Clint Eastwood and his son help score ‘Flags of our Fathers’

By Patrick Luce Oct 5, 2006, 0:53 GMT

Soundtrack for the movie Flags of Our Fathers ...more

Milan Records releases music from the motion picture ‘Flags of our Fathers,’ featuring an original score composed by Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood, previously Golden Globe nominated as a composer for his work on ‘Million Dollar Baby.’

Along with his score, his son Kyle Eastwood also provides re-recordings of classic music from the period. The Milan soundtrack features nostalgic standards arranged by Kyle including works by Irving Berlin, Sammy Cahn, Jule Styne and John Philip Sousa, as well as original recordings by Dinah Shore and Artie Shaw and His Gramercy Five. Milan releases the soundtrack on October 17th.

In addition to directing and acting in his films, Clint Eastwood has a long history of involvement with film music - dating back to ‘Escape from Alcatraz.’  For “Bronco Billy,’ ‘Tightrope’ and ‘Hearbreak Ridge,’ Lennie Neuhaus would write the score while Eastwood would write the songs. 

Starting with ‘Unforgiven’ and continuing through ‘Space Cowboys,’ the two wrote the scores together, resulting in a series of successful works.  Eastwood has since written the scores to ‘Mystic River’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’ on his own - the latter was nominated for a Golden Globe in 2004.  For ‘Flags of our Fathers,’ Eastwood writes, and Lennie Niehaus continues to orchestrate and conduct.

The film, based on the bestselling book of the same name, tells the life stories of the six American soldiers who raised the victory flag at the battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.  The men, immortalized in what would become one of the most iconic images in history, rejected the notion that they were heroes, wanting only to stay on the front with their brothers-in-arms who were fighting and dying without fanfare or glory.  Eastwood directs a cast that includes Ryan Phillippe, Adam Beach and Jesse Bradford.  The film is set to be released on October 20th.

‘Flags of our Fathers’ soundtrack is now available for pre-order at Amazon. Visit the soundtrack database for more information and a complete track listing.