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Tuesday, July 3, 2012

El Condor - Soundtrack by Maurice Jarre

I love El Condor, but for many years it has been without any proper releases. It wasn't until 2009 it got a DVD release, and for the first time widescreen. I think many people aren't sure what to make of the film, which is essentially an American western shot in Spain (which is trying to at times immitate a spaghetti western). I personally feel it was one of Lee's best roles.

I am an avid soundtrack collector, and have a fairly extensive collection, including all the available films of LVC. The one soundtrack that I had always wanted was El Condor by Maurice Jarre. Despite the 1970 film poster advertising a soundtrack, it was never produced.
El Condor poster false advertising!!!

Flashforward to 2011...forty one(!) years later, the original soundtrack is finally put out by Universal France as a double bill with Villa Rides! also by Maurice Jarre. El Condor comprises of 10 tracks, and it sounds to me like to includes the entire score.

This is a truely enjoyable score, with a great main title, and some catchy character pieces. My favorite track would be the end of track 6 (Luke and Jaroo), which is the sequence where Jaroo rides off after giving the boy one of his gold nuggets (also a great scene!)


  

Track listing:
  1. El Condor (Opening Credits) (03:34)
  2. Ballad for Two Guitars (02:25)
  3. Before the Attack (04:38)
  4. High Tension and Broken Waltz (05:25)
  5. The Ride (02:46)
  6. Luke and Jaroo (04:17)
  7. The Fortress (03:04)
  8. Pure Gold (05:19)
  9. A Band of Apache (02:28)
  10. The Escape (04:07)


This score seems to be getting harder to find.  You can grab it here

1 comment:

  1. When Alan Van Cleef was posting on the web board, he said "El Condor" was his father's favorite role and film. But I have also read Lee quoted that it was "For A Few Dollars More".

    I drove to another town in 1970 to see El Condor because it wasn't showing in my hometown for another couple weeks and I couldn't wait. I liked the movie a lot and thought the music was a stand-out.

    It's been 42 years ago but I still clearly remember when Lee first appeared on the screen he had his head back gulping a bottle of whiskey and when he slammed the bottle to the table and you could see his face clearly, a guy sitting in front of me turned to his left and said to the guy seated next to him "There he is" and I thought (he is here to see Lee..just like me).

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