Best Movie Scores

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

Poll question: Best Movie Scores

I have to go with John Williams because I think his scores, particularly Star Wars, Jaws, and Superman, MADE those movies, they wouldn't be half what they are without his music.

[ghostsofgiants]

1. Jon Brion or Angelo Badalamenti

Honourable mention for The Dust Brothers' score for Fight Club.

[NMMNG]

38. I second Angelo Badalamenti

His music is amazing.

[peekaloo]

2. I'm rather fond of Carter Burwell.

He's done a lot of Coen Bros. films and "Being John Malkovich' for starters. Understated but strangely moving.

[Deja Q]

3. John Barry!

He aside, John Williams would be a close #2 (he also did the season 3 theme for "Lost in Space", which is possibly the only GOOD thing to come from that season apart from the hilarious vegetable episode!)

[CBGLuthier]

5. And the Gilligan's Island incidental music

Williams did some great TV work.

[soleft]

19. John Barry Out of Africa

My favorite

[CBGLuthier]

4. Those guys are good, but

Ennio Morricone blows rings around all of them. he has scored 535 movies. The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West and The Untouchables being some of his best. None of those, especially the Leone pictures, would have worked without their themes.

And the amazing thing is he scores on paper. He does not use a piano or any instrument to work out his stuff. he just writes it down.

[Pale Blue Dot]

7. I second that.

The Untouchables soundtrack is the most exciting score I've ever heard. I didn't even mind when he recycled part of it for Cinema Paradiso And his spaghetti western scores are full of atmosphere and tension.

Ennio Morricone rules!

[AllegroRondo]

17. Ennio Morricone!

the God of movie scores.

[masshole]

6. Patton

Jerry Goldsmith.

[mac56]

8. Bernard Herrmann

Citizen Kane, The Day The Earth Stood Still, Vertigo, Psycho, Fahrenheit 451, Taxi Driver, and on and on.

[peekaloo]

9. Thou rocks!

excellent choice.

[XNASA]

29. Indeed.

Herrmann, Morricone and Badalamenti. The big 3.

[DS1]

10. Georges Delerue - Platoon

[Zorro]

11. Dmitri Tiompkin

Guns of Navarone
High Noon
Friendly Persuasion

He also did the theme for Rawhide.

[khashka]

12. Bad choices - It was Eric Serra "Fifth Element"

Khash.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

13. Spellbound, Ben Hur, El Cid - scored by Miklos Rozsa

A classical composer turned film score composer, Rozsa wrote some amazing stuff. For me, El Cid has the most beautiful and sweeping film score of epic proportions ever written.

Elmer Bernstein also is one of my favorties and The Magnificent Seven is to me one of the greatest of movie scores. The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, Kings Of The Sun, The Bridge at Remagen, Serpico, True Grit, The Big Valley (TV), the list of his films over several decades is a monumental career achievement.

[NNadir]

14. I loved the music in "American Beauty."

It was sublime, as was the movie.

[Shadowen]

15. Lord of the Rings - Howard Shore.

You moron. :p

That said, in recent years Williams has grown beyond his normal pigeonholing as a brass/strings man.

[DanCa]

16. Who did lord of the rings i was wondering.

Until than I am going with williams.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

28. Howard Shore

[tedoll78]

18. Call me a geek..

but one reason that the Back to the Future series is probably my favorite is because of Alan Silvestri's (sp?) music.

[RetroLounge]

20. Other

When Harry scored with Sally and then got the hell out...

Oh, wait, you meant music?

RL

[CBGLuthier]

21. A good website for those who really love film scores

http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/

A great score will help a movie just as much as a bad one will absolutely destroy one. There are some movies in the 80's that sound so bad now because of the popular styles of the time.

The classic movie Major Dundee has just been re-released on DVD with an entirely new score. I am looking forward to seeing what it does for the film as some have said the original score was just terrible.

My favorite John William's score is from the little known Depalma film The Fury. The main theme is just excellent and unlike a lot of his other work.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

22. James Horner, Star Trek II

Majestic, thrilling music. Much better than Jerry Goldsmith, who's done most of the Star Trek music since Star Trek V.

[Scoots]

24. Compare...

Compare the soundtracks to Star Trek II and Krull. Then compare Aliens to Clear and Present Danger (or whichever Clancy movie he did). They are nearly identical.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

30. I'm not saying he doesn't stay in a rut

I agree with you. The Star Trek II and Krull scores are quite similar (maybe he was lazy that year) but I'd take ST II over any of the other scores any day.

And I never saw Clear and Present Danger, but I did like his score for Aliens.

He does tend to "recycle" some music, but occasionally, he has a gem in there.

[Scoots]

23. I would say James Horner....

I would say James Horner, but he writes the same tune for every score. That one tune is pretty great though.

[MN ChimpH8R]

25. John Barry and Ryuichi Sakamoto

are two of my faves. Barry is so well known so as to need no explanation, but Sakamoto's score to "Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence is one of the great scores of all time. He also won an Oscar IIRC for "The Last Emperor." A brilliant, groundbreaking composer.

Edited to add Angelo Badalamenti, master of the atmospheric and ethereally doom-laden. D'oh!

[Richardo]

26. Randy Newman has the 'Americana' sound down...

His scores to "The Natural", "Seabiscuit" etc really add to the atmosphere of the movie.

That being said, I'll go with Bernard Herrman (old school) and Danny Elfman (not so old school).

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

27. Howard Shore, all the way

[KamaAina]

31. The Godfather 23, Citizen Kane 17, OT.

:evilgrin:

[SCDem]

32. The Mission

The Mission is one of my favorite scores ever.

Other favorites include:
Rainman
City of Angels

[chaska]

33. John Williams sucks AND blows. Elfman is brilliant, but so is the Larry..

of Arabia soundtrack.

[CanuckAmok]

35. LOL! "Larry of Arabia"

"Hi, I'm Lawrence of Arabia, but you can call me Larry!"

[shugh514]

34. Howard Shore

for his work with David Cronenberg.

Seconds on

Angelo Badalamenti

and

Carter Burwell

[HughBeaumont]

36. Pino Donaggio - Carrie

Not the best one, but not mentioned yet.

OTSN - ever listen to the beginning of Mike Oldfield's Ommadawn? Talk about the inspiration to every 21st century children's movie soundtrack and audio commercial . . .

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

37. Yeah I thought about those super lush scores dude did with DePalma

after I posted this thread... I liked the scores in "Dressed to Kill", "Blow Out" etc.