The Comancheros (1961 Film Original Score)

Elmer Bernstein's score for The Comancheros somehow slipped past the attention of most movie music buffs across the years, owing to the absence of an official soundtrack album (20th Century-Fox Studios did not have the most active record division in the business), and due also, perhaps, to its coming after his music for The Magnificent Seven, Bernstein's magnum opus in the genre. This CD does it more than justice, presenting the richly expressive, Copland-esque score in all of its rich timbres, and in real stereo, no less. Bernstein outdid himself with the main theme to this movie, which captures the rambunctious nature of the hero played by John Wayne, and the relationship with his unwilling ally, the gambler portrayed by Stuart Whitman — the main theme, in its content, structure, and tonality, anticipates Bernstein's subsequent score for the John Wayne Western The Sons of Katie Elder, except that even more than the latter, this is a tune that you can't quite get out of your head once you've heard it. The action music, represented by tracks such as "Attack," recalls somewhat Bernstein's work on The Magnificent Seven, but with decidedly different tempos and embellishments, and in this instance, he makes more use of the timbre of the brass, horns, and winds, and less of the percussion section, though even the latter gets its moments of flashiness. Additionally, the music takes on an almost symphonic sweep in this section of the score, including some intriguing variations on the main title theme. Along with the Comancheros orchestral score, the CD contains a pair of songs sung by Claude King that were recorded but never used in connection with the movie: the first a title song that, in the manner of Wayne's prior movie, North to Alaska, tries to tell the plot in song; the second a very good bluesy country number. The annotation on this release is superb, delving not only into the music in rich detail (with help from the composer, who has passed away since this release was prepared) but also into the lingering appeal of this particular movie, and of the Western genre.