Leonard Bernstein composed the great music score for this film. It was nominated for an academy award but lost to The High and Mighty. I don't think Bernstein ever scored another film. Not so much that his score didn't get the award but because it lost to such a third rate pop song.
shareActually he scored the music for ' West Side Story ', another film you may have heard of ( just joking ). As I was watching O.T.W. for about the twentieth time, earlier this evening, I couldn't help but notice how wonderful the score was. Anyway, I haven't watched The Oscars in many, many years, because I got so tired of the politics. Try the Independent Spirit Awards sometime. They're infinitely more entertaining.
By the way, I went to the same day camp as Bernstein's kids some 50+ years ago and would often see him picking them up. For all intents and purposes, he always seemed like a very nice man.
Although West Side Story did get an academy award for best musical score, Bernstein was not one of the recipients for scoring the film.
Bernstein''s music was in many films but as far as I can find, OTW is the only film for which he wrote program music. It is an extraordinary example of what program music should be and do. In no way did High and Mighty fulfill this function. Not recognizing Bernstein's music for OTW with an Oscar said more about the whole commercial farce the Oscar awards were becoming once they were widely broadcast on television and the award increasingly had a commercial value. Not recognizing Bernstein's music for OTW diminished the stature of the Oscars, not Bernstein.
I think there was an antagonism between Hollywood and Broadway. A certain NYC snobbishness about movies (as opposed to their "Legitimate Theater") and the resentment of this attitude in Hollywood. In spite of this Bernstein wrote a great score for OTW and got snubbed by the Oscars.
I read a story about someone trying to get Bernstein to watch the Singin' in the Rain dance scene. Practically had to tie him to a chair to get him to watch it. But at the end of it Bernstein was impressed and said it was a affirmation of life.
I am sure Bernstein was a very nice man and well meaning but......... read Tom Wolfe's "Radical Chic". It is hilarious.
This was the only film for which Bernstein wrote an original score. All of the others -- "On the Town," "West Side Story" -- were film adaptations of earlier Broadway shows for which he'd written the music.
shareI have to say I found the music a little OTT and intrusive. The score did not suit the mood of the film in places.
Its that man again!!