Back in the 1950s, film music was beginning to evolve and move in different directions, as it embraced other forms of expression to give contemporary energy and vibrancy to plot and character. For example, the prominent figures of Alex North, Elmer Bernstein and Henry Mancini, would introduce the addition of jazz to a composer’s palette, giving a more aggressively modernistic upbeat sound for a new kind of film.

One individual who would certainly benefit in this new direction (especially in the upcoming decade of the 1960s), was Argentinian born Lalo Schifrin. Emerging initially from a serious classical background, Schifrin took on board the influences of jazz masters such as Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz and Count Basie; whilst utilising that background to infuse his own compositions.

Like contemporaries such as Jerry Goldsmith and John Williams, Schifrin would initially find steady work within American television, before he moved towards the larger canvas of feature films.

In fact, it is within television that Schifrin would gift the public with his most recognisable and memorable composition (written within a short span of time) with the catchy theme tune for the popular TV series Mission Impossible. This of course would be later expanded within the Tom Cruise film franchise that everyone is familiar with.

Perhaps his first major film success came in 1965, with the Steve McQueen poker drama, The Cincinnati Kid. It was on this film (predominantly set in New Orleans) that Schifrin embraced that aura of deep south jazz, complimenting the story of high stakes gambling within the ‘Big Easy’.

This would set him up for what I would contest would turn out be his three greatest film achievements.

Simply put, that Lalo Schifrin provided three iconic scores for three iconic actors, portraying three iconic characters.

In order, they were: Paul Newman as Cool Hand Luke; Steve McQueen as Bullitt and Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry. All three are highly distinctive, adding a rich diversity that reflected and enhanced the iconography of the actor and the character.

For example, Schifrin’s score for Cool Hand Luke (which would win him his first Oscar nomination) skilfully blends elements of bluegrass, country and gospel music within the soundtrack; while carrying a deeply emotional melancholic mood, that threads its way throughout the film.

The main theme may seem simple in its structure, but its laced with raw emotion, haunting the listener, as the score moves from high-spirited rebelliousness one minute to the inevitable tragic outcome the next. It’s without doubt, one of the landmark scores of the 1960s, and arguably Schifrin’s masterpiece.

With his later ventures into the urban crime thriller, Schifrin cleverly injected jazz, with an uptempo sound of cool chic, perfectly mirroring the mean streets of San Francisco, as well as the characters portrayed by Steve McQueen and Clint Eastwood.

One particularly striking jazzy cue from Bullitt is ‘Shifting Gears’, features just prior to the legendary car chase. Schifrin’s music gradually builds tension, excitement and anticipation, before the music abruptly stops and the screeching tyres take over.

By this time, Lalo Schifrin was much in demand, and his stylish composing could be echoed in the works of other film composers around that period. One only has to listen to Roy Budd’s opening credit music for the gritty British crime thriller Get Carter, to become acutely aware of how Schifrin’s musical innovations, had inveigled its way to the other side of the Atlantic.

Among his other notable works included the Mafia drama, The Brotherhood, Bruce Lee’s Kung Fu classic, Enter The Dragon, whilst also continuing his film collaborations with Clint Eastwood on Coogan’s Bluff, the western, Joe Kidd, and, best of all, the ever popular war film Kelly’s Heroes. That last example even gave life to the catchy theme song – Burning Bridges, adding an ironically uplifting tone to a story of unconventional GI soldiers during wartime.

Schifrin was not only renowned as one of the most distinctive film composers of his time, but he produced many accomplished jazz compositions, that rightly stand out in their own right.

Greatly lauded by his peers and by his millions of fans world-wide, Schifrin’s music (and perhaps more importantly) his influence, continues to be felt for all of us who love the movies, as well as how great soundtrack music can elevate and energise on-screen action and characterisations.

You could say that his music had a mission and will never self-destruct…