Best Movie Scores

[ATRAIN]

Ok so im a sucker for movie scores, I love them!! So which movie would you say had a awesome score?

Braveheart

[duncan228]

"The Princess Bride" Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits did it. It was a wonderful soundtrack.

[ATRAIN]

"The Princess Bride" Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits did it. It was a wonderful soundtrack.


From what I remember that was pretty good.

Another good one was from the Sci Fi original movie Children of Dune, I highly recommend that one.

[L.I.T]

Requiem for a Dream
The Untouchables
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Star Wars (natch)
The Mission

[mrsmaalox]

Lawrence of Arabia is my favorite classic score; Bridget Jones' Diary is my favorite modern score.

[CubanMustGo]

Lord of the Rings
Star Wars/ET/Close Encounters/Raiders/most anything by JW
Pirates of the Carribean
Gladiator

yes, I like big cinematic scores. and I'm also a horn player in a minor symphony so I like playing it too.

[CuckingFunt]

I'm a big Danny Elfman fan. And not just his Burton stuff, but the more subtle scores as well -- Good Will Hunting, for example. Also liked the Dust Brothers score for Fight Club. And Neil Young's score for Dead Man. The hipster/jazzy scores in the Oceans' movies have been good.

As far as traditional orchestral film scores... hard to answer since my favorites are usually the ones that you barely notice during the film. I don't like when the music is trying too hard to tell me how I should feel during a particular scene.

[ATRAIN]

Let not forget

Last of the Mohicans
King Arthur
Xmen3 (movie was crap but score was cool)

pretty much any Hans Zimmer is good

[CuckingFunt]

And even though they were mostly scored by popular music, I thought that RZA and Robert Rodriguez's contributions to the Kill Bill scores were very good.

[ATRAIN]

For some reason I really love Starship Troopers score, its fun.

[ATRAIN]

And even though they were mostly scored by popular music, I thought that RZA and Robert Rodriguez's contributions to the Kill Bill scores were very good.


Yeah I think they did a good job.

[L.I.T]

When Harry Met Sally; that's a good one.
Lord of the Rings: a bit bombastic, but pretty damn good through all 10 hours.
The Pink Panther.

[katyon6th]

ATRAIN is a compulsive thread starter.

LOTR
Braveheart
Schindler's List

[L.I.T]

I'm a big Danny Elfman fan. And not just his Burton stuff, but the more subtle scores as well -- Good Will Hunting, for example. Also liked the Dust Brothers score for Fight Club. And Neil Young's score for Dead Man. The hipster/jazzy scores in the Oceans' movies have been good.

As far as traditional orchestral film scores... hard to answer since my favorites are usually the ones that you barely notice during the film. I don't like when the music is trying too hard to tell me how I should feel during a particular scene.

Elfman's score for Sleepy Hollow was damn good. His work on The Nightmare before Christmas and The Simpsons is his finest IMHO.

[monosylab1k]

David Gordon Green's movies always have a great score.

[monosylab1k]

...and Jon Brion owns all.

[ATRAIN]

When Harry Met Sally; that's a good one.
Lord of the Rings: a bit bombastic, but pretty damn good through all 10 hours.
The Pink Panther.


When Harry met Sally??? Come on man hahahaha.

[L.I.T]

Philip Glass, Morricone and Mancini are three of the best.

Glass's score for The Illusionist is one of my favorites. I saw him do a performance where he redid the score for Nosferatu, I think it was. Fantastic.

[Soul_Patch]

I read the thread title and immediately thought braveheart.


since you already took it.


Ill choose.....Trainspotting.


haha although its not much of a score, but a kick ass album :)

[ATRAIN]

ATRAIN is a compulsive thread starter.

LOTR
Braveheart
Schindler's List


haha you know you like it :), I try to entertain the masses at work.

[L.I.T]

When Harry met Sally??? Come on man hahahaha.


Hahahaa...yeah I know, but the score and the music fit the film perfectly, at the end of the day isn't that what a good score is supposed to do?

[peewee's lovechild]

Star Wars (all of them)
Lord of The Rings (all of them)
Braveheart

Those are the classics.

Also:
Good Will Hunting
Garden State
Somewhere In Time

[L.I.T]

...and Jon Brion owns all.


The best part of Punch Drunk Love.

[ATRAIN]

The Troy Score was pretty good, its hard to go wrong with a Epic movie. Along the same lines the 300 was bad ass too.

[peewee's lovechild]

ATRAIN is a compulsive thread starter.

LOTR
Braveheart
Schindler's List

Forgot about Schindler's List!!!!!!

[ATRAIN]

Hahahaa...yeah I know, but the score and the music fit the film perfectly, at the end of the day isn't that what a good score is supposed to do?


Yeah your right, but you know I had to give you hard time about that right?

[L.I.T]

Yeah your right, but you know I had to give you hard time about that right?


Yup, when I typed it I knew I was gonna get some shit for it.


Have to throw this out there: Rocky I by Bill Conti.

[ATRAIN]

Star Wars (all of them)
Lord of The Rings (all of them)
Braveheart

Those are the classics.

Also:
Good Will Hunting
Garden State
Somewhere In Time


Ooo Peewee went with old school Somewhere in Time..

[Soul_Patch]

Damn yea i forgot good will hunting.


So my list so far

Braveheart
Trainspotting
Good Will Hunting

[ATRAIN]

Yup, when I typed it I knew I was gonna get some shit for it.


Have to throw this out there: Rocky I by Bill Conti.

Yeah that was a good one. Yeah I really like Hans Zimmer Batman Begins and Black Hawk Down were pretty good.

[ATRAIN]

Damn yea i forgot good will hunting.


So my list so far

Braveheart
Trainspotting
Good Will Hunting


Where have you been Soul???



You know Transformers had a pretty bad ass score, its too bad it hasnt been released yet.

[SA210]

Dragon- The Bruce Lee Story
Rudy
Rocky
The Untouchables
Heat -ending theme
Braveheart
Truman Show
The Last Samurai
Casualties of War
Scarface
Crash
True Romance
The Thin Red Line
Gladiator
The Insider
and so much more...

[L.I.T]

One of my favorites is from one of my favorite movies: Army of Darkness

[ATRAIN]

Dragon- The Bruce Lee Story
Rudy
Rocky
The Untouchables
Heat -ending theme
Braveheart
Truman Show
The Last Samurai
Casualties of War
Scarface
Crash
True Romance
The Thin Red Line
Gladiator
The Insider
and so much more...


Oh yeah Dragon was a good one, Im a sucker for the old school movies I used to love too

Flash Gordon (Queen did it)
The Beastmaster
Krull
Clash Of the Titans
The Last Star Fighter

[CuckingFunt]

The score for A Streetcar Named Desire is amazing.

[L.I.T]

The score from the 'perfect' movie: Casablanca

[leemajors]

carter burwell's work for the coens is always on point, especially technopop on the lebowski score. clint mansell's stuff for aaronovsky is also good.

[L.I.T]

God, I can't believe I forgot Chinatown.

[ATRAIN]

Chronicles of Narnia was good as well.

[peewee's lovechild]

Ooo Peewee went with old school Somewhere in Time..

Great movie with an even greater soundtrack.

I used to use the soundtrack to relax . . . I still do sometimes.

[Ronaldo McDonald]

A Beautiful Mind score is amazing

also like the little miss sunshine soundtrack

[peewee's lovechild]

The soundtrack to "Immortal Beloved" is also pretty good.

[Ronaldo McDonald]

John Williams music in jurassic park gets two thumbs up from me

[CubanMustGo]

The soundtrack to "Immortal Beloved" is also pretty good.

LOL but did Beethoven get an Oscar nod??

[shelshor]

The best ones are the scores that subtly compliment the movie rather than becoming a focal point
Just to nmae a few, other than Lawrence, which haven't been mentioned

Lawrence of Arabia
Lone Star
The Last Picture Show
Dr Zhivago

The too often forgotten genius, Bernard Herrmann:
Psycho
Taxi Driver
Cape Fear-the original
Citizen Kane
The Man Who Knew Too Much
The Day the Earth Stood Still
The Birds
For some of the others:
http://imdb.com/name/nm0002136/

Most of the scores from Sir Malcolm Arnold and William Alwyn:
http://imdb.com/name/nm0002185/
http://imdb.com/name/nm0005944/

The wife insists that I mention O Brother, Where Art Thou?

[Oh, Gee!!]

risky business

[ATRAIN]

John Williams music in jurassic park gets two thumbs up from me


Yeah I used to love that one when I was younger.

[peewee's lovechild]

LOL but did Beethoven get an Oscar nod??

That would've been funny.

"And the Oscar goes to: Ludwig von Beethoven!!"

The crowd goes wild, but the camera can't find him.

[mardigan]

The Mission: Original Soundtrack From The Motion Picture
London Philharmonic Orchestra, Ennio Morricone

My absolute favorite of all time


Empire Of The Sun: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
John Williams
Close second



Jurassic Park for nostalgia reasons
And Willow as well by John Horner

[nkdlunch]

Eraserhead

[CubanMustGo]

That would've been funny.

"And the Oscar goes to: Ludwig von Beethoven!!"

The crowd goes wild, but the camera can't find him.

I thot you were going to say "but Beethoven didn't hear the announcement and wandered out into the foyer to go pee." :lol

[Ronaldo McDonald]

Eraserhead

that might be the worst movie i've ever seen.

as for the soundtrack, i can't really remember it

[MoSpur]

The Passion of Christ
The Last of the Mohicans
The Birds

[cornbread]

My fav's would be:

Last of the Mohicans
Willow
Rocky
The Graduate

[slimjoe]

I always liked the Empire Records and Angus Soundtrack. Cheesey, I know.

[MoSpur]

The Jaws score is a classic.

[E20]

Batman Begins
Rocky
There are more, but those are the only ones I can think of right now.

[ALVAREZ6]

Dumb and Dumber
300
Rocky
Scarface
Gladiator
The Patriot

[peewee's lovechild]

I thot you were going to say "but Beethoven didn't hear the announcement and wandered out into the foyer to go pee." :lol

:lol :lol :lol

[mrsmaalox]

The wife insists that I mention O Brother, Where Art Thou?
I would definitely agree with that one. A quirky one I like is "Broken Flowers"; has some good songs by the Greenhorns who I like alot.

[Spurminator]

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/chris-reeve-movies/Superman-Movie-Poster.jpg

The mother of them all.

[peewee's lovechild]

I always liked the Empire Records and Angus Soundtrack. Cheesey, I know.

Empire Records!!!!

[peewee's lovechild]

http://www.supermanhomepage.com/images/chris-reeve-movies/Superman-Movie-Poster.jpg

The mother of them all.

Not quite, John Williams had compose Star Wars before that . . . that was the mother of them all.

[Sportcamper]

Your guys & gals knowledge of film is always very impressive...I forgot about “Street Car” Very cool score....

My Fair Lady...Some great tunes...

[peewee's lovechild]

Your guys & gals knowledge of film is always very impressive...I forgot about “Street Car” Very cool score....

My Fair Lady...Some great tunes...

When it comes to musicals, two of them set the bar:

Grease

Moulin Rouge

[cherylsteele]

I like John Williams

I think Jerry Goldsmith is underrated, he did films such as:
Most of the Star Trek films
Patton
Planet Of The Apes
The Waltons (TV seriess)
Chinatown
The Omen
Alien
Total Recall
The Mummy

just to name a few.

[JoeChalupa]

I liked the score at the of "The Longest Yard".

[CubanMustGo]

Not quite, John Williams had compose Star Wars before that . . . that was the mother of them all.

Arguably, it was either Jaws (1975) or The Cowboys/Poseidon Adventure (1972) that got JW going. All were sweeping film scores where the music told a lot of the story.

But did you know JW's first Oscar nomination came for "Valley of the Dolls" (1967) or that he scored "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969), which also garnered an Oscar nomination?

His first Emmy was for 1968's "Heidi". Yes, the same one that famously interrupted an NFL game and millions of people lost the opportunity to see a furious comeback.

Some of his early work was featured on "Gilligan's Island" and "Lost in Space" - the 60's TV series. No awards there.

[peewee's lovechild]

Arguably, it was either Jaws (1975) or The Cowboys/Poseidon Adventure (1972) that got JW going. All were sweeping film scores where the music told a lot of the story.

But did you know JW's first Oscar nomination came for "Valley of the Dolls" (1967) or that he scored "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1969), which also garnered an Oscar nomination?

His first Emmy was for 1968's "Heidi". Yes, the same one that famously interrupted an NFL game and millions of people lost the opportunity to see a furious comeback.

Some of his early work was featured on "Gilligan's Island" and "Lost in Space" - the 60's TV series. No awards there.

Yeah, I hear you with all that.
Some of that I did not know, and I'm impressed.
(Gilligan's Island, Lost In Space??)

But, in terms of the best movie score . . . his Star Wars score trumps Superman (both equally good) by virtue of being composed before Superman.

[Shelly]

American Beauty

[SpursWoman]

The Lion King!


And Good Will Hunting is my favorite movie of all time ... so I'd definitely say that one, too.

[SpursWoman]

E.T. & The Omen were good, too.

[Sonia_TX]

The Lion King!


And Good Will Hunting is my favorite movie of all time ... so I'd definitely say that one, too.

:clap Mine too!!

[leemajors]

well i forgot to mention them, but ennio morricone is the best imo, hands down. once upon a time in the west (man with a harmonica is sublime), the man with no name "trilogy," and countless other movies. the collection "the legendary Italian westerns" (pretty comprehensive) is on my iPod and a staple for listening. what's amazing is he never won an oscar.

edit: "has" never won, he's still alive and kicking at 78.

[mrsmaalox]

When it comes to musicals, two of them set the bar:

Grease

Moulin Rouge
Saturday Night Fever!! Chicago!!

[leemajors]

Saturday Night Fever!! Chicago!!
sound of music.

[LaMarcus Bryant]

Basil Poledouris does good work, his scores for Conan the barbarian and Conan the Destroyer are pretty good.

[shelshor]

I like John Williams

I think Jerry Goldsmith is underrated, he did films such as:
Most of the Star Trek films
Patton
Planet Of The Apes
The Waltons (TV seriess)
Chinatown
The Omen
Alien
Total Recall
The Mummy

just to name a few.
Goldsmith is severely underrated--he has over 200 scores to his credit:
http://imdb.com/name/nm0000025/

Another underrated, and overlooked, composer is Elmer (no relation to Leonard) Bernstein; also with over 200 credits
http://imdb.com/name/nm0000930/


well i forgot to mention them, but ennio morricone is the best imo, hands down. once upon a time in the west (man with a harmonica is sublime), the man with no name "trilogy," and countless other movies. the collection "the legendary Italian westerns" (pretty comprehensive) is on my iPod and a staple for listening. what's amazing is he never won an oscar.

edit: "has" never won, he's still alive and kicking at 78.
And almost 500 more scores in genres across the movie spectrum
The Academy did give him one of those "honorary" Oscars for his contributions earlier this year
http://imdb.com/name/nm0001553/

[L.I.T]

well i forgot to mention them, but ennio morricone is the best imo, hands down. once upon a time in the west (man with a harmonica is sublime), the man with no name "trilogy," and countless other movies. the collection "the legendary Italian westerns" (pretty comprehensive) is on my iPod and a staple for listening. what's amazing is he never won an oscar.

edit: "has" never won, he's still alive and kicking at 78.


I agree completely. Morricone has created some of the finest scores in cinematic history. Top to bottom, his work is amazing, and what's great is that he really doesn't have a 'signature' style; especially with how prolific he is. He was given an honorary I think.

[The Red Hood]

Let not forget

Last of the Mohicans
King Arthur
Xmen3 (movie was crap but score was cool)

pretty much any Hans Zimmer is good

HANZ is FUCKING BAD ASS he is developing a Batman and Joker theme as we speak

[Ronaldo McDonald]

requiem for a dream score is great.
Danny Elfman is awesome in ESH, NBC.
Although an average movie, road to perdition has a great score.
Forest Gump has some great music in it.
Schindlers list is awesome - first song i learned on my violin
Enemy at the gates has awesome music also (it's funny how the main theme is almost exactly the Schindler's List one)

[leemajors]

i'm also a fan of the amelie score, not sure who did it.

edit: yann tiersen.

[1369]

Repo Man

[Shelly]

Any 80s teen flick....Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller, Some Kind of Wonderful.

John Hughes always put great songs in his movies.

[1369]

Any 80s teen flick....Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, Ferris Bueller, Some Kind of Wonderful.

John Hughes always put great songs in his movies.

You forgot St. Elmo's Fire

Add in Valley Girl

[sabar]

I don't remember specific movies, but I like Harry Gregson-Williams and Joe Hisaishi's work.

[BeerIsGood!]

http://es.geocities.com/mrycover01/2000TLOTMS.jpg

[ATRAIN]

Basil Poledouris does good work, his scores for Conan the barbarian and Conan the Destroyer are pretty good.

Yeah Basil did Starship Troopers as well, I have the extended one :). I love that movie.

[ATRAIN]

HANZ is FUCKING BAD ASS he is developing a Batman and Joker theme as we speak


Sweet, I heard that they are making the Joker to look really wicked!! Here is the new Bat-suit (looks the same to me)

http://www.comingsoon.net/images/batmannewsuit.jpg

http://www.comingsoon.net/images/batmannewsuit.jpg

[MrChug]

I'm voting for the guy who invented:

"BOW-CHIK-A-BOW-BOW"

...or any variation thereof. You guys are pointing out scores for ONE movie. That dude composed the "score" for not only ALL adult movies of that time but of that ERA :lol