Dark Intruder (1965)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Bullitt (1968)
The Fox (1967)
Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows (1968)
Che! (1969)
Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
Dirty Harry (1971)
The Beguiled (1971)
THX 1138 (1971)
Joe Kidd (1972)
Enter the Dragon (1973)
Magnum Force (1973)
The Eagle Has Landed (1976)
Voyage of the Damned (1976)
Rollercoaster (1977)
The Amityville Horror (1979)
The Competition (1980)
Amityville II: The Possession (1982)
Sudden Impact (1983)
The Sting II (1983)
Black Moon Rising (1986)
Rush Hour (1998)
Tango (1998)
Rush Hour 2 (2001)
Bringing Down the House (2003)
After the Sunset (2004)
Rush Hour 3 (2007)
Television
1965: The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
1966: Mission: Impossible
1967: Mannix
1969: Medical Center
1974: Planet of the Apes
1975: Starsky and Hutch
1976: Most Wanted
1982: Chicago Story
1984: Glitter
1987: Sparky’s Magic Piano
I had a cassette of his various TV and movies themes that I used to listen to. It ended with a medley called “Schifrin Suite”; I remember the suite included the theme to Rollercoaster (because that was the first time I had ever heard of the movie Rollercoaster).
I saw him perform at the Blue Note in NYC in 2002 (I wrote in another thread that I had seen him perform at the Village Vanguard, but last night I remembered that it wasn’t there but at the Blue Note.) I sat right next to the stage about 10 feet from the piano he was playing. He was magnificent and after the show, the friend and I whom I went to the show with approached him to tell him how much we loved his music. He very kindly offered to take photos with him and give us his autograph. It was a night I’ll never forget. Thank you for your music and kindness, Mr. Schifrin. May you rest in eternal peace.
Many people know this theme music from Eyewitness News and other news programs. But not everyone knows it was originally used in the “tar sequence” scene of “Cool Hand Luke”.
He was born in Buenos Aires Argentina as Boris Claudio Schifrin, Lalo is an Argentinian nickname for Claudio. He won five Grammy Awards including one Latin Grammy and he six Academy Award nominations. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, near 7000 Hollywood Boulevard.
Rest in Peace, Lalo Schifrin. Thank you for your music.
It’s not usually known, by Mr. Schifrin started out as a sociologist (!) He had a degree from the University of Buenos Aires. My mother’s boss (A sociology professor at Rutgers University) knew him through those channels.
A fact I learned here, maybe in the trivia thread, is that the famous duh duh dah/dah in the Mission: Impossible theme is the Morse Code for M (dash dash) and I (dot dot).
