Is he a classical composer who writes jazz, or a jazz musician who writes classical? He’s certainly one of the most distinctive composers of film and television music.
On Lalo Schifrin’s 90th birthday, check out this documentary, which is full of rare footage, film clips, eyewitness accounts, and of course music.
As I was watching I kept thinking the first few minutes alone should fill you with sufficient awe at Schifrin’s unique talent. But then the accomplishments just kept piling up!
On the first day of summer (winter in his native Argentina), Lalo Schifrin turns 90.
Schifrin is the composer of over 100 film and television scores, including those for “Cool Hand Luke,” “Bullitt,” “Dirty Harry,” “Enter the Dragon,” “Mannix,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “Rush Hour,” and of course “Mission: Impossible.”
Not everyone was a fan. Director William Friedkin was so displeased with Schifrin’s music for “The Exorcist,” he hurled the master tape out into the parking lot, in the presence of the composer. Schifrin had written music for the trailer, which had reportedly scared the pants off preview audiences, so the executives at Warner Bros. told Friedkin they wanted him to tone it down. Friedkin being Friedkin – this is, after all, the guy who fired guns on set to unnerve his actors and filmed the chase scene in “The French Connection” without a permit – he didn’t convey the message. Instead, he fired Schifrin and crammed his soundtrack with equally disturbing music by avant-garde masters Krzysztof Penderecki, George Crumb, Anton Webern, and Hans Werner Henze, not to mention Mike Oldfield.
Happily, most of Schifrin’s other collaborators were more genial. A highly respected jazz pianist, he was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie, who hired him on the sight. Schifrin composed for Dizzy an extended work for big band, “Gillespiana,” in 1958. He worked frequently with Clint Eastwood and scored George Lucas’ first feature, “THX-1138.” In all, he earned 22 Grammy nominations (winning five), four Primetime Emmy nominations, and six Academy Award nominations. He received an honorary Oscar in 2018.
Schifrin has lived in the United States since 1958, making a very healthy living arranging and composing across genres, including bossa nova, jazz, bebop, rock, and classical, all the while cashing those lucrative Hollywood paychecks – and collecting royalties for the continued use of his indelible theme in the “Mission: Impossible” film franchise.
June 21 marks the 90th birthday of Lalo Schifrin. This week on “Picture Perfect,” we put the pedal to the metal with his iconic score for “Bullitt” (1968).
When we remember Steve McQueen, chances are, if he’s not jumping barbed wire on a motorcycle, he’s behind the wheel of his Ford Mustang GT 390 Fastback, tearing up and down the streets of San Francisco. The high-octane action sequence became the gauge against which all other big screen car chases were measured (in tandem with “The French Connection”). We’ll hear selections from Schifrin’s jazzy, influential, King of Cool cop score.
We’ll also have music from the second of the “Mad Max” movies, “The Road Warrior” (1981), which cleverly changed the course of the series by turning it into a kind of post-apocalyptic Western. Australian composer Brian May wrote the music, as he did for the original. The director, George Miller, specified that he was looking for a gothic, Bernard Herrmann-type mood to underscore his dystopian vision of the Australian Outback.
Maurice Jarre took over to write the music for the third installment, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” It’s purely by coincidence that we’ll hear selections from another Jarre score that’s built for speed, “Grand Prix” (1966). The film’s international cast featured James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand, and Toshiro Mifune, but the plot’s assorted relationship and business conflicts take a back seat to driver’s-eye views of lapping the track.
Finally, Marty McFly and Doc Brown’s time-travelling DeLoreon needs to hit 88 miles per hour in order to get “Back to the Future” (1985). Director Robert Zemeckis had already worked with composer Alan Silvestri on “Romancing the Stone,” but the producer of “Back to the Future,” Steven Spielberg, didn’t care for the music in that film. Zemeckis’ advice to his colleague: go grand and epic, since Spielberg had a marked preference for the music of John Williams. It was a very good choice.
We shift into high gear for an hour of chases and races, with Lalo Schifrin and friends, on “Picture Perfect,” music for the movies, this Saturday evening at 6:00 EDT, on WWFM – The Classical Network and wwfm.org!
On the first day of summer (winter in his native Argentina), Lalo Schifrin turns 89. Schifrin is the composer of over 100 film and television scores, including those for “Cool Hand Luke,” “Bullitt,” “Dirty Harry,” “Enter the Dragon,” “Mannix,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “Rush Hour,” and of course “Mission: Impossible.” (Not everyone was a fan. His music for “The Exorcist” was demonstrably rejected by director William Friedkin when he hurled the master tape out into the parking lot.)
A highly respected jazz pianist, Schifrin was discovered by Dizzy Gillespie, who hired him on the spot. Schifrin has lived in the United States since 1958, making a very healthy living arranging and composing across genres, including bossa nova, jazz, bebop, rock, and classical, all the while cashing those lucrative Hollywood paychecks – and collecting royalties for the continued use of his indelible theme in the “Mission: Impossible” film franchise.
Happy birthday, Lalo Schifrin!
“Concierto Caribeño” for flute and orchestra
Lalo Schifrin and Dizzy Gillespie
“Cool Hand Luke”
Lalo receives an honorary Academy Award from Clint Eastwood in 2018. He was nominated for a competitive Oscar six times.
Lalo Schifrin’s “Mission: Impossible” theme is put to good use by KARE 11 in Minneapolis as the St. Paul MPR Raccoon saga comes to a happy end. Is there anyone on the internet who missed this story? Or rather, 25 stories? Way to go, little guy. We could all learn from your courage and tenacity.
