SWC75
Bored Historian
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Lalo is an Argentine pianist, composer, arranger and conductor who came to this country in the 1950’s to work with Dizzy Gillespie and Xavier Cugat. He started writing music for American TV and movies and wrote some of the most memorable themes ever.
In 1966 a new type of spy show came out, about a group of, (essentially) con men who work for the government to perform “stings” on various villains in international espionage, organized crime or in foreign dictatorships. Although the debt was never acknowledged for legal reasons, they may have borrowed form a short-lived 1959 series called 21 Beacon Street, in which a lawyer used the talents of some of the crooks he had defended to perform stings on people who had gotten away with bad things that were either outside the purview of the law or beyond its grasp. (21 Beacon Street’s story editor became one of the new show’s writers). Another inspiration was Jules’ Dassin’s famous 1964 caper film “Topkapi” about a museum robbery. The premise of the new show was that there were dangerous people doing things that would impact national or world stability but who could not be dealt with by conventional means. So they called in the “Impossible Missions Force” to figure out how to stop him by manipulating events so they would trip themselves up and cause their own demise:
For this show Schiffrin created a theme that stressed both suspense and logic. The hard-edged nature of the piece underscores the danger and importance of the missions but the machine-like nature of the music suggests relentless logic, with the crescendo rising toward the climax. The visuals accompanying the music, with the fuse being lit and leading us, with a series of sharp turns through a montage of shots, (each one causing us to wonder what we are seeing while being intrigued by how it fits in with the plot), were perfectly meshed with the beat of the music. The result was one of the classic themes of TV history:
Mission: Impossible Theme and Title Sequences
Here’s Schiffrin playing a longer version with a full symphony orchestra and a great jazz trumpet solo:
Mission Impossible
An album of the music from the series was issued, which I still have:
Mission: Impossible / Music From The Original Television Soundtrack / (DIGITAL AUDIO)
I think the version of the theme that ends that record, (go to 108:47) is my all-time favorite.
Shortly afterwards Schiffrin created a theme for a new private eye series called “Mannix”, starting Mike Connors. This show was a new take on the traditional PI show: Joe Mannix was a traditional PI who had gone to work for a new firm that wanted to use computers to track criminals and predict crimes, (not unlike the current “Wisdom of the Crowd”, but with 60’s technology). Joe didn’t think much of the whole set up and neither did the audience so in the second season, the computers were gone and Joe went back to being Mike Hammer/Peter Gunn/ Richard Diamond. He was living a more exciting life and the stories had more traditional action and the show became a success and lasted for 8 seasons, (longer than Hammer, Gunn or Diamond). Schiffrin’s theme reflected a fast-paced, fun adventure show with an agreeable hero:
Mannix Theme: Music by Lalo Schifrin
Here’s a longer, jazzier version:
Lalo SCHIFFRIN : Mannix ( générique - version longue )
And here’s still another version as part of a “soundtrack suite”:
Mannix | Soundtrack Suite (Lalo Schifrin)
Schiffrin went on to do the music for several famous movies of the period, including Cool Hand Luke, Bulllit and the Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” films. Cool Hand Luke is my favorite film of all time and a big reason is Schiffrin’s “Ballad of Cool Hand Luke”:
"Cool Hand Luke" End of the Movie
But that score is also known for a very different piece of music. It’s called “Tar Sequence”. It’s where the prisoners go on over-drive in their job of tarring a road to finish early and give themselves some free time. You may have heard this one a few times since in the last 50 years:
Cool Hand Luke 'Tar Sequence' / News Theme
It’s, (from 10-23 seconds), been used by news reports all over the country and even abroad ever since.
In 1966 a new type of spy show came out, about a group of, (essentially) con men who work for the government to perform “stings” on various villains in international espionage, organized crime or in foreign dictatorships. Although the debt was never acknowledged for legal reasons, they may have borrowed form a short-lived 1959 series called 21 Beacon Street, in which a lawyer used the talents of some of the crooks he had defended to perform stings on people who had gotten away with bad things that were either outside the purview of the law or beyond its grasp. (21 Beacon Street’s story editor became one of the new show’s writers). Another inspiration was Jules’ Dassin’s famous 1964 caper film “Topkapi” about a museum robbery. The premise of the new show was that there were dangerous people doing things that would impact national or world stability but who could not be dealt with by conventional means. So they called in the “Impossible Missions Force” to figure out how to stop him by manipulating events so they would trip themselves up and cause their own demise:
For this show Schiffrin created a theme that stressed both suspense and logic. The hard-edged nature of the piece underscores the danger and importance of the missions but the machine-like nature of the music suggests relentless logic, with the crescendo rising toward the climax. The visuals accompanying the music, with the fuse being lit and leading us, with a series of sharp turns through a montage of shots, (each one causing us to wonder what we are seeing while being intrigued by how it fits in with the plot), were perfectly meshed with the beat of the music. The result was one of the classic themes of TV history:
Mission: Impossible Theme and Title Sequences
Here’s Schiffrin playing a longer version with a full symphony orchestra and a great jazz trumpet solo:
Mission Impossible
An album of the music from the series was issued, which I still have:
Mission: Impossible / Music From The Original Television Soundtrack / (DIGITAL AUDIO)
I think the version of the theme that ends that record, (go to 108:47) is my all-time favorite.
Shortly afterwards Schiffrin created a theme for a new private eye series called “Mannix”, starting Mike Connors. This show was a new take on the traditional PI show: Joe Mannix was a traditional PI who had gone to work for a new firm that wanted to use computers to track criminals and predict crimes, (not unlike the current “Wisdom of the Crowd”, but with 60’s technology). Joe didn’t think much of the whole set up and neither did the audience so in the second season, the computers were gone and Joe went back to being Mike Hammer/Peter Gunn/ Richard Diamond. He was living a more exciting life and the stories had more traditional action and the show became a success and lasted for 8 seasons, (longer than Hammer, Gunn or Diamond). Schiffrin’s theme reflected a fast-paced, fun adventure show with an agreeable hero:
Mannix Theme: Music by Lalo Schifrin
Here’s a longer, jazzier version:
Lalo SCHIFFRIN : Mannix ( générique - version longue )
And here’s still another version as part of a “soundtrack suite”:
Mannix | Soundtrack Suite (Lalo Schifrin)
Schiffrin went on to do the music for several famous movies of the period, including Cool Hand Luke, Bulllit and the Clint Eastwood’s “Dirty Harry” films. Cool Hand Luke is my favorite film of all time and a big reason is Schiffrin’s “Ballad of Cool Hand Luke”:
"Cool Hand Luke" End of the Movie
But that score is also known for a very different piece of music. It’s called “Tar Sequence”. It’s where the prisoners go on over-drive in their job of tarring a road to finish early and give themselves some free time. You may have heard this one a few times since in the last 50 years:
Cool Hand Luke 'Tar Sequence' / News Theme
It’s, (from 10-23 seconds), been used by news reports all over the country and even abroad ever since.
