Music That Matters: Top 50 Movie Symphonies (#42 Stripes March by Elmer Bernstein)

Sometimes the best movie symphony can appear in a comedy flick. Ivan Reitman has used the legendary Elmer Bernstein to add a dramatic or epic score to his films which gave new life to the legendary composer. Reitman felt that Elmer's compositions as straight music would elevate the comedy of the actors in his movies. Famed director John Landis also has used Bernstein's music for the same reason incomedies such as Animal House, Three Amigos, and Trading Places . Although John Williams and Bill Conti get a lot of the prestige, Elmer Bernstein is also one of my geniuses in creating amazing movie music. His first entry on the countdown is The Stripes March from 1981 featured in the classic Bill Murray/Harold Ramis comedy. The Stripes March sounds like something that is more suitable for a John Wayne western. Also it sounds very much like his epic score for The Great Escape. Ivan Reitman must have really loved the march because it seemed to have popped up every five or ten minutes in the film. Family Guy also paid tribute to the legendary score in Season 5's Saving Private Brian by using the Bernstein classic when Brian ran through the boot camp obstacle course with ease before he and Stewie were about to go into battle. It truly is an epic song that has stood the test of time.

Ladies and gentlemen...... #42 The Stripes March by Elmer Bernstein