Fear Strikes Out / The Tin Star

Fear Strikes Out: The choice of Elmer Bernstein to score the film was serendipitous – Bernstein's and Mulligan's artistic temperaments were perfectly in synch and Bernstein would go on to score many films for him, including The Rat Race, To Kill A Mockingbird, Love With The Proper Stranger, and Bloodbrothers. Bernstein's score for Fear Strikes Out really captures the film's myriad moods – from the elation of Piersall's baseball triumphs, to the dark road leading to his mental breakdown on the baseball field (an incredible scene), to his rehabilitation, and, as always with Bernstein, he really understands how to make music coalesce with images and illuminate character and story – his music is timeless, perfect, and, all these decades later, still incredibly fresh.

The Tin Star: Mann and Bernstein had worked together once before, on Mann's war film, Men In War, for which Bernstein turned out a great score. Bernstein had done only one western prior to The Tin Star (Drango), but he would soon go on to become one of the most beloved composers of westerns in film history, with his classic scores for The Magnificent Seven, The Comancheros, The Hallelujah Trail, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Scalphunters, True Grit, Big Jake, The Shootist, and others. His "sound" is instantly recognizable, even in this early stage of his Western game. The score has all the things one has come to expect from a Bernstein western score – colorful Americana, great themes, all perfectly matched to the film. He was as good as it gets. The CD was mastered from the original tapes stored in the Paramount vaults. Over seventy-seven minutes of prime Golden Age Bernstein.

This release is limited to 1500 copies only.