Hugo Montenegro’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Sheet Music sells in Auction

Hugo Montenegro’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Sheet Music sells in Auction

Our friend of the Archive, Travis Trewin dropped me a line this morning. Informing me that Hugo Montenegro’s original sheet music for The Good, the Bad and the Ugly sold today in auction. This cover version of Ennio Morricone’s theme was Montenegro's biggest popular hit, reaching #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, #3 in the Canadian RPM Magazine charts, and spent four weeks at No 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1968. 

Montenegro was born in New York City in 1925. He served in the U.S. Navy for two years, mostly as an arranger for the Newport Naval Base band in Newport, Rhode Island. After the war he attended Manhattan College while studying composition and leading his own band for school dances.

In the middle 1950s, he was directing, conducting, and arranging the orchestra for Eliot Glen and Irving Spice on their Dragon and Caprice labels. It was he who was directing the Glen-Spice Orchestra on Dion DiMucci's first release when Dion was backed by Dragon recording artists, the Timberlanes. Released on Mohawk #105 in 1957, the songs were "Out in Colorado" and "The Chosen Few", which were soon issued on the Jubilee label for better distribution.

He was later hired by Time Records as a musical director producing a series of albums for the label, and moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s where he began working for RCA Victor, producing a series of albums and soundtracks for motion pictures and television themes, such as two volumes of Music From The Man From U.N.C.L.E., an album of cover versions of spy music themes Come Spy With Me and an album of cover versions of Ennio Morricone's music for Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy that led to major chart hits.

Montenegro began scoring motion pictures with the instrumental music from Advance to the Rear in 1964. Following the success of his albums, he was contracted by Columbia Pictures where he scored such films as Hurry Sundown (1967), Lady in Cement (1968), The Undefeated (1969), Viva Max! (1969) and the Matt Helm films The Ambushers (1967) and The Wrecking Crew (1968). He composed the musical score and conducted the recording sessions for the 1969 Elvis Presley Western film Charro! (1969). His last film scores were for the exploitation film Too Hot to Handle and the cult action thriller The Farmer, in 1977.

He will perhaps be best remembered for his versions of classics such as the main theme to Sergio Leone's film The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. It sold over one and a quarter million copies and was awarded a gold disc.

(Below; The German release of Montenegro's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly)

In the late 1970s severe emphysema forced an end to his musical career, and he died of the disease in 1981. He is buried at Welwood Murray Cemetery in Palm Springs, California.

A private buyer had purchased his storage locker and has been auctioning off his belongings through the platform ‘Whatnot’. Some other items auctioned included test pressings, eight track recordings, musical instruments, sound equipment, a whole range of personal items, such as ID cards, artworks gifted to him, fan letters, contracts, conductor’s baton, etc.  The Auctioneer reportedly paid a little over US$20,000 for the storage unit contents which had been sitting there since the early 80’s.

A story that is tinged with sadness, but nevertheless – it’s nice to know that the material is sure to be treasured by people and genuine fans that admired his work.

The sheet music which featured hand written notes by Montenegro, sold this morning in Palm Springs with a hammer price of US$450.

My kind thanks to Travis 

 

                

Eastwood Soundtrack selection #3

Eastwood Soundtrack selection #3

Jerry Fielding (born Joshua Itzhak Feldman; June 17, 1922 – February 17, 1980) was an American jazz musician, arranger, band leader, and film composer who emerged in the 1960s. Fielding created boldly diverse and evocative Oscar-nominated scores, primarily for gritty, often brutally savage films in the western and crime action genres, including the Sam Peckinpah movies The Wild Bunch (1969) and Straw Dogs (1971). 

It was his composing for a contemporary made-for-TV Western, Noon Wine, directed by then-unknown Sam Peckinpah, that led to Fielding's breakthrough score for Peckinpah's first critical and box-office hit, The Wild Bunch (1969) as well as a volatile but ultimately fruitful collaboration between the two men. A neo-noir Western with a wordless, staggeringly violent final shootout still imitated to this day, The Wild Bunch's quartet of taciturn, bitter gunmen, led by William Holden, are given power and voice largely through Fielding's brilliant score. The soundtrack brought his first nomination for an Oscar for Best Dramatic Score.

"The Wild Bunch gave me a chance to illustrate to the public, and the entertainment industry, that if a composer is given real freedom to create, he can produce a score that is unlike any other ever written", Fielding said later.

(Above: The promo CD, Screen Archives Entertainment JFC-1)

The following year, in Peckinpah's The Getaway (1972), a troubled production starring Steve McQueen and Ali MacGraw, Fielding's score was removed from the final picture. It was replaced by music of Quincy Jones, much to Fielding's shock and dismay, an ordeal documented in a short film by his wife, Camille and daughter Elizabeth Fielding in 2007.[citation needed] Peckinpah then asked Fielding to compose alongside songs by Bob Dylan, for Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973). In Peckinpah's surreal anti-Western, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974) Fielding again expresses the despairing subtext and unspoken whimsy of his frequently inchoate collaborator, this time in a film whose exercise in futility seems a personal statement by Peckinpah indeed. "In many ways, Sam doesn't know what the hell he's talking about", Fielding said of the director, whom he considered a close friend. "In other ways, he's a fantastically gifted man." Fielding claimed the two used to sort out their differences in fist fights.

(Above: The original Soundtrack LP Warner Bros. BS 2956)

Fielding had fruitful and rather less stressful relationships with two other leading 1970s action directors, Michael Winner and Clint Eastwood. His collaboration with jazz-loving Clint Eastwood began when Eastwood chose Fielding to compose the score to The Outlaw Josey Wales. Fielding, assuming he was scoring a popular young people's Western novel, researched and included Irish folk tunes from the Civil War, creating another newly explored direction for period films and winning his third and final Oscar nomination. On that Oscar night, Fielding was up against Jerry Goldsmith's The Omen, Lalo Schifrin's Voyage of the Damned, and the two final scores by his former hero in 1930s radio, prolific Hitchcock favourite Bernard Herrmann, for Scorsese's Taxi Driver and de Palma's Obsession. Goldsmith would win on the night.

(Above: The Outlaw Josey Wales, Original Warner Bros white label test pressing LP)

In his next two films for Eastwood, Fielding employed urban scores featuring living jazz musicians for The Enforcer (1976) and The Gauntlet (1977). He rounded off his career with Clint on Escape from Alcatraz (1979). 

Fielding died far too early at the age of 57, from a heart attack followed by congestive heart failure. He was in Toronto where he was scoring the motion picture Funeral Home (also known as Cries In The Night). He is interred in Crypt 30 at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

I’ve selected a track here from The Outlaw Josey Wales - a firm favourite among Eastwood fans. The original soundtrack received an LP release on Warner Bros Records (Warner Bros. BS 2956) in 1976. Consisting of some 36 minutes, the album was painfully short. In 1994, a quite wonderful promo appeared on CD (Screen Archives Entertainment JFC-1) which ran for a much more satisfying 58 minutes and in pristine quality. Yet, still there has been no official / commercial release of this version - which is truly a travesty. The promo release (as a result) remains a very expensive collectors piece.

On the subject of collector’s pieces, some years ago I was very fortunate to acquire a very rare white label Warner Brothers test pressing on vinyl. Usually pressed in a very limited quantity for ‘in house’ quality check purposes, the album remains a treasured piece in the collection and sits very comfortably next to a Lalo Schifrin Kelly’s Heroes white Label test pressing LP. They don’t come along too often, but when they do surface - they are certainly worth fighting for. 

Jerry Fielding The Outlaw Josey Wales Main Title

               

Clint’s long time partner, Christina Sandera, dies at 61

Clint’s long time partner, Christina Sandera, dies at 61

I was so saddened and shocked to receive news this morning that Clint’s longtime partner, Christina Sandera had passed away at the age of 61.

“Christina was a lovely, caring woman, and I will miss her very much,” Clint said in a statement to the Carmel Pine Cone newspaper on Thursday. The cause of death has not been revealed.

The couple reportedly met in 2014 while Sandera worked as a hostess at the Oscar winner’s Mission Ranch Hotel in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and started dating thereafter. 

While the actor and director kept his relationship with Sandera pretty quiet, they did appear on the red carpet and at several events together. Their first public appearance was at the 2015 Oscars when Clint’s movie “American Sniper” was up for several awards. 

Sandera gained a great deal of respect from the Eastwood followers – a naturally pretty woman, she came across as completely unassuming, a trait that certainly endeared her to the fans. 

An incredibly sad and unexpected piece of news that is painful to report.

Our love and sincere condolences go out to Clint, and the friends and family of Christina.

RIP

WIN Clint Eastwood: A Life on Both Sides of the Camera by Michał Talarek

 

WIN: Clint Eastwood: A Life on Both Sides of the Camera by Michał Talarek

Thanks to author Michał Talarek we have 3 copies of his latest book to giveaway as prizes.

To enter, please leave answer and contact details in the comments below, details will not be published, and 3 lucky winners will be randomly selected and receive a copy of the book.

Competition is open to UK residents only please; closing date will be midnight July 31st UK time. Winning books will be sent out shortly thereafter. 

Question: Le Streghe (also known as The Witches) is a film produced by Dino De Laurentiis in 1965 and released in 1967. It consists of 5 short stories, directed by Franco Rossi, Luchino Visconti, Mauro Bolognini, Pier Paolo Pasolini and Vittorio De Sica. Each story is about witches and features the beautiful Silvana Mangano. But what was the name of the story which starred Clint? 

Our thanks to Michał and Good luck! 

Doubling your Dollar in 1969

Doubling your Dollar in 1969

I wanted to post a few bits here for the U.S. 1969 Double-Bill release of A Fistful of Dollars / For a Few Dollars More. Hoping to cash in for a second time around and on the back of the success of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, United Artists re-released the first two classic dollar westerns, pairing them up for a limited run. The two movies were also shown together in Australia and in the U.K. where it had a 2-week run at the London Pavilion in April 1969.

Below: Original Theatrical banner

Below: The U.S. One sheet poster

Below: An example from the Double-Bill U.S. Lobby card set

Below: The rare Australian Day bill Double-Bill 

Below: A selection of rare Newspaper adverts

Below: The UK Quad Double-Bill poster

Below: Original Combo Radio Spots Vinyl Record

     

Below: The original Double-Bill theatrical trailer

           

Eastwood Soundtrack selection #2

Eastwood Soundtrack selection #2

Ronald Alfred Goodwin (17 February 1925 – 8 January 2003) was an English composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years. His most famous works included Where Eagles Dare, Battle of Britain, 633 Squadron, Margaret Rutherford's Miss Marple films, and Frenzy.

Born in Plymouth, Devon, England, Goodwin learned to play the piano and trumpet from the age of five which allowed him to join the school band. When he was nine, the family moved to Harrow, London, where he attended Willesden County School and Pinner County Grammar School, in Middlesex. 

From there he went on to study the trumpet in London at the Guildhall School of Music.

Whilst working as a copyist, he formed his own orchestra in his spare time and began arranging and conducting recordings for over fifty performers, which resulted in more than 100 chart successes. He wrote his first feature film score for Whirlpool, with screenplay by Lawrence P. Bachmann. After Bachmann became executive producer at MGM-British Studios in 1959, Goodwin composed and conducted the music for most of its productions, as well as working for other film studios.

Where Eagles Dare received a 1969 UK album release on MGM Records 2315 036 and in the United States on MGM Records S1E-16 ST although the sleeve designs were very different – the content was identical. The was also a French album (Quand Les Aigles Attaquent MGM Records 61 625) which again featured entirely different artwork. A Spanish album appeared (El Desafío de Las Águilas) also with different artwork and a Japanese album appeared in 1981 (MGM Records – 25MM9030) and carried the same sleeve design as the original U.S. release. In 1990 EMI Records doubled up edited highlights with 633 Squadron (CDP 79 4094 2). Available on both vinyl and CD the sleeve carried a full close-up image of Eastwood. Also, in 2001 Chapter III records in the states released a cd version (CH 37500-2). 

However, in 2004 Film Score Monthly released a beautiful Remastered 2 CD version (FSMCD Vol. 6 No. 21) which was limited to just 3,000 copies and doubled up with another great Goodwin score, Operation Crossbow (1965). At 20 tracks (74:07), FSM’s release remains the ultimate version of the soundtrack. I was also very fortunate to receive a credit on this release – as I provided a great deal of the illustrative material for the accompanying 27-page booklet. 

Ron Goodwin’s score opens with a quiet, terse and repetitive drumbeat before a bombastic brass section joins in. It’s a simple theme tune for a film with a storyline that is anything but. Ascending scales foretell the vertiginous cliffs below the Schloss Adler, the German castle that a team led by Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood must penetrate to fulfil their objective, and the film’s climactic fight on the roof of a moving cable car. 

Below: Here's Where Eagles Dare Soundtrack Suite   

              

Eastwood Symphonic: A Son’s Tribute to his father

Eastwood Symphonic: A Son’s Tribute to his father

Mon 7th April 2025, 19:30, The Barbican, London. Kyle Eastwood teams up with The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Eastwood Symphonic is a tribute from a son to his father the actor, director, musician and animal rights activist Clint Eastwood. It is also the witness of an artistic legacy, the transmission of personal passions that touch each other until they merge as often as they can. 

At each step of this musical road movie. Kyle and his quintet will perform with the world-famous Royal Philharmonic Orchestra to offer a rich and emotional rendition of the soundtracks associated with Clint Eastwood’s masterpieces, under the baton of Gast Waltzing.

This special evening’s Programme features:

Ennio Morricone A Fistfull of Dollars

Ennio Morricone The Good The Bad and The Ugly

Lalo Schfrin Dirty Harry

Lalo Schfrin Magnum Force

L. Niehaus Unforgiven

John Williams The Eiger Sanction

Lennie Niehaus Unforgiven

Lennie Niehaus The Bridges of Madison County

Clint Eastwood Flags of our fathers

Kyle Eastwood, M. Stevens Letter from Iwo Jima

Kyle Eastwood, M. Stevens Gran Torino

Clint Eastwood Changeling

Featuring Andrew McCormack on Piano, Chris Higginbottom Drums, Quentin Collins Trumpet and Bugle and Brandon Allen Saxophones. 

Ticket prices range from £45 (restrictive viewing) to £150 - VIP Meet and Greet Tickets are also available for this performance. It sounds like this will be a wonderful night and it would have been nice to cover this event.

For more information and ticket availability, visit The Barbican website HERE

Kyle Eastwood - Eastwood Symphonic is available on both CD and vinyl 

 

Rare 1971 French Ennio Morricone compilation LP

Rare 1971 French Ennio Morricone compilation LP 

It’s always nice to find a piece of Eastwood related vinyl to add to the collection, so today was particularly rewarding. This original French Ennio Morricone compilation album dates from November 1971. Ennio Morricone – Les Bandes Sonores De Ses Films was released on the Orange RCA Victor – 741021 label.

I had never come across this one before, but it caught my attention immediately as the sleeve was a full colour image from the climax of Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars (1964). It’s the same image which appeared on the German 7” single from 1965 – although it appeared on the single in b/w as opposed to colour. 

Consisting of 12 tracks, the LP also contains a few collaborations with other composers such as Carlo Alberto Rossi, Sergio Bardotti and Gillo Pontecorvo – but in general, the majority is made up of Morricone compositions. The reverse also features a photo of Clint standing in the saloon entrance from A Fistful of Dollars. 

A nice addition to the vinyl collection and well worth looking out for if vinyl collecting is your thing. This release also had a 1971 release on 8-Track Cartridge (LP8S 21132) and a 1972 release on audio cassette (RCA – 6.010). 

Below. The 8 Track and audio cassette versions

Eastwood Soundtrack selection #1

Eastwood Soundtrack selection #1

I was playing a few scores last week when it occurred to me that we really don’t share enough of the many great soundtrack releases that have graced Clint’s films. I thought we should address this and post the occasional theme, or a suite from the vast selection of scores. Considering that most are readily accessible and available on various platforms such as YouTube – why not enjoy them here too.

I’ll back up each post with a little information to accompany each choice. If anything, I hope it will provide us all with a bit of a musical ‘interlude’ as well as a reminder of some classic Eastwood moments. 

I thought I’d get things going with Lalo Schifrin’s great theme to Joe Kidd (1972). Schifrin had just finished composing his great urban jazz score for Eastwood’s previous picture, Dirty Harry when he was asked to provide the John Sturges western score. Schifrin would later work with director Sturges again on the 1976 British war film, The Eagle Has Landed. Both films also featured actor Robert Duvall. 

Joe Kidd took a long while to receive a soundtrack release, eventually coming through over 40 years later on January 21st 2013 on the Intrada label (Intrada Special Collection Volume 234]. Although in an Interview with composer Lalo Schifrin, he did explain to me that there was a bootleg album which he believed originated from South America that briefly surfaced, but to this day I have never seen a copy. 

The official release was certainly worth waiting for. Intrada’s complete score used pristine condition multi-track stereo session elements from Universal Pictures. The release featured highly informative liner notes by our late friend and Schifrin authority, Nick Redman plus it featured reversible covers containing original Universal/Malpaso art from both America and Europe. I was also lucky enough to assist art director Joe Sikoryak on this release, and as such - it became a very personal and rewarding experience.

Below: Here's the Main title to Joe Kidd