Backdraft - 1991 135 minutes - Directed by Ron Howard and starring Kurt Russell, William Baldwin, Robert DeNiro, etc., the movie tells the story of firefighters in Chicago. It contains a funeral scene with massed police/fire pipers. The pipers were from the Chicago Emerald Society Pipe Band.
Badger - BBC drama series set in Northumberland - Northumbrian Pipes played by Pauline Cato on soundtrack of all six episodes.
Baraka - 1992 - no dialogue. Features various world music and new age music. In the final scene, the Kuwaiti oil wells are burning as a piper plays a piobaireachd.
Barney (PBS Children's TV series) In one episode, Barney teaches the kids about other cultures, pretends to fly to different countries, and encounters a piper in Scotland. And, while we're on the PBS rant, an episode of Theodore Tugboat, the harbor master was trying to learn bagpipes one time.
Batman - a TV show actually, possibly with Liberace as the villain/good guy.
The Battle of Britain - 1969 135 minutes - Directed by Guy Hamilton and starring Laurence Olivier, Trevor Howard, Michael Caine, etc. the movie's battle sequences in the air are splendidly portrayed and sweepingly dramatic. The piper was P/M Gordon Spiers.
BBC World Europe - 1997 - There was a news short about electronic bagpipes which showed a Scottish band playing them.
Bedknobs and Broomsticks - 1971 117 minutes - A Disney film directed by Robert Stevenson and starring Angela Lansbury as an apprentice witch, with David Tomlinson, Roddy McDowall, Sam Jaffe, John Ericson, it is based on the book by Mary Norton. Angela Lansbury uses magic to bring old military uniforms to life to fight off a German invasion. The phantom pipers lead the charge. The highland pipes are heard (but not seen) during the Portabello Road musical portion of the movie where scottish dancers dance in the streets to pipe version of the Portabello road song.
Beverly Hillbillies - TV series - In one episode, Jed and all his kin flew over to England and started what was billed, the war of the roses, when Jethro stomped through their neighbors garden. The neighbors son played the pipes as his sister danced, both in full regalia.
Beyond Tomorrow (TV program from the 1980s) Displayed were a new invention, a battery-powered, electric set of pipes. These wre then compared with the real pipes. Of course, these days, electronic pipes are very common, if confined in their usage to practicing.
Bhowani Junction - 1956 110 minutes - MGM Directed by George Cukor and starring Stewart Grainger, Ava Gardner, Bill Travers, Lionel Jeffries. The story about a British-Indian half-caste's (Ava Gardner) struggle between her Indian and British culture/identity at the time of considerable conflict during the post-war British withdrawal from India. To the tune, We're nae awa' tae bide awa, an Indian Regimental pipe band, The Frontier Force Rifles, pipes the departing Colonel Savage (Stewart Grainger) from Bhowani Junction train station (although in India at the time, the regiment is now in Pakistan).
Bill Nye, The Science Guy (TV) - has an episode about the respiratory system in which the bagpipes were used to illustrate the lungs. The piper was Bob Young of Seattle playing Scotland the Brave.
Billy Liar - 1963 - In it there is a scene where an all-girl pipe band marches through a supermarket. They were apparently doing so in support of some kind of political or marketing campaign (?).
Black and White in Color (Noirs et blancs en couleur) -1976 Highland pipers march over a hill in East Africa to stop the fighting between the French and Germans.
Black Harbour - CBC programme set in Nova Scotia - The opening theme is played on small pipes (Uilleann, Scottish or Northumberland?).
The Black Robe - 1991 100 minutes. Directed by Bruce Meresford, and starring Lothaire Bluteau, Aden Young, Sandrine Holt, etc., the story is of a 17th century Jesuit priest's expedition through remote areas of New France (Quebec, Canada). The film features the band 'Ad Vielle Que Pourra' with piper Gilles Plante performing at an outdoor gathering.
Blink - 1994 - contains scenes with some of the Chicago bands and a group called 'The Drovers'.
Bonnie Prince Charlie - 1948, David Niven plays Bonnie Prince Charlie. The piper solo at the end of the Culloden scene is the ceol beg version of Cha til MacCrimmon. In the scene when the clans gather, each clan arrives with their pipers playing a different tune. In order they are: The Hills of Glenorchy, Hot Punch, The Haughs o'Cromdale, and then one that is unidentified. Lastly, the hero, Cameron of Lochiel, arrives on his horse leading his clan, and his pipers play Pibroch o'Donuil Dhu. Later, when Prince Charles is holding a reception, he is piped in by a small band. His friend, Donald the Shepherd, hereditary piper to Macdonald of Kinlochmoidart and veteran of the '15, wants to play with them, but they won't let him, and Charles orders that the official pipers lead while Donald follows. They then play Jennie's Black E'e.
Bonnie Scotland - 1935 - starring Laurel and Hardy. This film has lots of piping. Stan and Ollie go to Scotland to claim an inheritance which turns out to be a set of bagpipes that were played at the Battle of Waterloo. Stan and Ollie end up in a Scottish regiment and are posted to India.
Braveheart - 1995. It's the story of William Wallace and stars Mel Gibson. The previews show a piper on a hillside with the great highland bagpipes in the sound track. The bagpipes shown on the screen are of the modern variety - 400 years ahead of their time!! The sound was of Uilleann Pipes, and the Uilleann piper was Eric Rigler. When Mel Gibson was asked (by Joe Brophy) why he used Uilleann Pipes instead of Great Highland Bagpipes, he said, "the plan was to use the Great Highland Bagpipes, but the movie was filmed in Ireland, and the Uilleann Pipes sounded better in Ireland than the Great Highland Bagpipes." Hmm... does the sound of an instrument change from one moist climate to the next?
Breaker Morant - 1980 106 minutes. The film was directed by Bruce Beresford and stars Edward Woodward and Jack Thompson. It is the story of an Englishman who went out to Australia in the 19th century. He and others fight in the Boer War in South Africa, are subsequently charged with war crimes, and are sentenced to be executed for them. One correspondent claimed that the bagpipes are played in the movie by the Highland Regiment guarding the military prison in which Morant and the others are held. But, my viewing of the film reveals only two scenes with the pipes and they were of solo pipers heard but not seen. Who knows, the version I saw on TV may have been trimmed to allow for the insertion of more important things such as commercials. Can anyone confirm that there are different versions of this film out there.
Breaking the Waves - 1996 This Danish film is set in the Scottish Highlands in the 1960s. It won the 2nd prize at Cannes in 1996 for its director, Lars Von Trier. Many scenes were taken in Denmark with Danes as extras. In the wedding scene, a piper, a drummer, and an electrical bass player offer their own arrangment of Blowing in the Wind. The piper is Tom Harboe, a Dane who plays with The Heather Pipes & Drums of Copenhagen.
A Bridge Too Far - 1977 There is a scene in which the relief force comes to the aid of the embattled soldiers holding the Arnheim (?) bridge. They are almost overcome by the time they hear the distant sound of the pipes as the relief force approaches, while being shot at, of course.
Brigadoon - 1954 108 minutes. This film was directed by Vincente Minnelli and stars Gene Kelly, Van Johnson, Cyd Charisse, etc. It is about two New Yorkers who become lost while hunting in Scotland. They happen upon Brigadoon, a town that is visible once every 100 years. The piping is the lead-in to the wedding scene. Eight clans come marching across the bridge with their pipers to the fore. The pipers look strange, and they sound even stranger!
Brookland South - (TV: CBS) 1998/4/27 At a police retirement party for Officer MacElwaine, the New York Police Department Pipes and Drums made two brief appearances.
The Buccaneer - 1958 121 minutes. This film is directed by Anthony Quinn and stars Yul Brynner, Charlton Heston, Claire Bloom, etc. and is about Jean LaFitte and the Battle of New Orleans. It has piping in the battle scene.
| Historically British eyewitness accounts of the actual battle only mention that the tune Money Musk was struck up by the pipes at the moment of the initial rush on the American fortifications. (New Orleans 1815, by Tim Pickles, p 65). |
The Americans can see nothing through the mist, but they soon hear the pipes, which slowly get closer and closer, instilling fear into their listeners - an excellent portrayal of how the pipes were used (and why they had been banned) as a weapon of war. Indeed, as the British advance to the sound of the pipes, one of the generals remarks, "Sends shivers down your spine," to which Heston's character responds, "They're supposed to." (Apparently even after the whole line of pipers is mowed down, the sound track continues with a full pipe band --- evidence that, at least, there is piping after death.) The pipers played a three tune set: Highland Laddie, The Cornrigs are Bonnie and Glendaruel Highlanders.
Burger King Commercial - (TV) 1995 Features 3 pipers from the Los Angeles Police Pipe Band , P/M Eric Rigler, Scott Ruscoe, and Patrick Connolly.
Burke and Wills - (Australian TVMini Series) A lone pipe bids the main characters farewell as they set of on an epic journey to explore the outback of Australia from South to north (Melbourne to Cape York) and return. Set in the 19th Century. The piper was Graham Hardie, (a well know piper from the St Marys Band Club Pipe Band, Sydney, Australia.