Maurice Jarre -
The Man Who Would Be King (soundtrack 1975, Kritzerland reissue 2010)
Any film that pairs Sean Connery and Michael Caine under the guidance of John Huston has to be worth watching, and this one is a barn burner. Maurice Jarre's soundtrack, like the film itself, portrays the uneasy mashup of East and West in British India.
Kritzerland sez:
"Maurice Jarre and Huston had already done The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean and The Mackintosh Man together. Jarre had, by that time, become legendary for his Academy Award-winning scores for two David Lean masterpieces, Lawrence Of Arabia and Dr. Zhivago as well as his classic scores for The Collector, Eyes Without A Face, Sundays and Cybele, Ryan’s Daughter and A Passage To India (also for David Lean), Grand Prix, The Professionals, Resurrection, Shogun, Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Fatal Attraction, Dead Poet’s Society, Witness, and Ghost, among many others.
In The Man Who Would Be King Jarre delivered exactly the score Huston wanted – understated yet filled with majesty and wonderful orchestral textures. The score is played by the National Philharmonic, along with several of the then-greatest Indian musicians. It is robust, exotic, moving and one of Jarre’s finest achievements in a career filled with fine achievements."