Kritzerland is proud to present a new limited edition CD soundtrack – two great scores on one great CD:

CROSS OF IRON and GOOD LUCK, MISS WYCKOFF

Music Composed and Conducted by Ernest Gold

In 1977, Ernest Gold wrote one of his finest scores for Sam Peckinpah’s searing war film, Cross Of Iron.   The film starred James Coburn, Maximilian Schell, James Mason and David Warner.  Cross Of Iron encompassed many of the themes consistent with Peckinpah’s best work: betrayal, hatred of authority, redemption in the face of catastrophic adversity.  Gold’s music brilliantly accompanies Peckinpah’s memorable images – martial music intertwined with innocent children’s singing, a great and powerful theme for the James Coburn character, Steiner, and tremendous dramatic scoring throughout.  In a way, it was almost a final burst of glory for both Peckinpah and Gold.

Two years later, Gold wrote the score for Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff, a strange movie adapted from the William Inge novel of the same name.  Set in the fictional town of Freedom, Kansas, book and film tell the story of Evelyn Wyckoff, a lonely, depressed 35-year-old high school teacher, who is raped and then begins to have regular assignations with her attacker.  Audiences and critics of the time weren’t having any of it.  However, the one clearly successful aspect of the film is Gold’s score, which features one of his most haunting and beautiful themes, filled with longing and loneliness.  The score as a listening experience is wonderful, and it remains a highlight of Gold’s incredible output, which includes his Oscar-winning Exodus, as well as Inherit The Wind, The Young Philadelphians, It’s A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, Pressure Point, A Child Is Waiting, and many others.  

This is Kritzerland’s third Ernest Gold release (Pressure Point and Mad World being the first two) and we are particularly pleased to be able to present these two scores in beautiful stereo sound.  Both scores were previously released on LP, and we have left the scores in their LP sequence, which played wonderfully. 

This release is limited to 1000 copies only.  The price is $19.98 plus shipping.