I wasn’t going to do a Monday Music this week, but then I started thinking about Richard Burton and decided that I wanted to put one out after all. So, for this week’s Monday Music, it’s all about WAR. What is it good for? Well, the odd decent piece of soundtrack as it happens. Here are my Top 3 War film themes (off the top of my head when I really should have gone to sleep already)
3 – The Great Escape (1963) – Elmer Bernstein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYLm5w5o10Q
A fine piece of work from Elmer Bernstein that has been with me since childhood. It fits the film so beautifully and is playful and bombastic in equal measure. I just wish those brass band players at Wembley would leave it alone.
2 – The Hunt for Red October (1990) – Basil Poledouris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRG1UixHvos
This one’s always been special to me, but when you listen to it on your headphones whilst strolling through a light drizzle in Moscow’s Red Square at night, it takes on a completely new life; you just feel like you’re the hero in a spy film. Fantastic stuff.
1 – Where Eagles Dare
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XKGhG0W0LQ
The aforementioned Richard Burton, along with Clint Eastwood star in this, my favourite war film. The film is made immeasurably better by the presence of Derren Nesbitt as SS Officer, Major Von Hapen. Nesbitt usually played cold, unpleasant characters and Von Happen is one of the coldest you’re likely to see. The score was provided by Ron Goodwin, who made a habit of making drums sound like machine guns going off. My favourite theme, mainly because of the way it builds up slowly and then smacks you in the face.
Hope you enjoyed that. I’ll be back next week something from somewhere else.
Thanks for reading and listening.
If you feel like some more music, then please check out some of my other Monday Music posts. They’re packed with great examples of music from movies, TV and other places.
All the best,
Richard
The Ardenna Crossing 
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