88M3S3X6EOS/Screen+Shot+2020-07-13+at+5.52.11+PM.png Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1592936700743-8WUGXEQQIXSLPB63J69B/Abbie%27s+theme.png Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City Abbie’s Theme. (All transcriptions by the author based on Steiner’s sketches.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1593479746878-VQQDOZLYREF45YXO6SXN/gold_is_where_you_find_it_poster_3.jpeg Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City - In the sequence before Abbie enters the train car, Steiner borrows three cues from his previous Western score, Gold Is Where You Find It (1938). Although Gold is more of a dramatized documentary, chronicling the tense showdown between Sacramento wheat farmers and hydraulic gold mining in 1880s California, the violence and mayhem that characterize the narrative offers musical parallels. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1594676057789-1WH915BAIWQ1EJAGGUF3/Screen+Shot+2020-07-13+at+5.33.32+PM.png Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1593478978551-XZUVBE9SRIFLUX2APS36/Screen+Shot+2020-06-29+at+9.02.11+PM.png Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1594675875836-KVQL53VECG584XE02WVY/Gold+Examples.png Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1594678130541-03TA0HC4BIP3EKUHXCYI/Screen+Shot+2020-07-13+at+6.07.03+PM.png Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City “As this is a come sopra within a come sopra please copy from parts to save time.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1592934914780-5ACJAOQY71U4EY951LTG/Curtiz+Titles.png Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City - A comparison of the title cards from other popular Curtiz films (like Robin Hood, 1938 and The Private Lives of Elizabeth & Essex, 1939) demonstrates similar artistic effects and the presence of similar Hollywood stars. These not only connected Dodge City to the previous costume dramas, but made it appealing as a different kind of Western. As soon as the main credits began to roll, audiences were in well-known territory. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1593477888547-T66NSL9O72QCF34IHKI9/Screen+Shot+2020-06-29+at+8.41.40+PM.png Films & Topics - Max Steiner's Dodge City https://marianawhitmer.com/films/project-two-pl7sz monthly 0.5 2020-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609169083925-J41B2BQSTZ5PX88RXLKW/Attempted+Rape+Version+1.jpg Films & Topics - Jerome Moross's The Big Country - Moross originally intended that the attempted rape begin intensely but not overly loud, using repetition to build suspense and tension (orchestral score at left). The orchestration in the first section was intended to heighten the tension as Buck sneaks into the room, starting initially with solo strings, then alternating with strings plus winds and adding brass for the last two phrases of this section. The more raucous and strident music is heard in the contrasting section, supposedly as Rufus enters the room and interrupts Buck’s advances. The measures between this material and the coda, which features a slow version of the first section, are missing. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609081654717-19K92T6PEFH1U7SYICU8/BC%252BBreakfast%252BScene_Chords-1.jpg Films & Topics - Jerome Moross's The Big Country https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609169183542-MYSJCOJBXY3U0PH9GM9H/Attempted+Rape+Version+2.jpg Films & Topics - Jerome Moross's The Big Country - The subsequent version of this cue exists in a conductor’s score and involves a re-orchestration of the earlier version, with much more participation by the brass. Someone clearly felt the scene needed more punch, so this version (the same measures as in the image above) is orchestrated more fully: the initial statement of the motive includes trombones as well as strings and sustained trumpets and the initial indication is “Furioso.” Where this music was intended to be heard in the film is evident in the score (not included in this image) where someone wrote the dialogue cue: “Buck Dial[ogue] ‘Do I make . . .’” and on the following page “. . . you sick do I?” Significantly, this is the only instance where dialogue appears in any of the music sources for The Big Country, and it suggests that the cue was to begin when Julie wakes up and realizes that Buck is on her. The score ends after 33 measures, and at the end someone wrote, “As Rufus enters room” [in blue] and “Overlap Track old R15 pt2” [in pencil], referring the conductor to the previous score for the continuation. This version may have been recorded, judging by the conductor’s marks that appear on this score, yet the soundtrack retains the original, less brassy arrangement of this passage. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1607975887503-OVGB8SIYZ1YPDNQ8AUKT/BC%2BBreakfast%2BScene-1.jpg Films & Topics - Jerome Moross's The Big Country https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609182936996-7O0NWXMMPH82J26X486R/Death%252Bof%252BBuck%252BHannassey_EX%252B1.jpg Films & Topics - Jerome Moross's The Big Country https://marianawhitmer.com/films/elmer-bernstein-john-wayne monthly 0.5 2023-09-24 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1593562487509-AYLUTPQS3A0NJBMXWNZD/Elmer_Bernstein_6519.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein's Musical Representations of John Wayne - Elmer Bernstein (1922-2004) wrote music for a variety of Westerns and he is often cited as one of the finest composers of the genre. While those of a certain generation may associate Bernstein’s familiar score for The Magnificent Seven (1960) with the Marlboro Man, a younger audience is now hearing the same music accompanying Bruce Springsteen as he appears on stage.[1] The concept of associating strong music with a heroic or larger-than-life persona is characteristic of classic Hollywood, and many leading men are indebted to composers who complemented and strengthened their acting with appropriate music. Errol Flynn often credited composer Erich Korngold (1897-1957) with enhancing his career, just as Max Steiner (1888-1971) is said to have promoted Bette Davis and others. Although limited to the last six of John Wayne’s 84 Westerns, Bernstein’s music provided a strong, daring accompaniment that matched and often enhanced Wayne’s personality. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1593563367702-IGQ1VVSSVLH00RFT8NJ0/image-asset.png Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein's Musical Representations of John Wayne - The name John Wayne has become synonymous with Westerns. Indeed, his first major role was in Raoul Walsh’s The Big Trail in 1930. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1593562995405-1L9Z8A8HAYGUAIV7TUOO/EB20110801REVIEWS08110809999AR.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein's Musical Representations of John Wayne After working in several B Westerns, Wayne eventually stood out in John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939). Thus, Wayne launched his career with two of the most important Western directors and then averaged more than one Western per year until his death. Wayne was a Western hero, always portraying the good guy, sometimes with faults, as in True Grit, but nevertheless a character to be contended with and admired for his courage and bravado. https://marianawhitmer.com/films/reinventing-the-western-film-score monthly 0.5 2022-07-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1592496663987-6CSQQ6WH8NWO4KUCXYSM/81492b5e-b265-4604-925f-9df2483f9156.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598209164417-29MBCMUSOBQV2KNW2ZFT/600full-jerome-moross.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score - “I was very excited about doing that picture. It was my first really big picture and it was a Western and my own style is American, unconsciously American, I just write that way. It fitted what I wrote and without knowing it I seem to have turned out the prototype western. It’s the one that has still become this is the way to do a western now; the way I did it in the Big Country. the style, the whole genre They are American composers, but the western is the western of the Russian Steppes or the Hungarian plains. This was a western with American rhythms American tunes a boldness and a brashness about it and this was the way to do a Western. Tiomkin would come along and do westerns with sad Russian songs in it.” (Jerome Moross, Interview with Andy Trudeau, September, 1975) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598207180050-C5YER10V1CS1JST8FNHS/High+Noon_2.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score The betrayal felt by Foreman is reflected in the story of Will Kane (played by Gary Cooper) as he faces his adversary without the support of the townspeople; nicely depicted in this crane shot of Kane walking through the empty streets of Hadleyville (aka Hollywood). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1592497685040-HUE1RMJZIR3QLE0D3E3K/The-Art-Curator-for-Kids-Manifest-Destiny-in-Art-Masterpiece-Monday-John-Gast-American-Progress-1872-FB.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score - John Gast’s 19th century depiction of progress provides a heady representation of that sense of empowerment and conquest, fueled by the notion of American exceptionalism. (John Gast, American Progress 1872) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598209013720-HY0DG56UP3YL3QUEZW5V/Copland.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score - When Wyler set about conceiving the film, he was particularly inspired by the newest cinematic technology, Technirama and Technicolor, to make the film larger than life and more realistic. Wyler sought to make everything “big,” not just big scenery, but also big stars. To match this Wyler wanted a big score by a composer with a big name that could provide “American flavor.” His first choice was Aaron Copland (pictured to the right). Already well-known for his earlier Western ballets Billy the Kid and Rodeo, as well as the 1949 film The Red Pony, Copland would be ideal. However, Copland turned him down, citing a desire to distance himself from Westerns, as well as a busy schedule. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598207049133-QAYYNV1R407TP5FFR9EK/HighNoon.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score - In 1952 High Noon revolutionized the Western genre on several levels, but most significantly in its musical approach. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598214267380-KTV6PWG5KXRZLIC9JTYW/BC+Breakfast+Scene-1.png Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score (The “lonely and maybe I don’t belong here” McKay melody.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598208718969-9TE7UZSGWZF7ZJ818KUS/f74357a86b95a4600036043a470b4df3.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score - A Russian émigré, Tiomkin unconsciously drew on this heritage for his musical style, resulting in the simple folk-like style of “Do Not Forsake Me.” Some scholars have even connected this melody with specific Russian folk tunes, while other composers would comment on the decidedly un-American sound of Tiomkin’s music. Yet one of Tiomkin’s biographers, Christopher Palmer, noted: “He had reason to feel an empathy for the American West. He came from a big country too, and in its bigness—particularly its vast all-embracingness of sky and plain—he must have seen a reflection of the steppes of his native Ukraine. So the cowboy becomes a mirror-image of the Cossack: both are primitives and innocents, etched on and dwarfed by a landscape of soul-stirring immensity and rugged masculine beauty.” https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598214682343-ZG7SGIMVTH5UEYHSFU1L/Mag+7_Riding.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score “There was that ambient purpose in the score, but the main purpose was to get up on the scene and push the scene, and that’s why there is a tremendous use of repeated notes. Kind of gets your blood going.” (From a recording of Bernstein addressing students at a film music seminar. Thank you, Bill Rosar, for giving me access to these tapes.) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598220136751-34299C8088UTZ0UUA4QO/pasted-image.png Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1607612886712-LWENFTHJVLE9DOFTQKCB/IMG_0760.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score - Even when the composer did not plan for a title song, some producers would insist on adding lyrics, often with poor results, as was the case with our next Western. For The Big Country producer/director William Wyler asked lyricist Ned Washington to write a text for the main theme, but the song never sold and the popularity of title songs in the Western came to an end—well, almost. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1598207378474-WY567G9HBXDX5D7BA5YY/fafb3d239bce2169eed51e0c897140b3.png Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score - Although opening songs had been heard in previous Westerns (including Tiomkin’s), the opening ballad of High Noon, known as “Do Not Forsake Me, Oh My Darling” was groundbreaking in two ways. First, it offers a narrative preview of the film told from the perspective of the main character as he asks his Quaker wife to not abandon him (as everyone else will). Kane’s entreaty brings with it insight into his inner struggle and foreshadows the desperate importance of time in the film. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1592497488811-4PLAXYX3RGPCIO63DFVJ/WagonTrain.png Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1607610574896-LNKOJIERVWSRHG1E74EE/Tiomkin.jpg Films & Topics - Reinventing the Western Film Score - With his score for High Noon, composer Dimitri Tiomkin (pictured here) sought to provide a musical accompaniment that would reflect the stark and realistic atmosphere that was the goal of Zinnemann, and the cinematographer, Floyd Crosby. Tiomkin accomplished this by reducing the instrumentation and by limiting the musical materials. In addition, the presentation of these musical materials almost entirely via a song during the main title was extraordinary. https://marianawhitmer.com/films/new-portfolio-item monthly 0.5 2020-12-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608157628808-ZR36CBIALB0N69QROJGY/Roy+Webb.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western Roy Webb (1888-1982) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608152764734-8U82Z9WHJ5VALUPT7DGM/pasted-image-2.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608153179009-4F9D0WSLAT502S0AMJN7/Tall+in+the+Saddle.jpg Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western - Tall in the Saddle, released in 1944, presents a classic Western conflict related to cattle rustling along with a plot to acquire land for re-sale (which is an interesting twist from the usual land for grazing cattle). Rocklin (John Wayne) is a young cowboy who arrives in town to discover that his potential employer (who is also his uncle) has been murdered. Rocklin easily proves his courage and strength as he stands up to a cheating poker player, a drunken ex-con, and also a spirited young lady. “Boy, oh boy has somebody come to town,” notes his sidekick played by Gabby Hayes. Eventually the murder is solved with an unexpected conclusion; common in dramatic whodunits, but relatively rare in Westerns. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608152785916-TI2GBSZOYZURL54W9TT7/pasted-image-3.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608235561188-1FWP8B4NV375K6PIX1WK/The+Raid_Opening.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608152738199-ISG6N8UW91U9YCMJS01C/pasted-image.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western Bosley Crowther (1905-1981) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608235652261-3S1DWF18AAOJIGDQ2K8M/Pat_Angry+Music.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608207783921-FGDG7PPAWO0F29DWMZHF/Roemheld.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western Heinz Roemheld (1901-1985) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608208909951-SM1HUNFE7K2HNZT9GXC6/Hamilton.jpg Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western Donald Hamilton (1916-2006) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608234285020-O3ER0HXDDUNBVDT1JH32/Moross.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western Jerome Moross (1913-1983) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608209012357-1OSF5J45T3TC4ZUGGXK4/Smoky+Valley.jpg Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western Published in 1954 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608234147562-JFW70F0JWHDFN0DNTNS6/The+Big+Country.jpg Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608236795502-24M9CTTD19Z77INV0OQP/Fight+Scene_Music.png Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western This is the (very quiet) bass line that initiates the cue. https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608215512649-NGNV4MELS9UUCKDLAQ02/Steiner.jpg Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western Max Steiner (1888-1971) https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608215458461-URL4634MSA357ARF7Z3X/The+Violent+Men.jpg Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608206010061-HSJ51GF9LPSXDHOJ4R67/Decision+at+Sundown.jpg Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1608209053019-SNILO26RWIC67O9K515Q/Blanco+Canyon.jpg Films & Topics - Scoring Aggression in the Classic Hollywood Western Originally published as a series titled “Ambush in Blanco Canyon” in The Saturday Evening Post in 1957. https://marianawhitmer.com/films/elmer-bernstein-and-the-tale-of-three-westerns monthly 0.5 2020-12-30 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609281369045-15YRF1KISYXLNJZIKHBF/Mag7.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein and the Tale of Three Westerns https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609269458125-KEJFVCANEXHEOVFSQGKA/Tin+Star_Fonda_Hopkins.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein and the Tale of Three Westerns - With the help of an itinerant bounty hunter, Morgan Hickman (played by Henry Fonda), he overcomes these complications and becomes a successful sheriff. In the meantime, Hickman learns a lesson in racial tolerance from Nona Mayfield (Betsy Palmer) and her half-Indian son, Kip (Michel Ray). https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609274893675-00SPJNOZB7BCAZEB5PMR/Titler.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein and the Tale of Three Westerns https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609269331108-8SPORHSIZDG1F43QT6TE/Tin+Star_Poster.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein and the Tale of Three Westerns https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609277186432-JAJH02F2DLR8VBVSPTX8/Saddle+the+Wind_Venables.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein and the Tale of Three Westerns https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609269969151-NPZKMBTHL7JJROCWCAV8/saddle-the-wind.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein and the Tale of Three Westerns https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5ee92af59996b3351cf08be8/1609276925061-QYADI8J2AEL7ZVXGXSPU/Julie+London.jpg Films & Topics - Elmer Bernstein and the Tale of Three Westerns