Press Release from Dragon's Domain:
Dragon’s Domain Records presents THE GERALD FRIED COLLECTION, VOLUME 2, featuring music composed by Gerald Fried (THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., STAR TREK, ROOTS) for two films from his extensive filmography, THE BELL JAR and VIGILANTE FORCE.
Released in 1979, THE BELL JAR was directed by Larry Peerce (GOODBYE, COLUMBUS) starring Marilyn Hassett (THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN) and Julie Harris (EAST OF EDEN). Based on the 1963 book by Sylvia Plath, THE BELL JAR tells the story of Esther (Hassett), a young nineteen year-old woman who spends the summer in New York City interning for a women’s magazine. After she returns home to New England, she suffers a series of psychological breakdowns in connection with various troubling events during the 1950s, including the very public execution of the Rosenbergs for espionage. These disturbing occurrences trigger repressed memories of her past as Esther struggles to recover from onsetting madness...
Released in 1976, VIGILANTE FORCE was written and directed by George Armitage (MIAMI BLUES), starring Kris Kristofferson, Bernadette Peters, Jan-Michael Vincent, Victoria Principal, Brad Dexter, Judson Pratt, David Doyle, Antony Carbone, Andrew Stevens, Charles Cyphers and Paul Gleason. VIGILANTE FORCE tells the story of Elk Hill, a small California town infested by unruly oil-field workers whose only form of communication are fists and kicks. Two brothers, Ben and Aaron (Vincent and Kristofferson) are enlisted by the local authorities to help restore the peace. The brothers recruit a band of veteran mercenaries and successfully purge the town of the troublemakers. However, the peacekeepers are not so eager to relinquish their authority and Ben finds himself having to fight against his own brother to regain control of Elk Hill.
Born February, 1928 in the Bronx, Gerald Fried’s interest in music found its first fruition at the High School of Music & Art in New York City. He attended The Juilliard School of Music as an oboe major, graduating in 1945. Among his earliest friends was a bright kid named Stanley Kubrick. The two of them used to hang around Greenwich Village and talk about their budding interests, Fried’s in classical music and Kubrick’s in filmmaking. Their interests merged when Kubrick began filming DAY OF THE FIGHT, an 18-minute short about boxing. Knowing Fried was a music major, Kubrick asked him if he could write the score for his boxing picture. Fried agreed, then spent months going to the movies to learn how film scores worked, there being no schools or courses on film music in those days. Fried wrote an effective score, and Kubrick sold the film to RKO Pathé. Fried rejoined Kubrick to score four more of his films, including THE KILLING and PATHS TO GLORY, where the young filmmaker first gained his reputation.
After the success of THE KILLING in 1956, Kubrick moved to Los Angeles, shortly followed by Fried, who was immediately hired to compose and arrange music for several films, including THE VAMPIRE, THE RETURN OF DRACULA, MACHINE GUN KELLY and I, MOBSTER, I BURY THE LIVING, and TIMBUKTU (1959). By the 1960s, Fried moved into television, scoring episodes of such seminal shows of the decade as GILLIGAN’S ISLAND, THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E., MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE and STAR TREK. By the 1970s Fried was composing music for numerous made-for-TV movies. His best-known score of the decade was for the 1977 miniseries ROOTS, which he took over scoring when Quincy Jones fell behind and was unable to meet the broadcast deadline for the eight-hour miniseries. Both Jones and Fried won Emmy Awards for their musical efforts on the series. During the ‘80s, Fried continued to compose music for television series, movies, and documentaries, and an occasional feature film. These are just two of the many magnificent scores Fried wrote throughout his career. The composer passed away on February 17, 2023 at the age of 95. His work remains a testament to his talent and dedication to the art of composition and he is remembered as a key figure in the evolution of music for film and television.
Dragon’s Domain Records presents THE GERALD FRIED COLLECTION, VOLUME 2, featuring music composed by Gerald Fried for THE BELL JAR and VIGILANTE FORCE for the first time on compact disc. The music has been mastered by James Nelson at Digital Outland and the liner notes have been written by composer and author Brian Satterwhite.
