ALEXANDER NEVSKY
THE 400 BLOWS
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA
THE RED SHOES
THE THIRD MAN
AMARCORD (any Fellini/Rota collaboration)
THE LIFE AQUATIC
Breathless – I love jazz, and the score here is magnificent, very memorable, but never overdone
Kwaidan and Harakiri – Takemitsu has composed many memorable scores, but I also like unconventional scores – modernist or avant classical types of things, and it’s put to remakable use in both of these films
Amarcord – My favorite Nino Rota score
When A Woman Ascends The Stairs – I don’t recall the composer, but I do recall the score, which is a simple repeating theme, very expressive and well-used throughout
Dr Akagi – One of Shohei Imamura’s last films, and a bit overlooked. The central character is decidedly eccentric, and the story is set during the closing days of WWII, and the score – a whimsical variant of big band – taps into both of those things very effectively.
I believe Howard Shore was the composer for The Conversation, the very minimal solo piano pieces which underline the lonesomeness of Gene Hackman’s character…
As for classical music used in films, the use of Satie in Being There works very well.
Zbigniew Preisner’s original composition for La Double vie de Véronique still haunts me when I recall the score.
>Dr Akagi – One of Shohei Imamura’s last films, and a bit overlooked. The central character is decidedly eccentric, and the story is set >during the closing days of WWII, and the score – a whimsical variant of big band – taps into both of those things very effectively.
You’re right, that jazz score is fantastic! You’re right about genius Takemitsu, too.
I’m a sucker for Elmer Bernstein’s To Kill a Mockingbird score. So many others from which to choose, but that one instantly does it for me.
Tom: yep! Maybe E. Bernestein’s best score. (?)
1) Several Godard films, notably Georges Delerue’s elegiac score for “Contempt”, Antoine Duhamel’s rich music and lovely songs for “Pierrot le Fou”, Michel Legrand’s outstanding ones for “Band of Outsiders” and “Vivre sa Vie”, and Paul Misraki’s evocative music for “Alphaville”
2) The lack of music in such key films as “Belle de Jour”, “Lancelot du Lac” and “Persona” — sounds and silence and the human voice
3) Bernard Hermann’s famous score for “Vertigo”
4) Nino Rota’s work for Fellini films and “The Godfather”
5) Stephen Sondheim for Resnais’ “Stavisky”
6) Woody Allen’s use of Gershwin in “Manhattan” and of Satie in “Another Woman”
Morricone’s score for The Mission
I love Ennio Morricone’s work in the early works of Dario Argento (along with hundreds of others he’s done).
The Dust Brothers’ score for Fight Club is great in the film and plays well on it’s own.
Clint Mansell’s score in Requiem for a Dream, as performed by the Kronos Quartet, is amazing.
Jonny Greenwood’s work in There Will Be Blood added great tension.
Taxi Driver, Bernard Hermann’s last piece, is an absolute favorite.
Painfully obvious, but Herrmann’s scores for VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST and PSYCHO are as good as they get.
Recently I have fallen in love Alexandre Desplat’s score for Birth.
I’ll echo Jason in pointing out Jonny Greenwood’s score for “There Will Be Blood.”
Whoever picks the composers of Pixars animated films deserves a HUGE bonus. The scores from “Wall-E,” “Ratatouille,” “The Incredibles,” and “Finding Nemo” are some of the best this decade has to offer.
And I’ll go out on a limb here, but I think Rolfe Kent’s work in “Sideways” may be one of the most underappreciated scores of the past 20 years. Just puttin’ it out there.
Conan the Barbarian is my favorite ever movie score.
2001
A Hard Day’s Night
Alexander Nevsky
Bram Stoker’s Dracula
Excalibur
Jaws
Kill Bill
Ran
RoboCop
Rushmore
Sideways
The Squid and the Whale
Star Wars series
There Will Be Blood
The Wall
tons of Morricone stuff from all sorts of movies (he gave tons of really shitty movies undeserving scores)
>>3) Bernard Hermann’s famous score for “Vertigo”<<
>>Painfully obvious, but Herrmann’s scores for VERTIGO, NORTH BY NORTHWEST and PSYCHO are as good as they get.<<
Oh, hell, just about any Herrmann score for any film. His ANNA AND THE KING OF SIAM is an amazing work, his GHOST AND MRS. MUIR is glorious (the “Andante Cantabile” is a heartnbreaker), his Harryhausen scores are terrific, his JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH ……………………….
>>I believe Howard Shore was the composer for The Conversation, the very minimal solo piano pieces which underline the lonesomeness >>of Gene Hackman’s character…
It was David Shire who wrote those wonderful little piano pieces.
^
Cool – thanks for that correction, I couldn’t remember…
Harry, I completely agree with you concerning Bernard Hermann, the man was absolutey terrific. But i"d like to add Morricone whose done hundred of scores and most are great even if the film didn’t deserve it. Also like to second Carls’ pick of Zbigniew Preisner
I’m going off the beaten track and saying that the 2007 US Indie ROCKET SCIENCE had an excellent, non-traditional score by Eef Barzelay. There’s not an orchestral section in the entire film, save for a few amusing cello covers. Not for everyone, but it truly gave the film its own identity.
………and how about slumdog millionaire I think the movie would not have worked without it.
Do the Right Thing had an amazing score
and the instrumental pieces by The Plugz in Repo Man are some of my favorites
taxi driver, psycho, north by northwest – herrmann
chinatown – goldsmith
goldfinger – barry
8 1/2 – rota
yojimbo – sato
sanjuro – sato
good bad ugly – morricone
once upon a time in west – morricone
great silence – morricone
la resa dei conti – morricone
malena – morricone
hitch-hike – morricone
lizard in a woman’s skin – morricone
don’t torture a duckling – riz ortolani
dawn of the dead – goblin
deep red – goblin
suspiria – goblin
Two of my all-time favorites to listen to though I don’t really remember a thing about the movies:
ULYSSES’ GAZE-Eleni Karaindrou
RAVENOUSE-Michael Nyman and Damon Alburn
>>But i"d like to add Morricone whose done hundred of scores and most are great even if the film didn’t deserve it.<<
There was a period that’d I’d buy scores by John Barry or Jerry Goldsmith know that I’d like them & also that I should definitely avoid the movie like the plague. But Morricone (whose work I also like a lot) probably has provided great scores to more crappy movies than Goldsmith & Barry put together.
The list of composers, past & present, that I think are terrific is a pretty long (sorry) one. But Herrmann towers over them all … IMHO, of course.
Contempt
Vertigo
Psycho
On Dangerous Ground
Citizen Kane
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
Once Upon a Time in the West
India Song
Une Chambre en Ville
8 1/2
La Dolce Vita
Fellini Casanova
Nights of Cabriria
To Kill a Mockingbird
Far From Heaven
Damn, there’s a lot of scores I like, such as Raiders of the Lost Ark, but to name just one of the examples I didn’t think of previously would probably be the 1970’s remake of Invasion of the Body Snatchers. After I watched a newer DVD release, I began to realize how brilliant it was….very creepy, subtle and effective.
@CARSON thanks for chipping in with Yojimbo/Sanjuro truly enthralling scores…
Le Feu Follet
Un Homme et un Femme
Contempt
Tokyo Story
La Dolce Vita
Darling
Wings of Desire
Ifukube’s score for “The Burmese Harp”. Between his ominous orchestral passages, the wistful songs and the harp playing, just perfection for the message of the film. I had to order the CD from Japan, but I now have the song the soldiers sing in the jungle at the beginning, which, as I understand it, is a traditional song of farewell.
Morricone for so many fine films, with a special recognition to ‘NIghtmare Castle’, a 60es horror B-movie, which has a lovely memorable piano piece in it. As someone said, he gave music that in many cases was far better than the film.
In classic Hollywood scoring, Max Steiner’s work for ‘The Searchers’. You can like or not like the very ‘musical-exclamation-point’ style of him and others, but within that way of working, he crafted something very persuasive in this film with the variations on the song ‘Lorena’.
Eventhough I mentioned the movie in another post, the score to “Days of Wine and Roses” is still my favorite – I can’t even imagine that movie without that music………
Filmy
List movies that have outstanding music, used in the background or compiled into an original soundtrack, music that enhanced the viewing experience.
As for me I loved and thought the best to be (may be too obvious, mainstreamy and popular)
Jules et Jim
The Battle of Algiers
8 1/2
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Contempt
2001:A Space Odyssey
Pulp Fiction
Godfather I & II
In the Mood for Love, Pather Panchali, Catch Me If You Can had glimpses of lilting scores in them.
anything else that you stumbled upon….also is there any movie that would not have worked without the music….