I learned in film class that the better the film score, the least you notice it. It is just an invisible but vital part of the story. But some scores are historic and live forever on their own. The music of Bernard Herrmann is among the most thrilling and memorable. I love it. What would Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho and Vertigo be without that music?
On LA’s great radio station KUSC they played a two hour special to Herrmann’s music. He scored 52 films until his last, Taxi Driver (Martin Scorcese) in 1976. A few were Citizen Kane, The Man Who Knew Too Much, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, North by Northwest, and Fahrenheit 451.
His work won many awards, five Oscars or nominations. What an artist—Bernard Herrmann!!
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