The Man With the Golden Arm

Music by Elmer Bernstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

The success of main them of The Man With the Golden Arm made it one of the most important soundtracks to establishment the jazz in films.

Streetcar Named Desire of Alex North is earlier, but while this work balanced the jazz language and orchestral expression, The Man With the Golden Arm was frankly invading a territory until then reserved for symphonic music. Bernstein - with a helping hand from trumpeter Shorty Rogers in the arrangements - created one of the pearls of soundtracks in all times. With its engaging rhythmic propellence and atmosphere of constant menace, the main theme became a jazz standard in cinema. A symbol of autoral cinema. The visceral feeling this and other topics, impresses the suggestion of oppressive drama experienced by the protagonist Frank Machine, drummer addicted to drugs. The use of a traditional orchestra could hardly have the same tortured expression achieved with the abrasive jazz touch. Even so, Bernstein reserves space to symphonic tradition, as in the emphasis on strings in Zosh. The intention of director Otto Preminger was even to seek a marginal, decadent, nocturnal and urban effect for his movie, and the merits of the composer was to have delivered this effect as never heard before or after. Even the uneven sound record contributed to the gloomy atmosphere that dominates the whole movie and soundtrack. Also noteworthy are the great theme Audition and drummer Shelly Manne performances in Desperation and The Cure. Even without forgetting the importance of A Street Car Named Desire, the score for The Man With the Golden Arm is a true water-shed and a very important page in the history of music in film.