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Best Movie Soundtracks - 1960s
Learn more about the films and the music of the legendary 1960s in this gallery including Maurice Jarre's Dr Zhivago and Henry Mancini's Breakfast at Tiffany's.
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1. The Magnificent Seven
Elmer Bernstein's score for this 1960 Western classic can be heard everywhere, from James Bond films to Disneyland. The score effectively supports the film's story line and has become almost as iconic as the film itself. In 1997, Bernstein himself conducted Classic FM's Orchestra in Scotland, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, for a performance released by RCA in 1997.
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2. Zulu
Michael Caine stars in this 1964 film which tells the story of the rift between the British Army and the Army of the Zulus - the Battle of Rorke's Drift in 1879. The music was written by John Barry, mostly known for writing the Bond scores, as well as the music for Oscar winner 'Born Free', 'Out Of Africa' and 'Dances With Wolves'.
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3. You Only Live Twice
This was the fifth James Bond film and the fourth to feature music by John Barry. With the theme sung by Nancy Sinatra and incidental music which took its cue from Japanese styles, reflecting the film's setting, You Only Live Twice has become one of John Barry's most loved James Bond scores. Pop fans may also recognise the main theme from Robbie Williams' single 'Millennium'.
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4. Where Eagles Dare
In the 1960s, British composer Ron Goodwin was the first person you called if you were making a war film. As well as penning classic scores for Battle of Britain and 633 Squadron, Goodwin also composed the score for When Eagles Dare, a 1968 World War II film starring Clint Eastwood and Richard Burton.
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5. West Side Story
The unstoppable musical duo of composer Leonard Bernstein and lyricist Stephen Sondheim reached new heights with West Side Story, a modern retelling of Romeo and Juliet set in New York. The film adaptation of the successful Broadway show came out in 1961, with new orchestration by Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, who had orchestrated the original Broadway production. With studio United Artists allowing them triple the amount of musicians as they had on Broadway, Bernstein was unhappy with the finished result, declaring the film's music to be "overbearing and lacking in texture and subtlety."
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6. The Pink Panther
Winner of three Grammys, an Academy Award nomination, and a top 10 spot in the charts in 1964, Henry Mancini's theme for the Pink Panther is one of the most famous pieces of music in film history. The cartoon panther created for the opening credits of the movie by David DePatie and Friz Freleng was animated in time to the tune.
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7. The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
The best Ennio Morricone theme? The Italian master certainly created one of the most iconic pieces of film music with his main theme, and the rest of the score comes complete with all the classic Morricone traits including whistling, yodeling and gunfire. The main theme was a hit in the charts, with the soundtrack album staying in the Billboard charts in America for over a year.
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8. Lawrence of Arabia
Maurice Jarre was not the first choice to score David Lean's 1962 desert epic. He wasn't even the second or third choice! Jarre became involved in the film after both William Walton and Malcolm Arnold had proved unavailable. Despite this, and the brief six weeks he was given to write the score, Jarre came through with music that perfectly captures director David Lean's vast desert setting. It earned him an Academy Award and has ranked number three on the American Film Institute's top twenty-five American film scores.
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9. 633 Sqaudron
633 Squadron is a classic World War II film from 1964, directed by Walter Grauman. Ron Goodwin's theme has become an incredibly popular piece for brass bands across the UK.
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10. Romeo and Juliet
Six years before he won the Oscar for his work on The Godfather II, Nino Rota won great acclaim for his work on two of Franco Zeffirelli's Shakespeare films - Taming of the Shrew and Romeo and Juliet. The song 'What is a Youth?' is one of the most-loved moments of Rota's Romeo and Juliet scores, and has been adapted in to numerous versions sung in English and Italian.
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11. Once Upon A Time in the West
Ennio Morricone wrote the score for this classic film from his long-term collaborator Sergio Leone before filming had even begun. Like The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Morricone's score plays an integral part to Leone's film, with various leitmotifs relating to each of the main characters.
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12. 2001: A Space Odyssey
Stanley Kubrick often received praise for his use of classical music in his films, but none more so than in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Not only does the film make excellent use of The Blue Danube by Johann Strauss II, but it also opens with Richard Strauss' symphonic poem Also sprach Zarathustra. Kubrick had originally commissioned a score from noted Hollywood composer Alex North, however the score was abandoned in post-production. In an interview Kubrick said "However good our best film composers may be, they are not a Beethoven, a Mozart or a Brahms".
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13. How the West Was Won
Alfred Newman replaced Dimitri Tiomkin as composer for this grand epic-western from 1962. The score was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Score, but lost to Tom Jones. The film starred the likes of Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck and John Wayne.
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14. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a strange addition to the James Bond series. It features George Lazenby as Bond, to date the only actor to play the role for just one film, not to mention James Bond getting married! But the film also features one of John Barry's finest Bond scores. As well as the instrumental theme (another rarity in the Bond franchise), Barry also composed the love song "We Have All the Time in the World", sung by Louis Armstrong with lyrics by Burt Bacharach's regular lyricist Hal David.
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15. La Dolce Vita
Before Romeo and Juliet, Nino Rota wrote the music for Federico Fellini's comedy-drama La Dolce Vita. The film sealed Fellini's reputation as one of the world's finest directors, while Rota's score stands out just as much on its own as it does on screen.
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16. The Great Escape
Years before it was blasting out of the terraces at England football matches, Elmer Bernstein's music was accompanying Steve McQueen evading Nazis on a motorbike. The music for The Great Escape, the classic true story of a mass escape from a Prisoner of War Camp during the second World War, earned Bernstein an Oscar nomination, and remains one of the truly great 1960s scores.
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17. Battle of Britain
This is a film of two scores. The first, written by William Walton and conducted by Malcolm Arnold was deemed too short by the studio United Artists, so Ron Goodwin was brought in to beef it up. Producer S. Benjamin Fisz and actor Sir Laurence Olivier protested this decision, and Olivier even threatened to take his name from the credits. Despite this, it is Goodwin's score that has endured "Aces High March" becoming a popular choice at military parades in Britain.
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18. Dr Zhivago
Having impressed with Lawrence of Arabia, David Lean commissioned Maurice Jarre to write the score for Dr Zhivago in 1965. Like Lawrence of Arabia, Jarre's score for Dr Zhivago won him an Oscar and earned a place in the American FIlm Institute's list of all-time greatest film scores. The most memorable moment of Jarre's score is the beautiful 'Lara's Theme'.
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19. Born Free
Starring Virginia McKenna and Bill Travers, Born Free tells the story of Joy and George Adamson, a real-life couple who raise an orphaned lioness. John Barry was awarded an Academy Award both for his score and the title song, which featured lyrics by Don Black.
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20. Breakfast At Tiffany's
Henry Mancini claimed that it took him just half an hour to write Breakfast At Tiffany's signature tune 'Moon River'. The song was tailored to Audrey Hepburn's limited vocal range, and although it's now regarded as a classic, the song very nearly got the chop when a studio executive insisted it be cut from the film. A furious Hepburn said "over my dead body!" when she heard the suggestion.
