# Where Might I Have Heard "The High and The Mighty" Theme Before?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-might-i-have-heard-the-high-and-the-mighty-theme-before/318289>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [August 23, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-might-i-have-heard-the-high-and-the-mighty-theme-before/318289 "2005-08-23T17:30:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-might-i-have-heard-the-high-and-the-mighty-theme-before/318289/1 "2005-08-23T17:30:50Z")

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Yesterday I was listening to a story on NPR about “The High and the Mighty,” a John Wayne movie just released on DVD. Now, it is almost impossible that I have seen or heard anything from this movie before, but when the theme song came on, I knew it immediately. I remember it being whistled by someone in a movie, and it turns out that John Wayne’s character apparently whistled it.

My question is this: Is there some other movie in which this theme is whistled? For some reason, I’m thinking of Chevy Chase. I can’t absolutely rule out clips from the John Wayne movie as the source, although I am sure I never saw the film itself.

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-might-i-have-heard-the-high-and-the-mighty-theme-before/318289/2 "2005-08-23T18:10:13Z")

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It was apparently a very popular tune - Dmitri Tiomkin won a Best Score Oscar for it.

[Sez here](http://yetanotherjournal.blogspot.com/2005/08/stuffed-dazzled-and-set-afire.html)

> [@](#):
>
> A funny note: one of the highlights of this movie is Tiomkin’s “High and the Mighty theme,” which is not only played, but John Wayne whistles throughout the film. The whistling is actually done by Muzzy Marcellino, who did the classic Lassie whistle theme. This wouldn’t be so funny except that appearing early on in the movie talking to John Wayne about his whistling is George Chandler who played Uncle Petrie on Lassie!

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**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-might-i-have-heard-the-high-and-the-mighty-theme-before/318289/3 "2005-08-23T18:24:25Z")

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Sorry to have troubled you - I answered my own question.

Rather than my original google efforts, which failed, I tried searching on specific candidate Chevy Chase movies, and IMDB ultimately provided the answer. It was [Seems Like Old Times](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081480/trivia).

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**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\
**Post date:** [August 23, 2005, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-might-i-have-heard-the-high-and-the-mighty-theme-before/318289/4 "2005-08-23T18:34:38Z")

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No trouble at all, I enjoyed finding that one.