Lalo Schifrin (b. 1932)
It’s the way Lalo Schifrin combines jazz with a firm foundation in classical heritage that inspires me. His music for Dirty Harry (1971) (including wordless voices to depict a schizophrenic personality) and for Bullitt (1968), are fantastically original examples of film scoring. His music for Cool Hand Luke (1967) is gentle and extremely effective (watch the road tarring race sequence). Check out also the score to The Cincinnati Kid (1965) (title song sung by Ray Charles) and Schifrin’s quietly-intelligent music for John Boorman’s film Hell in the Pacific (1968).
I wonder if it’s his training with Messiaen that brought him to use Turangalîla tāl in Mission Impossible in 1968?
