The Best Original Movie Scores By Farr
From the first organ accompaniment in those early silent movie theatres, music has played an integral though often underappreciated role in creating a non-musical film's desired mood and impact.
By and large, over the last quarter century, the most successful use of music in new releases- particularly those seeking to evoke a certain period- has taken the form of soundtracks, comprised of popular songs from the time that get re-introduced to generations old and new.
Notably, cult director Quentin Tarantino has adopted this approach to strong effect: "Reservoir Dogs" accounts for why my children have "Stuck In The Middle With You" (performed by Stealers Wheel) on their iPods, while "Pulp Fiction" gets the credit for their appreciation of Dusty Springfield's "Son Of A Preacher Man". (One of the movies that helped popularize the now-common "various artist" soundtrack approach was George Lucas's 1973 feature "American Graffiti").
It hardly makes sense to complain about a practice helps viewers appreciate the best songs that we, or even our parents, grew up with. Still, there is something special about a fabulous original piece of music that helps a great picture stick with you.
Surveying the historical span of filmmaking, the use of original music appears more prevalent from the dawn of sound through the 1970s- or perhaps it's just that the scores themselves were more memorable over this period.
During Hollywood's Golden Age in the thirties and forties, you had Max Steiner, who composed one of the most powerful, recognizable title themes ever- for "Gone With The Wind" (1939). Over at Warners, the brilliant Erich Wolfgang Korngold was creating heroic music that enhanced the sweep of Errol Flynn's various swashbuckling vehicles. Other big names of the day included Miklos Rozsa, Alfred Newman, and David Raksin, who reportedly composed the classic theme to 1944's "Laura" over a single weekend.
Perhaps generational factors account for my own preferences, but beyond the two specific scores listed above, for me the most enduring original music came mostly in or around the 1960s, attached to equally iconic films.
The following lays out my own picks for the ten most memorable movie scores over this fertile period when (not coincidentally) all popular music was beginning to expand in exciting new directions. You'll find in this list many composers known for other fine scores in addition to the features specified.
(Note: all movies referenced are endorsed by our site. For full write-ups of these films, and close to 2,000 other outstanding titles, visit www.bestmoviesbyfarr.com).
1) "North By Northwest" (1959) / "Psycho" (1960)- Composer: Bernard Herrmann
2) "The Magnificent Seven" (1961)- Composer: Elmer Bernstein
3) "Breakfast At Tiffany's" (1961) / "The Pink Panther" (1964)- Composer: Henry Mancini
4) "Lawrence Of Arabia" (1962)/ "Doctor Zhivago" (1965)- Composer: Maurice Jarre
5) "Dr. No" (1962) / "Goldfinger" (1964)- Composer: John Barry (and for "James Bond Theme", Monty Norman)
6) "A Man And A Woman" (1966)- Composer: Francis Lai
7) "The Good, The Bad and The Ugly" (1967)- Composer: Ennio Morricone
8) "The Thomas Crown Affair" (1968)- Composer: Michel Legrand
9) "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid" (1969)- Composer: Burt Bacharach
10) "The Godfather" (1972) / "The Godfather, Part II" (1974)- Composer: Nino Rota
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Nice picks! Esp. The Francis Lai classic.
Hmmm, like my picks, it looks like classic film scoring DIED after 1980 (when all the MBAs and yuppies took over the industry).
I must say you neglected a few classics:
Chinatown - Jerry Goldsmith ('74)
Don't Look Now - Pino Donaggio ('73)
Taxi Driver - Bernard Herrmann ('76)
The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (!!!!) ('64) - Michel Legrand
Once Upon a Time in the West (!!!!!!!) ('70?) Ennio Morricone
Best regards.
Can you write a lecture to music supervisors about packing modern films with boring rock songs that mickey-mouse the action and remind us of what is going on ON the screen already!?
Someone should deport all these people and their bosses.
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I'd love to write that lecture if somebody would let me give it. How right you are.
And it would be difficult for those of us over 50 to ever forget the amusing, haunting and deeply moving Theodorakis score for Zorba the Greek.
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this ranks high on my list as well.
tony quinn's peak!
Peter Gabriel's score for "The Last Temptation of Christ" is also a classic of World Music.
And, even though it was his own songs in instrumental versions, "Birdy" soundtrack was music to fly high.
Vangelis has a plethora of great scores. "Blade Runner" IMHO is his best.
Ditto Tangerine Dream. "The Soldier" is breathtaking. So is "Thief".
As you see, I'm a little partial to electronic music...
And for the orchestral music: Francis Lai s already on the list for "A Man and A Woman", but please (please!) don't forget "Bilitis"!
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vangelis did chariots of fire, did he not?
that's a theme I won't forget.
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need to revisit "bilitis". thanks for the tip!
Blad Runner IS stunning, ain't it?
To Kill a Mockingbird.
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haunting...who can forget that whole initial title sequence?
That was composed by Elmer Bernstein, who sure scored a wide range of movies: southern gothic in MOCKINGBIRD, '50s sci-fi shlock in ROBOT MONSTER, sweeping epic stuff in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, broad comedy in ANIMAL HOUSE, the scary music for the werewolf scene in the video for Michael Jackson's THRILLER. And he won his Oscar for the Roaring Twenties musical THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE.
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I should know this, but was he related to Lenny??
THE MILLIONAIRESS (the Shaw comedy with Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren) was actually scored by Georges Van Parys. You must be thinking of Copland's THE HEIRESS (the Henry James drama with Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift).
yes! How did we overlook that!
Shawshank Redemption -- Thomas Newman
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and what a great movie in general...I think it's under-acknowledged.
I also adore many of the film scores by James Horner, in particular the soundtrack to Glory. The boy's choir coupled with elements of both a traditional operatic score as well as many instruments well-known to the Civil War period and used on the battlefield really makes it one of the most memorable soundtracks to me.
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the score to glory lent the film such gravitas...james horner is fantastic.
Betty Blue /Gabriel Yared
The Day The Earth Stood Still/ Bernard Hermann
Henry V(Branagh)/ Danny Boyle
Henry V(Olivier)/ William Walton
The Millionairess, The Red Pony, The North Star / Aaron Copland
Il Gattopardo/ Nino Rotta
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I agree emphatically, particularly on gattopardo and copland.
THE MILLIONAIRESS (the Shaw comedy with Peter Sellers and Sophia Loren) was actually scored by Georges Van Parys. You must be thinking of Copland's THE HEIRESS (the Henry James drama with Olivia de Havilland and Montgomery Clift).
Exactly right.
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everyone: see "The Heiress", It is superb, score and all!
and we should hang our heads in shame for not all immediately nodding in the direction of the zither score of The Third Man...yes?
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does not get better than that, cool silver foxx...quite so...
and where is joe cotten when we need him?
La Dolce Vita... anyone?!!
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I love most anything by nino rota.
I'd be curious as to what you think of Bill Conti's work on the Karate Kid movies and Alan Sylvestri's work in the Back to the Future movies...
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the work of both men serves their respective films well, but to me they are not quite as iconic as some of the other composers and movies already named.
My favorite Conti score isn't for a movie but for the TV show DYNASTY. I could never watch the show, but that definitely wasn't Conti's fault.
No doubt they hired Conti to score THE KARATE KID because he'd done ROCKY.
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that period of '76-'77 was conti's peak for sure.
Here's two amazing and remarkable soundtrack scores by Pino Donaggio, for the Brian DePalma films "Carrie" and "Dressed to Kill". Both scores are suiblime.
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good call. agree on both...
How about Donaggio's DON'T LOOK NOW? I think that even tops DRESSED TO KILL.
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great call...the music really adds to the pervasive feeling of dread in that picture.
How about, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters
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yes- just saw that one in point of fact.
I'm a big paul schrader fan,
A little bit different than the others, but the score for Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song performed by Earth Wind and Fire was a cultural landmark.
Also, this isn't a movie but the score for the Venture Bros. made by J.G. Thirwell of Foetus fame is absolutely amazing.
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agree on EWF and sweetback..
also love their early collaborations with Ramsey Lewis.
will look into that other score-thanks!
I can't think of a movie where the music enhances the sense of tension and dread better than Bernard Herrmann's score for Taxi Driver. Tightens the knots in the stomach.
I'm not a big fan of John Wiliams, but it's hard to beat the strings that precede the shark in Jaws.
Philip Glass's score for Kundun is beautiful.
And John Lurie has done some great scores for Jim Jarmusch movies and also did Get Shorty.
Speaking of Jarmusch.... everyone makes fun of his movie Dead Man, but Neil Young's electric guitar soundtrack is terrific.
((Keep these columns coming, Mr Farr.))
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taxi driver is a superb culmination to herrmann's career- jaws is also memorable and ceaselessly imitated, but I think williams's best work was for star wars.
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big fan of john lurie's- what an original.
and thanks for the encouragement- I'll be back every week...tell your movie-minded friends!
Not everyone loved Young's DEAD MAN score: Roger Ebert's review called it "two hours of Neil Young dropping his guitar." (I didn't mind it, but that's a funny quote!)
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roger proves himself quite the wit in this instance!
I've always loved the music John Carpenter does for his movies (Halloween and Escape from New York, particularly)...
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the goose-bump inducing work for halloween really sticks with you, though you wish it wouldn't!
Just as an example of how effective Carpenter's "Halloween" music was - a couple or so years ago, the Red Sox had a relief pitcher named Mike (Michael) Myers, who used the "Halloween" theme music when he came on the field. Now, to be thoroughly creeped out when you're sitting in the middle of 35,000 other people in Fenway Park just shows how powerful the right music can be.
Where's the love for Aleksandr Nevskiy?
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good call- I wasn't going back all the way to eisenstein's period though.
That music was by Sergei Prokofiev, right? (I think he also did Eisenstein's IVAN THE TERRIBLE.) The music when they're chasing the Teutonic Knights over the ice reminded me of Benny Hill!
BTW, I also think his LT. KIJE suite was originally a movie score. Someone correct me if I'm wrong!
How can any listing of great movie scores not include John Williams.... His music has became embedded into our culture -- Star Wars, Superman, Schindler's List, Jurassic Park, Jaws, Harry Potter, Fourth of July, Indiana Jones, and many more.
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Had I one or two more to list , Williams's rendtion of "Star Wars" would have certainly made the list. Also- Isaac Hayes's work on "Shaft".
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