Listen to the Soundtrack of Time
Music in
Films
1900 - 2000
Music in Films
Michael Kamen
1948-2003
Part I - Michael Kamen "Lethal Weapon"
Part II - "Highlander"
Part III - "Die Hard"
Part IV - "X-Men"
Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, and session musician. Michael Arnold Kamen was born in New York City, the second of four sons. His father, Saul Kamen, was a dentist, and his mother, Helen, was a teacher. While attending The High School of Music & Art in New York City, Michael Kamen became friends with Martin Fulterman (later known as Mark Snow, who composed the theme music for The X-Files among other projects). While studying the oboe, he formed a rock-classical fusion band called New York Rock & Roll Ensemble, together with classmates Fulterman and Dorian Rudnytsky. The group released five albums from 1968-1972 (Self-Titled, Reflections, Faithful Friends, Roll Over & Freedomburger). The group performed in white tie (not tuxedos), as typically worn by classical musicians. In the middle of the concert, Fulterman and Kamen would play an oboe duet. The group backed up friend and classmate Janis Ian in a concert at Alice Tully Hall in late 1967.
Kamen's early work concentrated on ballets, before extending to Hollywood with the score for The Next Man in 1976, and then to pop and rock arranging, collaborating with Pink Floyd on their album, The Wall.
Kamen wrote eleven ballets, a saxophone concerto and an electric guitar concerto (with Japanese guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei as a soloist, though originally performed by Eric Clapton). Additionally, he wrote a commissioned work, "Quintet," for the Canadian Brass. He also provided scores for the films The Dead Zone, For Queen and Country, Polyester, Brazil, Someone To Watch Over Me, The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, The Three Musketeers, Highlander, X-Men, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Licence to Kill, the Lethal Weapon series, the first three films of the Die Hard series, Mr. Holland's Opus, The Iron Giant, Splitting Heirs, Frequency, and many others. He also scored both the From the Earth to the Moon and Band of Brothers series on HBO. The trailer for the 2007 DreamWorks release Bee Movie, the 2008 Fox release Nim's Island, the 2008 Disney/Pixar release WALL-E, and the 2014 Fox/DreamWorks release Mr. Peabody & Sherman featured Kamen's "Central Services / The Office" from his score to Brazil (1985).
Kamen was nominated for two Academy Awards and won three Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes, two Ivor Novello Awards, an Annie Award and an Emmy.
Part I - Michael Kamen "Lethal Weapon"
1987 Lethal Weapon (Music by Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton, David Sanborn)
1989 Lethal Weapon 2 (Music by Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton, David Sanborn)
1992 Lethal Weapon 3 (Music by Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton, David Sanborn)
1998 Lethal Weapon 4 (Music by Michael Kamen, Eric Clapton, David Sanborn)
Part II - "Highlander"
1986 Highlander (Music by Michael Kamen)
1991 Highlander II: The Quickening (Music by Stewart Copeland)
1994 Highlander III: The Sorcerer (Music by J. Peter Robinson)
2000 Highlander: Endgame (Music by Nick Glennie-Smith, Stephen Graziano)
2007 Highlander: The Source (Music by George Kallis)
Part III - "Die Hard"
1988 Die Hard (Music by Michael Kamen)
1990 Die Hard 2 (Music by Michael Kamen)
1995 Die Hard with a Vengeance (Music by Michael Kamen)
2007 Live Free or Die Hard (Music by Marco Beltrami)
2013 A Good Day to Die Hard (Music by Marco Beltrami)
Part IV - "X-Men"
2000 X-Men (Music by Michael Kamen)
2003 X-Men 2 (Music by John Ottman)
2006 X-Men: The Last Stand (Music by John Powell)
2009 X-Men Origins: Wolverine (Music by Harry Gregson-Williams)
2011 X-Men: First Class (Music by Henry Jackman)
2013 The Wolverine (Music by Marco Beltrami)
2014 X-Men: Days of Future Past (Music by John Ottman)
2016 X-Men: Apocalypse (Music by John Ottman)
2016 Deadpool (Music by Tom Holkenborg)
2017 Logan (Music by Marco Beltrami)
2018 Deadpool 2 (Music by Tyler Bates)
Citizen Kane
Citizen Kane is a 1941 American mystery drama film by Orson Welles, its producer, co-screenwriter, director and star. The picture was Welles's first feature film. Nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories, it won an Academy Award for Best Writing (Original Screenplay) by Herman J. Mankiewicz and Welles. Considered by many critics, filmmakers, and fans to be the greatest film ever made, Citizen Kane was voted as such in five consecutive British Film Institute Sight & Sound polls of critics, and it topped the American Film Institute's 100 Years ... 100 Movies list in 1998, as well as its 2007 update. Citizen Kane is particularly praised for its cinematography, music, editing and narrative structure, which have been considered innovative and precedent-setting.
Citizen Kane - Suite - Soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The Snows of Kilimanjaro is a 1952 American Technicolor film based on the short story of the same name by Ernest Hemingway. The film version of the short story was directed by Henry King, written by Casey Robinson, and starred Gregory Peck as Harry, Susan Hayward as Helen, and Ava Gardner as Cynthia Green (a character invented for the film). The film's ending does not mirror the story's ending.
Considered by Hemingway to be one of his finest stories, "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" was first published in Esquire magazine in 1936 and then republished in The Fifth Column and the First Forty-Nine Stories (1938).
The film was nominated for two Oscars at the 25th Academy Awards, for Best Cinematography, Color and Best Art Direction, Color (Lyle R. Wheeler, John DeCuir, Thomas Little, Paul S. Fox).
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner and Susan Hayward
Bernard Herrmann : The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Suite from the film music
Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Herrmann.
The Egyptian
The Egyptian is a 1954 American epic drama film made by 20th Century Fox. Filmed in CinemaScope with color by DeLuxe, it was directed by Michael Curtiz and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on Mika Waltari's novel of the same name and the screenplay was adapted by Philip Dunne and Casey Robinson. Leading roles were played by Edmund Purdom, Bella Darvi, Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Gene Tierney, Peter Ustinov, and Michael Wilding. Cinematographer Leon Shamroy was nominated for an Academy Award in 1955.
The Egyptian
The Egyptian - Alfred Newman & Bernard Herrmann (suite)
01. Prelude-The Ruins-The Red Sea and Childhood-The Nile & the Temple
02. Crocodile Inn-Thebes
03. Her Name Was Merit
04. The Chariot Ride-Pursuit
05. The Pharaoh, Akhnatun
06. Put Them in Chains-The Throne Room
07. The Throne Room, Part 2
08. Taia
09. Nefer, Nefer, Nefer
10. The Harp and Couch
11. The Lotus Pool
12. Hymn to Aton
13. Sights, Sounds and Smells
14. The True Pharaoh
15. The Princess
16. The Tomb
17. The Death Potion
18. The Death of Merit
19. The Death of Akhnaton
The Trouble with Harry
The Trouble with Harry is a 1955 American Technicolor black comedy film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay by John Michael Hayes was based on the 1949 novel by Jack Trevor Story. It starred Edmund Gwenn, John Forsythe, Mildred Natwick, Jerry Mathers and Shirley MacLaine in her film debut. The Trouble with Harry was released in the United States on September 30, 1955, then re-released in 1984 once the distribution rights had been acquired by Universal Pictures.
The action in The Trouble with Harry takes place during a sun-filled autumn in the Vermont countryside. The fall foliage and the beautiful scenery around the village, as well as Bernard Herrmann's light-filled score, all set an idyllic tone. The story is about how the residents of a small Vermont village react when the dead body of a man named Harry is found on a hillside. The film is, however, not really a murder mystery; it is essentially a romantic comedy with thriller overtones, in which the corpse serves as a Macguffin. Four village residents end up working together to solve the problem of what to do with Harry. In the process the younger two (an artist and a very young, twice-widowed woman) fall in love and become a couple, soon to be married. The older two residents (a captain and a spinster) also fall in love.
The film was one of Hitchcock's few true comedies (though most of his films had some element of tongue-in-cheek or macabre humor). The film also contained what was, for the time, frank dialogue. One example of this is when John Forsythe's character unabashedly tells MacLaine's character that he would like to paint a nude portrait of her. The statement was explicit compared with other contemporary movies.
The Trouble With Harry
Bernard Herrmann : The Trouble with Harry
Suite.
Performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Bernard Herrmann.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much is a 1956 American suspense thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, starring James Stewart and Doris Day. The film is Hitchcock's second film using this title following his own 1934 film of the same name featuring a significantly different plot and script.
In the book-length interview Hitchcock/Truffaut (1967), in response to fellow filmmaker François Truffaut's assertion that aspects of the remake were by far superior, Hitchcock replied "Let's say the first version is the work of a talented amateur and the second was made by a professional."
The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)", sung by Doris Day. It premiered at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival on April 29.
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Man Who Knew Too Much: Que Sera, Sera , Doris Day
Bernard Herrmann - The Man Who Knew Too Much
Keith Lockhardt conducts from the BBC proms
The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man is a 1956 American docudrama film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film was drawn from the true story of an innocent man charged with a crime, as described in the book The True Story of Christopher Emmanuel Balestrero by Maxwell Anderson and in the magazine article "A Case of Identity" (Life magazine, June 29, 1953) by Herbert Brean.
It is one of the few Hitchcock films based on a true story and whose plot closely follows the real-life events.
The Wrong Man had a notable effect on two significant directors: it prompted Jean-Luc Godard's longest piece of written criticism in his years as a critic, and it has been cited as an influence on Martin Scorsese's Taxi Driver.
The Wrong Man (1956) Part I
The Wrong Man (1956) Part II
Bernard Herrmann - The Wrong Man - Finale
Bernard Herrmann (Conductor)
Warner Bros Studio Orchestra
Vertigo
Vertigo is a 1958 American film noir psychological thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. The story was based on the 1954 novel D'entre les morts (From Among the Dead) by Boileau-Narcejac. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A. Taylor.
The film stars James Stewart as former police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson. Scottie is forced into early retirement because an incident in the line of duty has caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sense of rotational movement). Scottie is hired by an acquaintance, Gavin Elster, as a private investigator to follow Gavin's wife Madeleine (Kim Novak), who is behaving strangely.
The film was shot on location in San Francisco, California, and at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. It is the first film to use the dolly zoom, an in-camera effect that distorts perspective to create disorientation, to convey Scottie's acrophobia. As a result of its use in this film, the effect is often referred to as "the Vertigo effect".
Vertigo received mixed reviews upon initial release, but is now often cited as a classic Hitchcock film and one of the defining works of his career. It has appeared repeatedly in polls of the best films by the American Film Institute, including a 2007 ranking as the ninth-greatest American movie of all time.
Vertigo - Soundtrack
01 - Prelude and Rooftop - 0:00
02 - Scotty Trails Madeline - 04:56
03 - Carlotta's Portrait - 13:20
04 - The Bay - 15:56
05 - By the Fireside - 19:05
06 - The Forest - 22:45
07 - The Beach - 26:11
08 - The Dream - 29:39
09 - Farewell and The Tower - 32:23
10 - The Nightmare and Dawn - 39:06
11 - The Letter - 43:19
12 - Goodnight and The Park - 47:13
13 - Scene d'Amour - 50:23
14 - The Necklace, The Return and Finale - 55:32
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad is a 1958 Technicolor heroic fantasy adventure film from Columbia Pictures, produced by Charles H. Schneer, directed by Nathan H. Juran, that stars Kerwin Mathews, Torin Thatcher, Kathryn Grant, Richard Eyer, and Alec Mango.
This was the first of three Sinbad feature films from Columbia, the much later two being The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977). All three Sinbad films were conceptualized by Ray Harryhausen who used a full color widescreen stop-motion animation technique he created called Dynamation.
While similarly named, the film does not follow the storyline of the tale "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad the Sailor" but instead has more in common with the Third and Fifth voyages of Sinbad.
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad was selected in 2008 for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
"The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad" - Soundtrack Suite - BERNARD HERRMANN
Conducted by Kurt Graunke - Graunke Symphony Orchestra
1. Overture
2. The Princess/ Stone Gate
3. The Cyclops
3. Baghdad
4. Sultans Feast
5. Cobra Dance
6. Tiny Princess
7. Battle with the Cyclops/Death of Cyclops
8. Fight with The Roc
9. Duel with The Skeleton
10.Finale
North by Northwest
North by Northwest is a 1959 American thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Cary Grant, Eva Marie Saint, and James Mason. The screenplay was by Ernest Lehman, who wanted to write "the Hitchcock picture to end all Hitchcock pictures".
North by Northwest is a tale of mistaken identity, with an innocent man pursued across the United States by agents of a mysterious organization trying to prevent him from blocking their plan to smuggle out microfilm which contains government secrets. This is one of several Hitchcock films which feature a music score by Bernard Herrmann and an opening title sequence by graphic designer Saul Bass, and it is generally cited as the first to feature extended use of kinetic typography in its opening credits.
North by Northwest is listed among the canonical Hitchcock films of the 1950s and is often listed among the greatest films of all time. It was selected in 1995 for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
North By Northwest - Bernard Herrmann
- Soundtrack Suite
-00:00 = "Overture"
-02:14 = "Cheers"
-02:54 = "The Wild Ride"
-04:21 = "The Elevator"
-05:03 = "The Knife"
-05:48 = "Conversation Piece"
-07:46 = "The Station"
-08:34 = "The Crash"
-09:39 = "The House"
-11:15 = "The Gates"
-11:51 = "The Stone Faces"
-13:11 = "On The Rocks"
-14:11 = "Finale"
North by Northwest - The Crop Duster Scene
North by Northwest
North by Northwest - I've Never Felt More Alive Scene
North by Northwest - The Ending Scene
Psycho
Psycho is a 1960 American psychological horror film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, and written by Joseph Stefano. It stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles, and Martin Balsam, and was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch. The film centers on an encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane (Leigh), who ends up at a secluded motel after stealing money from her employer, and the motel's owner-manager, Norman Bates (Perkins), and its aftermath.
Psycho was seen as a departure from Hitchcock's previous film North by Northwest, having been filmed on a low budget, in black-and-white, and by a television crew. The film initially received mixed reviews, but outstanding box-office returns prompted reconsideration which led to overwhelming critical acclaim and four Academy Award nominations, including Best Supporting Actress for Leigh and Best Director for Hitchcock.
Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and praised as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars. Often ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films, and is widely considered to be the earliest example of the slasher film genre.
After Hitchcock's death in 1980, Universal Studios began producing follow-ups: three sequels, a remake, a made-for-television spin-off, and a prequel television series set in the 2010s. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Psycho - Alfred Hitchcock
Psycho - Soundtrack by Bernard Herrmann
01 - Prelude - 0:00
02 - The City - 01:57
03 - Marion - 04:09
04 - Marion And Sam - 05:45
05 - Temptation - 07:39
06 - Flight - 10:30
07 - Patrol Car - 11:38
08 - The Car Lot - 12:45
09 - The Package - 14:30
10 - The Rainstorm - 16:02
11 - Hotel Room - 19:13
12 - The Window - 21:18
13 - The Parlor - 22:31
14 - The Madhouse - 24:09
15 - The Peephole - 26:04
16 - The Bathroom - 29:07
17 - The Murder - 30:09
18 - The Body - 31:12
19 - The Office - 31:30
20 - The Curtain - 32:50
21 - The Water - 34:05
22 - The Car - 35:52
23 - Cleanup - 36:44
24 - The Swamp - 39:00
25 - The Search - 41:04
26 - The Shadow - 41:46
27 - Phone Booth - 42:37
28 - The Porch - 43:31
29 - The Stairs - 44:35
30 - The Knife - 47:33
31 - The Search (B) - 48:04
32 - The First Floor - 49:45
33 - Cabin 10 - 52:31
34 - Cabin 1 - 53:40
35 - The Hill - 54:46
36 - The Bedroom - 55:51
37 - The Toys - 56:52
38 - The Cellar - 57:54
39 - Discovery - 59:00
40 - Finale - 59:43
The Birds
The Birds is a 1963 American horror-thriller film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, loosely based on the 1952 story of the same name by Daphne du Maurier. It focuses on a series of sudden, unexplained violent bird attacks on the people of Bodega Bay, California over the course of a few days.
The film stars Rod Taylor and Tippi Hedren (in her screen debut), supported by Jessica Tandy, Suzanne Pleshette and Veronica Cartwright. The screenplay is by Evan Hunter, who was told by Hitchcock to develop new characters and a more elaborate plot while keeping du Maurier's title and concept of unexplained bird attacks.
In 2016, The Birds was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the United States Library of Congress, and selected for preservation in its National Film Registry.
The Birds - Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock - The Birds - Soundtrack - Bernard Herrmann
Marnie
Marnie is a 1964 American psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock. The screenplay by Jay Presson Allen was based on the 1961 novel of the same name by Winston Graham. The film stars Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery.
The music was composed by Bernard Herrmann, his last of seven critically acclaimed film scores for Hitchcock. Marnie also marked the end of Hitchcock's collaborations with cinematographer Robert Burks (his twelfth film for Hitchcock) and editor George Tomasini (who died later in the year).
Alfred Hitchcock - Marnie - Soundtrack Suite - Bernard Herrmann
Torn Curtain
Torn Curtain is a 1966 American political thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Paul Newman and Julie Andrews. Written by Brian Moore, the film is set in the Cold War. It is about an American scientist who pretends to defect behind the Iron Curtain to East Germany as part of a clandestine mission to obtain the solution of a formula and escape back to the United States.
Alfred Hitchcock - Torn Curtain
The Original Sound Track Album, Music Composed and Conducted by John Addison, DECCA Records, 1966, High-Fidelity. Replaced the rejected Bernard Herrmann score.
Fahrenheit 451
Fahrenheit 451 is a 1966 British dystopian drama film directed by François Truffaut and starring Oskar Werner, Julie Christie, and Cyril Cusack. Based on the 1953 novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury, the film takes place in a controlled society in an oppressive future in which the government sends out firemen to destroy all literature to prevent revolution and thinking. This was Truffaut's first colour film as well as his only English-language film. At the 1966 Venice Film Festival, Fahrenheit 451 was nominated for the Golden Lion.
Fahrenheit 451 -| Soundtrack Suite - Bernard Herrmann
-00:00 = "Prelude / Fire Trucks"
-01:54 = "Monorail / The Girl"
-02:41 = "Interrogation / Montag Is Followed"
-04:18 = "The Bedroom / Second Monorail"
-05:48 = "Something Is Wrong With The Pole / The Old House"
-06:48 = "Montag And The Girl Have Coffee / The Informer"
-07:38 = "The Reading"
-09:08 = "Montag Faints / Linda, The Informer / Montag Finds The Girl"
-10:29 = "Flame Thrower / Captain's Death"
-11:23 = "The Book People / The Final Show / Finale"
The Bride Wore Black
The Bride Wore Black (La Mariée était en noir) is a 1968 French film directed by François Truffaut and based on the novel of the same name by William Irish, a pseudonym for Cornell Woolrich. It stars Jeanne Moreau, Charles Denner, Alexandra Stewart, Michel Bouquet, Michael Lonsdale, Claude Rich and Jean-Claude Brialy.
It is a revenge film in which a widowed woman hunts the five men who killed her husband on her wedding day. She wears only white, black or a combination of the two.
Bernard Herrmann - The Bride Wore Black
Suite from the film music
Arranged by Christopher Palmer as 'A Musical Scenario'
Prelude - Femme Fatale - The Accident - Love and Death - Funeral - Finale
Performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Elmer Bernstein.
It's Alive
It's Alive is a 1974 American horror film written, produced, and directed by Larry Cohen. In the film, a couple's infant child turns out to be a vicious mutant monster that kills when frightened. Notable talents involved in the movie were Bernard Herrmann who composed the score (noted for his work on many films of Alfred Hitchcock) and Rick Baker for makeup and puppet effects.
Bernard Herrmann: music from Island of the Alive
Arranged & Conducted by Laurie Johnson.
Taxi Driver
Taxi Driver is a 1976 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed by Martin Scorsese, written by Paul Schrader, and starring Robert De Niro, Jodie Foster, Cybill Shepherd, Harvey Keitel, Peter Boyle, Albert Brooks and Leonard Harris. Set in a decaying New York City following the Vietnam War, the film tells the story of a lonely veteran (De Niro) working as a taxi driver, who descends into insanity as he plots to assassinate a presidential candidate (Harris) and then the pimp (Keitel) of an underage prostitute (Foster) whom he befriends.
Critically acclaimed upon release and nominated for four Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Actor (for De Niro) and Best Supporting Actress (for Foster), Taxi Driver won the Palme d'Or at the 1976 Cannes Film Festival. The film generated controversy upon release mostly because of its depiction of violence and casting of a 12-year old Foster as the child prostitute. It is regularly cited by critics, film directors, and audiences alike as one of the greatest films of all time. In 2012, Sight & Sound named it the 31st-best film ever in its decennial critics' poll, ranked with The Godfather Part II, and the fifth-greatest film of all time on its directors' poll. The film was considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the US Library of Congress and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry in 1994.
Taxi Driver - Full original soundtrack - Bernard Herrmann
00:00 Main Title
02:16 Thank God for the Rain
03:57 Cleaning the Cab
05:05 I Still Can’t Sleep / They Cannot Touch Her (Betsy’s Theme)
09:40 Phone Call / I Realize How Much She is Like the Others / A Strange Customer / Watching Palantine on TV / You’re Gonna Die In Hell / Betsy’s Theme / Hitting The Girl
15:53 The .44 Magnum is a Monster
19:17 Getting Into Shape / Listen You Screwheads / Gun Play / Dear Father & Mother / The Card / Soap Opera
24:44 Sport and Iris
27:05 The $20 Bill / Target Practice
29:39 Assassination Attempt / After the Carnage
34:45 A Reluctant Hero / Betsy / End Credits
39:32 Diary of a Taxi Driver (Album Version)
44:02 God’s Lonely Man (Album Version, with Alternate Ending)
46:10 Theme from Taxi Driver
50:16 I Work the Whole City
52:42 Betsy in a White Dress
55:00 The Days Do Not End
59:06 Theme from Taxi Driver (Reprise)
