Kevin's Watch

So I watched Once Upon a Time in the West again a few days ago, and once again I was awed by Ennio Morricone's score. The movie stands out so starkly against all other movies of its era. This piece of music in particular is just so damn striking and timeless. At the moment, I would call him my favorite Film Composer, with the magnificent Bernard Herrmann right behind him. (In case you need a reminder... This theme twists my heart every time I hear it.)

All the others I put in the poll, I also love, but not quite in the same way as these two. I surely missed someone else noteworthy. The Guy who does Miyazake's movies is spectacular too.

Note that I am talking about score composers - not soundtrack composers or composers fr musicals. It's a fine art to fix music to a film, and movies like Vertigo, The Good The Bad and The Ugly, and Star Wars are so intertwined with their scores it's impossible to imagine the movies without them.

*A post-script to Cail* I looked back about 5 pages and saw no similar thread (at least not with an attached poll, but it's quite possible I missed an existing one, if so, my bad.)

I picked Morricone for his work on the Clint Eastwood westerns.

So did I. Great atmosphere!

John Williams is my favorite by a fair margin, for his work on the original Star Wars trilogy, Superman and on numerous Spielberg films.

Jerry Goldsmith I admired for his Star Trek: The Motion Picture score. Also Planet of the Apes.

Vangelis, for his Blade Runner score.

Had to pick Williams, but I really like all your other choices.

For some reason James, aside from Titanic, Horner's soundtracks do it for me: Braveheart, Legends of the Fall, Wrath of Kahn... So he would be my #2. My 3rd would be the under-rated Carter Burwell so much great stuff: The Hi-lo Country, Raising Arizona, Blood Simple, Miller's Crossing, Rob Roy, The Big Lebowski, A Knight's Tale, Assassins, Fargo, Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, No Country for Old Men...

Jerry Goldsmith for such films as L. A. Confidential and Alien. Love Shore for LOTRs, Hi-Fidelity and Philadelphia. Elfman does all the fun stuff: Simpsons, Darkman, Spiderman, Hulk etc...but I like some of his serious stuff too: Good Will Hunting and Sommersby, to name a few.

Jerry Goldsmith for tons of work, really. Patton score has no equal for war flicks. I also like James Horner for alot of his work. But from this list, I picked good ol Bernard. Not too familiar with Shore except for a couple scores.

I do love the Patton score, but from those listed my favorite has to be Howard Shore.

While I loved John Williams when I was younger, now I find his scores too attention grabbing. Ideally, a good score will form a part of the movie as a whole without drawing attention to itself; while John Williams writes great music, it really does steal the show.

Of course, the film scores that I listen to most are The Hunt for Red October by Basil Poledouris, and Gladiator by Hans Zimmer, neither of whom are listed here.

I also picked Morricone for The Man with No Name films.
But I do wish Philip Glass was an option...

I actually meant for there to be an *other* option, but I think I forgot to hit the *add* button. These are just the five that were on my mind. I knew there were great composers I wasn't remembering, and Horner was definitely one of them. (Love his work on Aliens in particular.)

Menolly wrote:But I do wish Philip Glass was an option...

Can't believe I forgot him - since I just came to know the "Qatsi" trilogy (Koyaanisqatsi, Powaqqatsi, and Naqoyqatsi). His scores for those films rank way up there among my favorite soundtracks. Sublime, hypnotic stuff.

The Dreaming wrote:The Guy who does Miyazake's movies is spectacular too.

That might be only in the American version of his films, as I understand Japanese movies are pretty sparse on incidental musics. But as I have not done version to version comparisons, I would not know. I will not buy a movie more than once if I can help it.

Mark Mothersbaugh (of Devo fame) is actually also a pretty damn good composer as well, at least of the films I've seen his name mentioned with.

The consistency of Williams over such a long period is awesome to produce soundtracks and themes which are a part of everyday life, like additions to the language (you can always hear people whistle Close Encounters themes at spooky stuff and "der der" the jaws theme anywhere near water).

But Ennicone did the Mission soundtrack and that a real favourite of mine.

finn wrote:The consistency of Williams over such a long period is awesome to produce soundtracks and themes which are a part of everyday life, like additions to the language (you can always hear people whistle Close Encounters themes at spooky stuff and "der der" the jaws theme anywhere near water).

Good point!

finn wrote:The consistency of Williams over such a long period is awesome to produce soundtracks and themes which are a part of everyday life, like additions to the language (you can always hear people whistle Close Encounters themes at spooky stuff and "der der" the jaws theme anywhere near water).

But Ennicone did the Mission soundtrack and that a real favourite of mine.

Hurm, I dunno. I really feel like Williams' work in the 70s is completely unbelievable, but it seems like hes running low on ideas recently. The only memorable Williams themes that come to mind since his golden age are the Harry Potter theme and Duel of the Fates from the SW prequels. Everything else has been kind of forgettable to me. I feel the same way about Danny Elfman. Batman, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Beteljuice, all iconic work, But what has he done since then?

It might be just because these guys are still doing scores that are repeatedly disappointing me. (Whereas Herman is dead, Morricone in semi-retirement)

(Okay, Catch Me If You Can had a great out of the usual mold score from Williams, I knew that there was something he did recently I found pleasantly surprising.)