Best score (not soundtrack!) for a movie
 

This is a variation on the techno song thread, but what is your favourite movie score/song from a movie score. And I don't mean soundtracks, but movie scores, orchestral, vocal type stuff.

I'll start us off: Navras - Don Davis f. Juno Reactor

Anything from any of The Lord of the Rings sountracks. All of those scores were awesome!

Gladiator - Honor Him

I won't say anything is the best or an individual favorite, but ONE of my favorites is the score to Donnie Darko. Unique, talented, and amazing at setting a mood.

Err... Shouldn't this go in Tilted Music?

My answer: Glory

Schindlers List

Bartok’s "Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta" in The Shining

or any of the scores written by Maurice Jarre (Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, etc.)

Or Tilted Entertainment, yeah...

IMO the best soundtrack in recent times was for American Beauty. Actually, all of <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002353/">Thomas Newman</a>'s scores are fantastic. The score for Scent of a Woman was great, as was The Shawshank Redemption. But I think that Sam Mendes really used Newman's music to particulary strong effect in American Beauty.

Fight Club soundtrack by Dust Brothers is great. It doesn't work by itself that well, but it fits the atmosphere of the movie perfectly. Another one I like is the Requiem for a dream soundtrack, especially the main theme song.

any Tim Burton movie feat. Danny Elfman as the composer

Anything by John Williams.

For example just look at Episode 1. The music was far better than the movie, hell I can remember the song better than I can remember the movie.

Anything by John Williams, Hans Zimmer, or Harry-Gregson Williams is top-notch for me. And Don Davis. And Danny Elfman. And Howard Shore.

Braveheart had a great score.

I immediately think of the Fifth Element, Lucia Di Lammermoor performed by Inva Mulla Tchako.
(The blue demon song then Leeloo kicking some serious ass.)



edited for correction

That's what I was gonna say

I wouldn't say anything by John Williams, but his early stuff- Jaws, Superman, Close encounters of a third kind, Star Wars were incredible and really changed movie-making.

John Williams, Even though he tends to directly rip off other composers (Episode 1 basically had direct ripoffs of "Carmina Burana"), I really have to go with him. Especially for "Hook"

Michael Kamen is really good too.
and Randy Newman, especially for "Pleasantville"
Klaus Bladelt for "Pirates of the Caribbean"

But i think the absolute tops is Elmer Bernstein's "The Magnificent Seven." It rocks my world.

Henry V. This had the most wonderful music. It was the composer's first movie score and he hasn't done one as good since.

Shawshank Redemption
Meet Joe Black
Beautiful Mind
Glory
Pleasantville

All great soundtracks ... I love soundtracks.

Actually there is a similar thread there now. And my answer is the same:

007

Damn....forgot about that one, love that scene.

"Around the World in 80 Days" (the original one, starring David Niven and Cantinflas)

i like the funky synth beethoven of clockwork orange (not completely original i guess)

lawrence of arabia has a good score

dead man is a b&w movie w/ johnny depp...music by neil young

apparently there is some movie called hlemmur, as i have a copy of the original music by sigur ros

then theres pi with the low budge techno

but its hard to beat the catchiness of john williams work

The Lost Highway

The Rock had a great score, particularly the various versions of the main theme (like when the marines enter Alcatraz).

Any movie where the score is composed by Thomas Newman.

Examples:

Shawshank Redemption
American Beauty
The Green Mile

and my absolute Newman favorite, Road to Perdition.

I watch Road to Perdition for the music alone.

--jaded

I second the Howard Shore, and add Klaus Badelt

Last of the Mohicans

A lot of great music scores and famous composers here, but don't forget Vangelis!

(Bladerunner & Chariots of Fire)

howard shore, danny elfman, john williams all amazing composers... the last samurai had a good movie score

Run Lola Run

Hedwig and the Angry Inch

South Park Movie (Bigger, Longer & Uncut)

Ennio Morricone - The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Eric Serra - Leon (The Professional)

Word.

2001 a space odyssey and Donnie Darko

anything from star wars. John Williams is a genius

this is an easy one -
The Glenn Miller Story
and
The Benny Goodman Story
could throw in the ORIGINAL Blues Brothers on there as well as Heavy Metal.

I have several in mind:
A Hard Day's Night
Help!
Magical Mystery Tour (bad movie but great score)
Yellow Submarine
Let It Be

I am embarrased to admit that one of the first cds I ever bought was the soundtrack to The Rock.

Backdraft
Star Wars

Y'know, I don't own it, and I haven't seen it in a while, but while watching Talk To Her I remember being moved by the beauty of the score.

EDIT: Also, I don't know if this fits more into "soundtrack" than score, but Badly Drawn Boy's soundtrack to About A Boy had some beautiful pop-based instrumentals.

Bram Stroker's Dracula

Zabriske Point...The majority of which, is Pink Floyd tunes, and a couple of tunes by Jerry Garcia

I've always thought Peter Gabriel's music for the Last Temptation of Christ was brilliant.

absolute best: solaris (tarkovsky version)--just astonishing.

i prefer films with lots of silence.

i have a sentimental attachment to the soundtrack from liquid sky

seconding trickyy's mention of dead man.

the worst: winged migration (overwhelmingly crappy music made oll the worse because the filmmakers keep using it over bird songs, which were often mindblowing)
koyanasqatsi (spelling is mangled)---anything featuring philip glass, for that matter. i do not understand why he is famous.
anything featuring john williams, who i blame for the whole overorchestrated sub wagnerian bombast that infects big budget hollywood films. i loathe his music like few things on this earth.

Lots of good Scores here.

Brian Tylers score for Children of Dune is very good too :)

Lets see, I lost my virginity to The Passion, which is Peter Gabriels soundtrack to the Last temptation of Christ. So that gets very high marks in my book.

On the other hand, I can't believe I had to go three quarters of the way down the first page before I ran into Ennio Morricone and found it was a Spaghetti Western. Now, there is nothing wron with his work in any of the man with no name movies - it's all quite good, in fact - but his best, in my opinion, has got to be the score for The Mission.

For New Agey ambient stuff, the soundtracks for Gladiator and all three LOTR movies are outstanding too.

a short list of films that use sound in cool ways (not the same as the soundtrack):

mr hulot's holiday
closely watched trains
the truman show
last wave
the fast runner
tarkovsky's work in general
kurostami's work in general

Dragon

Conan The Barbarian

The Last Samuri

A Clockwork Orange

American Beauty
Requiem for a Dream
The Lion King
LOTR
The Hours

Ok Episode one was a pretty bad movie, but Dual of the Fates was one of the best songs in a movie EVER!!!!!!!

Schindler's List. Probably the best Ive ever heard.
Lord of the Rings trilogy. All three were great.
Gladiator had a good score, too.

Also, though it isnt a score per-say, its more than a soundtrack--The Graduate. Simon and Garfunkel stuff, and most of it was written specifically for the movie and it worked *so* well.

superfly by curtis mayfield. hands down. matter a fact, i think i´ll throw it on right now.

One of my favorites is Mr. Holland's Opus.

Gladiator, Romeo & Juliet, City of Angels, Last Samurai

Three come to mind immediately for me...one already mentioned, two haven't.

The Passion - Peter Gabriel's soundtrack for The Last Temptation of Christ
Trainspotting
Repo Man

I assume soundtracks to musicals are out? If not, I would suggest Hedwig and the Angry Inch.

Edit - I didn't adequately read the original thread and included two/three soundtracks not scores. Just count The Passion then.

Howard Shore for The Lord of the Rings, Donnie Darko's is also quite good, and for me, the score of The Shining in my opinion is the element that makes that movie so scary

DR. ZHIVAGO, Casablanca, that 80's theme for Amazing stories, Conan the destroyer.. hehe..

John Williams.. passion of christ.. sorry but i liked the music

the third man has some cool zither music. seriously, check it out.

and yes to lawrence of arabia and solaris

requiem for a dream
2001: a space oddessy
blade runner
buffallo '66
pulp fiction
resivoir dogs

2001
Requiem For A Dream
Matchstick Men
Starsky and Hutch
Resevoir Dogs
Donnie Darko
Batman Returns
Nightmare Before Christmas

Anything from John Williams, particularly the Star Wars films.
Any soundtrack from the LOTR films.
"The Battle" from Gladiator, and the rest of the soundtrack as well.

What, no Beetlejuice? I knew I had to buy the soundtrack halfway through the opening credits.

hmm....maybe the title edit I jsut did will help keep this on topic?

(sorry....but i've seen too many soundtracks listed....)

carry on folks....

/end OT

Once upon a time in the west-ennio morricone

Of course Star Wars and Indiana Jones - Williams
the Harry Potter movies - Williams
The Rock
the Austin Powers movies - George S. Clinton
GoldenEye (I can't remember the composer's name, but it was really well scored)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Back To the Future
Big Money Hustla$ (I don't like ICP either, but that movie was awesome)
The Godfather (who can forget the main theme)

as far as people go I like most of Danny Elfman's work, Howard Shore's LOTR stuff is great, but I think that my favourite is Klaus Badelt (Equlibrium, PotC, etc.)

the Nightmare Before Christmas the best lyric soundtrack as far as I'm concernd, tho.

Howard Shore also did a very good jazz score for The Score (DiNero, Brando). Definitely made the movie for me.

I'll have to jump on the Lord of the Rings movies soundtrack bandwagon. Amazing.

Catch Me if You Can score by John Williams was unforgettable and very jazzy (a plus for me). I don't think anybody mentioned Howard Shore's score to David Cronenberg's "Spider" starring Ralph Fiennes. That was the polar opposite of the Lord of the Rings, which should come as no surprise since he is so versatile.

Can you tell I'm a fan?

Ravenous
Halloween

Candyman, the first one, great score in that one...

The Stoic Theme of Shawshank Redemption, amazing! (The bit were the camera passes over the prison, close to the start)

I will have to go with Schindler's List. It's amazing!! :crazy: oh, and American Beauty!!!

fpr me nothing beats the soundtrack/score of 'noir' (an anime series abour assassin babes)