I thought in terms of the enthusiasm of doing it. I didn't think about whether I was ready.
Elmer Bernstein

I made my way on to a grey list, a black list even. That's something I'm very proud of, actually.
Elmer Bernstein

It was a great way to work. In those days, you had to be there. It was your world. It was your club. Your friends were there, your associates were there, your security was there.
Elmer Bernstein

Victor Young had been hired to write the score for the dances of The Ten Commandments but he became very ill. You were then hired to write the score. But at the same time you'd written The Man with the Golden Arm score.
Elmer Bernstein

One of the things that happens in the business is that success is a very strange thing in that if you are involved in something very successful the next person wants you to repeat it.
Elmer Bernstein

When you stop to think about it, so many films today where we don't have that kind of contact are films about alienation. About alienated feelings. We are much more alienated from our colleagues nowadays.
Elmer Bernstein

I did 10 years of comedies and 10 years of Westerns. I really like to stay away from car chases. I prefer the more intimate film. You have a much more direct association with the emotions.
Elmer Bernstein