What Was the Best Score of 1962?

by Lukas Kendall

Wow, was 1962 a great year for movie music. Let's do something interesting: run a poll to see which is the best of all these classic works. The contenders:

To Kill a Mockingbird (Elmer Bernstein): The greatest score for childhood ever. Elmer's other scores that year: Walk on the Wild Side and Birdman of Alcatraz. Wow.

Lawrence of Arabia (Maurice Jarre): Just saw this in 70mm at the Cinerama Dome here in Los Angeles. Thumbs way up for Lawrence of Arabia! An astounding epic production in every sense of the word. (The word: epic.) The score by Maurice Jarre is likewise deserving of its reputation: the ultimate colonialist romanticization of the desert.

Lonely Are the Brave (Jerry Goldsmith): Goldsmith's first large-scale studio movie was this Kirk Douglas film for which he provided the first of around a dozen lyrical, poetic western scores. Goldsmith did Freud the same year.

How the West Was Won (Alfred Newman): Sprawling, bombastic western score for the Cinerama epic.

Cape Fear (Bernard Herrmann): The original Universal production, with Herrmann in the moods he defined more than any other composer: fear, malevolence and suspense.

Days of Wine and Roses (Henry Mancini): Mancini also did Experiment in Terror and Hatari that year. I picked Days of Wine and Roses because it has that great song.

Taras Bulba (Franz Waxman): Cossacks march to the sound of Franz Waxman.

Mutiny on the Bounty (Bronislau Kaper): Another highly regarded epic work.

The Miracle Worker (Laurence Rosenthal): Don't forget about this incredible score by Larry Rosenthal -- the eyes, ears and heart for Helen Keller. Rosenthal also did Requiem for a Heavyweight that year.

Bachelor Flat (Johnny Williams): Just want to see how many people vote for John Williams no matter what the movie is. Some dumb comedy.

Okay, that's ten. Also these five, which I'm not running as poll choices just because there were too many great scores that year!

Sodom and Gomorrah: Miklos Rozsa's lone score in 1962.

Advise and Consent: Jerry Fielding's first feature, the beginning of a great--if too short--career after a decade of being blacklisted.

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Frank DeVol.

The Cabinet of Caligari: Romantic score by Gerald Fried, on CD from FSM's Silver Age Classics label.

Dr. No: John Barry arranged/produced/whatever the classic James Bond theme for 007's first (for real) screen adventure, but the rest of the score, by Monty Norman, is a different bird entirely. Still, in addition to all the other great film music that was written in 1962, it also was the year that gave us the James Bond theme. Incredible!

There are many others, too, which readers can no doubt point to as being noteworthy. In case you're wondering, the year's Oscar nominees: Lawrence of Arabia (the winner), Taras Bulba, Mutiny on the Bounty, Freud and To Kill a Mockingbird.

Look for the poll now on the home page, and check back later to see the results. Make your choice, and revel in how amazing film music was 37 years ago.

Thanks for participating!

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