Turner Classic Movies celebrates Oscar-winning composer Elmer Bernstein with a 31-film festival airing Wednesdays and Fridays throughout May. Bernstein will co-host the festival with TCM’s Robert Osborne, adding his personal insights on the films, his scores and his successful 50-year career scoring 232 major motion pictures and television films as well as working with talented actors, directors and producers including Fred Astaire and Martin Scorsese.

Films will be presented in themed evenings showcasing many of the diverse scores Bernstein is famous for composing during his illustrious career. Themes covering every film genre include Early Elmer on Friday, May 4, comprised of his first film, “Saturday’s Hero” (1951) and “The Man with the Golden Arm” (1955), as well as Elmer and the Duke on Friday, May 11, featuring two movies starring John Wayne: “The Sons of Katie Elder” (1965) and “The Shootist” (1976). On Wednesday, May 16, Elmer Bernstein/Magnificent Seven showcases two of his best known scores for “The Magnificent Seven” (1960) and “The Return of the Magnificent Seven” (1966), and “The Great Escape” (1963) will be featured as part of Elmer Bernstein/War Movies on Friday, May 25. A complete schedule is listed below.

Bernstein is noted as an incredibly versatile and prolific composer, having worked in radio composing music for the United Nations radio shows, film and TV as well as composing vocal and chamber music. In his early days, he was also a painter, actor and concert pianist. Bernstein, who has been nominated for 14 Academy Awards and won an Oscar for his score of Thoroughly Modern Millie, is currently preparing for Scorsese’s The Gangs of New York, marking the sixth time the two have worked together on a film. In addition to composing and conducting orchestras for films, television specials, concert halls and symphonies, he also takes time to teach a class concerning the aesthetics of film composition at the University of Southern California and to conduct the Walnut High School orchestra in Orange County, California.

Turner Classic Movies, currently seen in more than 45 million homes, is a 24-hour cable network from Turner Broadcasting System, Inc., an AOL Time Warner Company. TCM presents the greatest motion pictures of all time from the largest film library in the world, the combined Time Warner and Turner film libraries, from the ’20s through the ’80s, commercial-free and without interruption. For more information, please visit the TCM Web Site at www.turnerclassicmovies.com.

Elmer Bernstein Festival May 2001
* Indicates films co-hosted by Elmer Bernstein

Wednesday, May 2
TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/Dramas – Part One

• 8:00 p.m. To Kill a Mockingbird* (1962)
• 10:30 p.m. Hud* (1963)
• 12:30 a.m. Some Came Running* (1958)

Friday, May 4
TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/Early Elmer

• 8:00 p.m. Saturday’s Hero* (1951) (His first film)
• 10:00 p.m. The Man with the Golden Arm* (’55)
• 12:00 a.m. Storm Fear (1956)
• 4:15 a.m. Drango (1957)

Wednesday, May 9
TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/Dramas – part two

• 8:00 p.m. Birdman of Alcatraz* (1962)
• 10:30 p.m. Sweet Smell of Success* (1957)
• 12:30 a.m. By Love Possessed* (1961)
• 2:30 a.m. Cast a Giant Shadow (1966)

Friday, May 11
TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/Elmer and the Duke

• 8:00 p.m. The Sons of Katie Elder* (1965)
• 10:15 p.m. The Shootist* (1976)
• 12:00 a.m. Cahill, U.S. Marshall (1973)

Wednesday, May 16
TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/Magnificent Seven

• 8:00 p.m. The Magnificent Seven* (1960)
• 10:30 p.m. The Return of the Magnificent Seven* (1966)
• 12:30 a.m. Guns of the Magnificent Seven (1969)
• 2:30 a.m. The Magnificent Seven Ride (1972)

Friday, May 18 TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/Comedies

• 8:00 p.m. The Silencers* (1966)
• 10:00 p.m. The World of Henry Orient* (1964)
• 12:00 a.m. I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968)

Wednesday, May 23
TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/Westerns

• 8:00 p.m. The Hallelujah Trail* (1965)
• 11:00 p.m. Canon of Cordoba* (1970)
• 1:00 a.m. From Noon Till Three (1976)
• 3:00 a.m. The Scalphunters (1968)

Friday, May 25
TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/War Movies (82 hours of war movies through Memorial Day)

• 8:00 p.m. The Great Escape* (1963)
• 11:00 p.m. The Bridge at Remagen* (1969)
• 1:00 a.m. Kings Go Forth (1958)

Wednesday, May 30
TCM Spotlight: Elmer Bernstein/Historical Dramas

• 8:00 p.m. Hawaii* (1966)
• 11:30 p.m. Seven Women* (1966)
• 1:00 a.m. Kings of the Sun (1963)

* Co-hosted by Elmer Bernstein