MovieChat Forums > The Killers (1964) Discussion > Main title music cribbed from Touch of E...

Main title music cribbed from Touch of Evil!

posted 15 years ago by Ipsissimus
3 replies | jump to latest

I was SHOCKED when I started watching this movie and heard a portion of Henry Mancini's great score from Touch of Evil used for the main title sequence of The Killers, without even an acknowledgment IN the credits for Mancini. Instead, John Williams is credited. He may have written the rest of the score but the great title music is Mancini's. Perhaps this was what originally gave Williams the idea that he could steal from other composers and get away with it! He's been doing it ever since.

" Politicians, ugly buildings, and whores all get respectable if they last long enough."

[–] tdoolaard 15 years ago

I'm watching "Touch of Evil" right now, and I noticed that at once!
Having seen "The Killers" about 10 times, I never could find the music.
Now I know it was Mancini's.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] Eric-62-2 9 years ago

Universal owned the rights to Mancini's score so that meant if they wanted to use that theme, it was their call to do so. I seriously doubt Williams had anything to do with that decision.