Movies with great musical scores

[Sherlockian]

Another vote for checking out work by Lalo Schifrin - the theme tunes for Bullitt and Enter The Dragon are stylish, atmospheric and, just as importantly, suit the rest of the movie perfectly.

Stewart Copeland, besides being an excellent drummer for The Police, has composed several soundtracks, all post-1970.

Similarly, Cliff Martinez went from being an early drummer for RHCP to scoring TV and film, including Traffic.

 

[Manny Calavera]

Yeah, if these projects are companion pieces it'd be rad to chart a certain composer. Miles Davis did some great work in Elevator and Symbiopsychotaxiplasm, but nothing really of note post-70s. Ennio Morricone is another obvious choice and, being really prolific, you'd have a lot to cull from. Johnny Greenwood's There Will Be Blood score is very Morricone... something to think about.

 

[robin]

Originally Posted by horndog

For recent films I think The Fountain has the coolest score - experimental yet quite melodic. Think it's by The Kronos Quartet. Same guys that did Requiem for a Dream's score, another cool Aronofsky film.
This. Clint Mansell and Mogwai worked on it as well.

 

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by gdl203

Michel Legrand?

Windmills of Your Mind FTW.

 

[RJman]

Originally Posted by David Watts

Lalo Schifrin
Piero Piccioni
Bernard Herrmann
Alain Goraguer
Quincy Jones
Pino Donaggio
Riz Ortolani
Bruno Nicolai
Henry Mancini
Giorgio Moroder
Goblin
Fabio Frizzi
Thanks.

Walter/Wendy Carlos -- did A Clockwork Orange. Decided he wanted to be a woman.

 

[gdl203]

+ George Delerue & Joe Hisaishi (IMO the most talented score composer alive)

 

[David Watts]

Originally Posted by RJman

Thanks.

Walter/Wendy Carlos -- did A Clockwork Orange. Decided he wanted to be a woman.

Also a Moog pioneer - interesting story there.

 

[brlfvr]

Yes +1 on Morricone's The Mission.

 

[denimdestroyedmylife]

john carpenter!

 

[Dakota rube]

Random Hearts. Music by Dave Grusin

 

[denimdestroyedmylife]

here's a somewhat recent movie score playlist from a month or so ago:

The Electronic Concept Orchestra-- Romeo and Juliet Theme-- Electric Love

Christopher Komeda-- Main Title-- Rosemary's Baby Soundtrack

The Fall-- Overture from 'I Am Curious Orange'-- I Am Kurious Oranj

Edgar Froese-- Der Konzern-- Kamikaze 1989 (Original Soundtrack)

Ennio Moriconne-- La Ballata Di Hank McCain-- Gli Intoccabili

Pink Floyd-- Mudmen-- Obscured by Clouds

John Williams-- Theme From Close Encounters of the Third Kind-- Close Encounters of the Third Kind Soundtrack

Serge Gainsbourg-- Cannabis-- Le Cinema de Serge Gainsbourg

DJ Shadow-- Dark Days-- Dark Days Soundtrack

Yo La Tengo-- Sea Urchins-- The Sounds of the Sounds of Science

Angelo Badalamenti-- Dub Driving-- Lost Highway Soundtrack

RZA-- Samurai Showdown-- Ghost Dog Soundtrack

Return to the 36th Chamber Soundtrack

Melvin Van Peebles-- Sweetback Getting It Uptight and Preaching It So Hard the Bourgeious Reggin Angels in Heaven Turn Around/ Come on Feet Do Your Thing-- Sweet Sweetback's Badass Song

John Saunders-- Myriad-- Bite Harder

Sun Ra-- Watusa-- Soundtrack to the Film Space is the Place

Alejandro Jodorowsky, Ronald Frangipane, Don Cherry-- Pantheon Bar (Bee's Make Honey...)-- Holy Mountain Soundtrack

Vangelis-- One More Kiss, Dear-- Blade Runner Soundtrack

Raymond Scott-- Lightworks-- Manhattan Research Inc.

Saint Etienne-- Chaos In the Gym-- Warp Back to Earth

John Carpenter-- Main Theme-- Assault on Precinct 13

Popul Vuh-- Das Schloss des Irrtums-- Nosferatu (Original Soundtrack)

David Shire-- Theme From the Conversation-- The Conversation

The Cyrkle-- Something Special-- The Minx

F Afzelius-- Cosmic Blues-- G-Spots

Gus Gus-- (T09) Anthem-- Pi Soundtrack

Brian Eno-- An Ending (Ascent)-- 28 Days Later Soundtrack

Curtis Mayfield-- Think (Instrumental)-- Superfly

 

[Slopho]

The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

The Way of the Gun

Conan the Barbarian

 

[modsquad]

Musicals are out, I assume. Post-1970, you might try Mean Streets or Welcome To L.A. In the former, Scorcese's chpice of short pop songs with a nostalgic feel (Be My Baby, the Stones covering Tell Me, Betty Everett, etc.) comes from the same sensibility that informed a lot of the music that emerged a couple of years later in the neighborhoods very close to where the film was shot: the first Blondie record, the first Mink Deville album, the Flaming Groovies, and the like. Welcome To L.A. has a floaty sort of score that goes well with the camerawork and the ambience of the film. Superfly might make for an interesting essay. Greil Marcus, in the book Mystery Train, says that Curtis Mayfield delayed delivering some of the songs because they critiqued the action on screen and he was afraid the producers wouldn't accept them. I don't know if that's true or not. Mayfield has a live album from 1971 or so, about the same time Superfly came out, that is kind of socially conscious and confessional and would tell you a lot about where his head was at when he was writing the songs for Superfly. Resevoir Dogs if you want to be a panting little fanboy. I'm not flashing on much pre-1970, although The Third Man is an obvious choice.

 

[Kd88]

slumdog

 

[JustinW]

Originally Posted by romafan

The Mission

+ lots!!


also Lost In Translation