Just to get the ball rolling I will say Rain Man (1988) by Hans Zimmer. That music compliments the movie so well.
Posted by J2ME (Member # 5728) on :
I don't know if I can say this is the best, but it's certainly one of my favourites.
The Abyss (1989) - Alan Silvestri
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
Thief, the best of many brilliant scores by the fantastic German band Tangerine Dream. It's fits Michael Mann's movie perfectly.
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
I used to have a music teacher that did some film scores (unheard of movies) but he reckons that it is insanely difficult to do well. Silvestri ranks right up there as does Tangerine Dream (so many 80's scores). Danny Elfman is another super talent.
Posted by Pyro (Member # 7658) on :
So many I like, but here's a rough top 10:
1. Bernard Herrmann 2. John Williams 3. Jerry Goldsmith 4. Ennio Morricone 5. Alan Silvestri 6. Pino Donaggio 7. Hans Zimmer 8. Danny Elfman 9. Tangerine Dream 10. Basil Poledouris
(Honorable mentions): John Carpenter Brad Fiedel Vangelis Howard Shore Michael Kamen James Horner
[ 09. April 2015, 11:29: Message edited by: Pyro ]
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
Great thread! I love all the composers mentioned here. (Donnagio is a great underrated choice. Dressed to Kill and Blow Out are masterpieces. Same with Pouledouris for Conan.) Here are a few more from the 80s: John Barry's score to Body Heat is sensational. What can you say about Goblin's creepy scores to Dario Argento's films? And you can't forget Angelo Badalamenti who does David Lynch's stuff. Just super. For older guys--I'm dating myself here--these were all brilliant composers: Alex North (Spartacus, Dragonslayer, and the song Unchained Melody), Erich Korngold (The Adventures of Robin Hood), Max Steiner (King Kong), Henry Mancini (The Pink Panther), Elmer Bernstein (The Magnificent Seven), Miklos Rozsa (Of all his amazing scores, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes has an absolutely beautiful violin concerto on the soundtrack, one of my favorites), Dimitri Tiomkin (High Noon), Lalo Schifrin (Dirty Harry, Mission Impossible), Jerry Goldsmith (Planet of the Apes, Chinatown), Maurice Jarre (Dr. Zhivago), Franz Waxman (The Bride of Frankenstein), Giorgio Moroder (Midnight Express), and Bill Conti (Rocky)
Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
Out of the ones you mentioned Crash, I will say that Dirty Harry was one of my favourites. I would love to have some of that music playing in my car. Slightly creepy I suppose but it's cool.
Posted by Crash (Member # 7484) on :
It is a cool score, Bernie. Schifrin's great. Posted by Bernie_Lomax (Member # 8571) on :
It's hard to define the style of music but it's in a class/genre of it's own. It certainly helps to make the movie what it is.
A couple years ago when I was majoring in criminal justice at uni they were talking about police harassment. The lecturer then played the clip of Harry shooting Scorpio out on the 50 yard line and torturing him. I was 30 at the time. Most of the kids had never seen it. It's a shame. There is some music in that scene that encapsulates subtlety, horror, terror and a climatic build up. You can almost feel the coldness of the music.
My favourite would have to be the rooftop shoot-out scene. That's the real magic there.
![[Smile]](smile.gif)
