When John Frankenheimer passed away in July 2002, he left a remarkable body of work including such admired films as The Manchurian Candidate, The Young Savages, Grand Prix, Seconds and the recent Ronin. Frankenheimer excelled at telling human stories in action-based settings, and one of his best is The Gypsy Moths (1969). The film stars Burt Lancaster, Gene Hackman and Scott Wilson as barnstorming skydivers passing through a Kansas town where Lancaster has an affair with a married woman played by Deborah Kerr. Although little seen, Frankenheimer regarded the film as amongst his two or three favorites, and the picture holds up as a quiet masterpiece of character and setting.

Elmer Bernstein’s score to The Gypsy Moths is one of its strengths, emphasizing the characters’ inner melancholy against the backdrop of nostalgic Americana. The robust, action-oriented cues for the skydiving sequences are obvious highlights, with Bernstein boldly playing up the thrill of the jumps, the Americana horizons and the proximity to the heavens. But the score also excels in its achingly bittersweet softer cues, painted gently and with impeccable taste. All of the cues are linked by the tuneful, buoyant main title, somewhat in the style of True Grit, composed the same year.

The Gypsy Moths
01. Trio's Tricks with Banner (0:59)
02. Main Title (3:45)
03. Talk/Bridgeville (2:18)
04. Reunion (1:31)
05. Contact (1:55)
06. Sunset/To the Flame (2:16)
07. Into the Night (4:55)
08. And Later (2:29)
09. Big Stunt (3:22)
10. Mourning (1:12)
11. Malcolm's Feat/Going On (2:11)

Total Time: 27:13

Nightclub Source
12. Nightclub Rag (1:19)
13. Nightclub Rag (Alternate) (1:51)
14. J.B. No. 2 (1:23)
15. J.B. No. 3 (1:59)
16. The Grind (2:27)
17. Crazy Browdy (1:14)
18. Tassle Time (1:30)
19. Swampy Funky (1:20)
20. Funky Paradise (2:02)
21. Water Wings (2:26)

Total Time: 17:53

March Source
22. Soaring March (1:28)
23. P.A. Waltz (2:10)
24. March of the Moths (1:36)
25. P.A. No. 4 (0:49)
26. P.A. No. 5 (2:24)
27. That Old Black Cape of Mine (1:54)
28. Da Capo (2:29)

Total Time: 13:09

Bonus Score
29. Main Title (film version) (2:51)

Total Disc Time: 61:08