The Definitive Guide To Film Scores
Some of OWF's finest writers reveal their favourite film scores and composers, explaining what makes them stand out
What makes a good movie soundtrack? Which composers have written the finest scores? As with all questions about musical preference, these are deeply personal (often emotional) choices, perhaps liable to change (even minutes after they were written) but still interesting and revealing. For example, depending on my mood I could pick any number of film scores as my favourite, with equal conviction. If I were feeling nostalgic I would probably go for the grandeur and wonder of John Williams' triumphant score to 'Jurassic Park', which never fails to excite and enthrall me just as it did when I saw the film a Dinosaur-obsessed eight year-old in 1993. I could just as easily be swayed into selecting almost anything composed by Carter Burwell, from his energetic and playful opening to 'Raising Arizona' to his work with Spike Jonze, such as his score for 'Being John Malkovich' (beautiful, eerie, every bit as twisted as Charlie Kaufman's screenplay). However, if (like the contributors below) I were asked to give you one selection that represents my personal favourite, right now, then I would suggest that Jon Brion's accompaniment to Paul Thomas Anderson's 'Punch-Drunk Love'is that film score. Brion's music adds so much to the film, making the viewer feel uneasy using combinations of unusual and unsettling noises during scenes where Adam Sandler's Barry is stressed out, rendering his anxiety palpable. The score is also heart-rendingly beautiful at other times and when it soars it literally raises a tear to my eye. As I say, film scores can be a personal and emotional thing.
Some films came up more than once in this poll of Obsessed With Film contributors. The 2007 western 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' (pictured above) was such a film, brought up more than once by staff when discussion began (though many chose to move on once they realised it was being covered so ably by Sam McMulkin), as did Bernard Herrmann's score for Hitchcock's 'Vertigo'. But whatever the choices, this was not really a poll to uncover a definitive "best", but to provoke some discussion amongst you readers and to shed some light on the very nature of what makes a film score great. I hope the following choices will do just that...
SHUTTER ISLAND (2010)
(Robbie Robertson)
Probably my favorite soundtrack of recent years has been Nick Cave & Warren Elliss score for The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. But as thats proving popular amongst other Obsessed With Film writers, for this piece Im going to bring it back to a master of music and movies. Over the years the music and soundtracks of Martin Scorseses films have become as talked about and admired as the movies themselves. Music is an integral part of each of his films, from the opening of his breakthrough Mean Streets to his involvement in music documentaries and concert movies. In Shutter Island Scorsese combines a mixture of styles and cinematic genres, film noir, horror, thriller (and the styles of filmmaking commonly associated with these genres) to create a unique setting and an unsettling world that Teddy Daniels has found himself in. The score (especially the track below) helps to convey the feelings of the protagonist and keep with the visual style and messages portrayed throughout the film. So the unique blend of musical styles accompanies the blend of filmic styles used to portray an aesthetic and emotes the narrative and characters of the film. THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD (2007)
(Nick Cave & Warren Ellis)
A largely misunderstood piece of cinema and heavily underrepresented at the 2007 Oscars, the opening sequence introducing Jesse (Brad Pitt), amongst many others, is truly magnificent. Images of deep sunsets, moody skies in time lapse, wheat swaying lazily in the breeze, all tied together with the haunting score establish a thick air of melancholy that continues throughout. With or without the film this is music to get lost in, as my iTunes most played clearly confirms. One particular image that sticks firmly in the back of mind whenever I hear the music is that of the smoke from a soon to be held up train engulfing Jesse James silhouette as he stands atop a blockage on the tracks. Puts shivers up my spine just thinking about it. - Sam McMulkin
THE VILLAGE (2004)
(James Newton Howard)
This is a massively flawed film, and my fierce defence of it has much to do with Howards beautiful score. As vulnerable as Vaughan Williams Lark Ascending, and pushing the monastic simplicity of Arvo Pärt, Howards score perfectly encompasses the fragility of the community described by the film. Its melody strains towards the good, upright values the community aims to foster, but its frailty shows us there is little beneath to support it, and in the films chilling moments, this straining towards hope and goodness is eclipsed by a darker discordant truth. Howards score sums up and distills The Villages meandering and implausible plot to convey, what I think, is the films most poignant thought: that this is a community with good, pure aims, but built on a deceit of such magnitude that it is bound to, and probably should, fail - it gives me goosebumps! RAVENOUS (1999)
(Michael Nyman/Damon Albarn)
This under-rated blackly comedic cannibal thriller from British director Antonia Bird is home to an unlikely collaboration between two musicians. On the one hand you have Michael Nyman, the award-winning composer of film scores for productions such as 'The Piano' and 'The Cook, The Theif, His Wife and Her Lover', and then on the other you have Damon Albarn, who - prior to the film's release in 1999 - had been working on Blur's experimental art-rock record '13', which would push the band further away from it's Brit-Pop roots. The resulting score, which featured remixes by '13' producer Wiliam Orbit, works spectacularly both in conjunction with the film and as a record all of its own. In the movie it heightens the ludicrous and peculiar aspects of the narrative, punctuating moments of comedy with jangling banjo, or ratcheting up the strange tension with the use of eccentric instrumentation and Native American keening. Nyman and Albarn compliment one another beautifully, and it's difficult to see any join between their two styles, which is most surprising given that the score was not actually a direct collaboration; Nyman commenting; "Ravenous was a joint composition in the sense that Damon Albarn composed 60% of the tracks, and I did the rest." But whatever methods were used, and wherever one artist ends and another begins their sounds - in the film and on the album - work harmoniously with one another to create a soundtrack that received far more favourable reviews than the film it accompanied.
FARGO (1996)
(Carter Burwell)
A car emerges from the blinding drift of Minnesota snow and Carter Burwell's score beautifully lilts across the screen. Sit back and enjoy. You know you're in safe cinematic hands. Burwell's work with the Coen Brothers is up there with Morricone's partnership with Leone. Pure cinematic heaven. BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985)
(Alan Silvestri)
It can only be Alan Silvestris spine-tingling score from the peerless 'Back to the Future'. Every piece of music in the film gets the hairs on your arms standing up, it is a timeless piece of sonic joy a perfect accompaniment to the seminal on-screen action. No matter how many times youve seen the film, the score helps to add an air of edge-of-your-seat tension, making you feel that maybe Doc wont get that cable reattached this time as he dangles from the Hill Valley Clock Tower. The score is the perfect mix of light and dark, with deep foreboding suddenly washed away with the lightness of hope a perfect example of this contrast being the Hill Valley Square skateboard chase sequence. Silvestris score has been used a myriad of times in popular culture since the films 1985 release, which just goes to show how enduring a piece it truly is; for me, Silvestris Back to the Future score is nothing short of a master class.
THE THING (1982)
(Ennio Morricone)
The horror genre has brought us some classic scores, and a great example would be John Carpenters 'The Thing' (1982). The great Ennio Morricone wrote the soundtrack and came up with a score in keeping with the earlier works of Carpenter (this was the first film of his that Carpenter didnt score himself). A slow-burning, steady beat that pervades the whole film, even in sequences with no immediate threat present, the intense underlying menace is maintained through the music. Paced to resemble a heartbeat, it fits the tone of the film perfectly, highlighting the paranoia and tension as the characters frantically try to establish just who they can trust. This simple combination of silence, howling wind and heavy bass beats show that in horror, what you hear can be just as terrifying as what you see.am Faulkner
PAT GARRETT & BILLY THE KID (1973)
(Bob Dylan - 'Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid')
In a world of zithers over Viennas sewers and synthesized cords giving life to Replicants, picking your favourite movie score isnt easy. But hell, pour a glass of tequila and as the sun sets lets spare a thought for old Pat Garrett on the trail of the kid. He stinks of stale sweat and whisky but theres majesty to himand sadness and Bob Dylan finds just the right note. Garretts like a wounded lion looking for some place to die and Dylans guitar is there too, plucking large, tender and full of regret. His craggy voice wails against the last days of the west as men who were kings slip into the shadows for the last time. 'Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid' is full of melancholy and madness, and somehow Peckinpah and Dylan are in complete alignment standing together knocking on heavens door. DIRTY HARRY (1971)
(Lalo Schifrin)
In my opinion the best movie scores should sound just as good as stand-alone pieces of music as they do in the films they accompany. This is why I have chosen a work by Lalo Schifrin, the Argentinian born composer responsible for some of the most recognised and iconic film and TV scores of all time. Mission Impossible, Enter The Dragon, Cool Hand Luke, Bullitt and the first season of Starsky & Hutch to name just a handful of his works. My personal favourite of all Schifrins scores would have to be Dirty Harry, his funked-up soundtrack featuring cool bass and smooth organ perfectly captures the era and gritty feel of Clint Eastwoods cop with an attitude. Not only does the films anti-hero get great theme music, the serial killing villain Scorpio also gets a really memorable piece of dirty, aggressive guitar driven music blending jazz and psychedelic rock. Schifrin went on the score all but one of Eastwoods Dirty Harry films with each score developing on the original themes and evolving to echo the changing musical styles of the time from the Seventies to late Eighties. A CLOCKWORK ORANGE (1971)
(Wendy Carlos )
The electronic interpretations of classical pieces by Wendy Carlos (still Walter Carlos at that time) add a distinctly surreal edge to Kubrick's disturbing images of sex and violence. The sound of Beethoven played on a moog synthesizer as Alex and his droogs rob, rape and eventually murder is unsettling and subversive. Ecstatic, operatic and groundbreaking; try listening to any of the pieces on their own and not be reminded of this dystopian classic. Her own ominous otherworldly compositions sit alongside the soaring grandiose chords of the late composer and are as essential to the film's power as Kubrick's peerless direction and Anthony Burgess' source novel. - Neil Mitchell
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
(Various)
It's an obvious choice, but obvious for a reason. Stanley Kubrick's classic sci-fi epic is notable for innovations in almost every way, but his decision to use existing classical music arguably remains the most indelible in viewer's minds. "However good our best film composers are," Kubrick argued, "they are never as good as a Beethoven, Mozart or Brahms". The great director actually commissioned an original score but dumped it during post production (much to the chagrin of composer Alex North, who later released the unheard soundtrack). The balletic space-docking sequence as Johann Strauss' 'Blue Danube' waltzes along merrily is unforgettable, but probably most famous is his use of Strauss' 'Thus Spake Zarathustra' over the breathtaking first shot of the sun, moon and earth aligning (below) - never has there been a more epic opening credits. The music is so synonymous with the film that it's sometimes called 'the 2001 music' and remains the staple choice for any film or media needing a short, triumphant blast of horns on its soundtrack. Kubrick had an exceptional ear for tone and mood, and his unprecedented and pioneering musical choices paved the way for future directors to use non-original music, from Scorsese to Tarantino. VERTIGO (1958)
(Bernard Herrmann)
My favorite composer has to be Bernard Herrmann. His work with Orson Welles on radio led him to Hollywood with the wunderkind in 1940, and his first score was 'Citizen Kane'. Not a bad start. His most famous score is probably 'Pyscho', with the shower scene strings probably the most famous piece of cinema music ever. His last project was Martin Scorseses 'Taxi Driver', a jazzy, steamy score that beautifully matched the madness in the film. My favorite Herrmann score has to be 'Vertigo', a subtle, unnerving set of music that highlights the psychological trouble brewing just beneath the surface. Jon Barrenchea (Various - '2001: A Space Odyssey') It's an obvious choice, but obvious for a reason. Stanley Kubrick's classic sci-fi epic is notable for innovations in almost every way, but his decision to use existing classical music arguably remains the most indelible in viewer's minds. "However good our best film composers are," Kubrick argued, "they are never as good as a Beethoven, Mozart or Brahms". The great director actually commissioned an original score but dumped it during post production (much to the chagrin of composer Alex North, who later released the unheard soundtrack). The balletic space-docking sequence as Johann Strauss' 'Blue Danube' waltzes along merrily is unforgettable, but probably most famous is his use of Strauss' 'Thus Spake Zarathustra' over the breathtaking first shot of the sun, moon and earth aligning (below) - never has there been a more epic opening credits. The music is so synonymous with the film that it's sometimes called 'the 2001 music' and remains the staple choice for any film or media needing a short, triumphant blast of horns on its soundtrack. Kubrick had an exceptional ear for tone and mood, and his unprecedented and pioneering musical choices paved the way for future directors to use non-original music, from Scorsese to Tarantino. Emma Murray (James Newton Howard -'The Village') This is a massively flawed film, and my fierce defence of it has much to do with Howards beautiful score. As vulnerable as Vaughan Williams Lark Ascending, and pushing the monastic simplicity of Arvo Pärt, Howards score perfectly encompasses the fragility of the community described by the film. Its melody strains towards the good, upright values the community aims to foster, but its frailty shows us there is little beneath to support it, and in the films chilling moments, this straining towards hope and goodness is eclipsed by a darker discordant truth. Howards score sums up and distills The Villages meandering and implausible plot to convey, what I think, is the films most poignant thought: that this is a community with good, pure aims, but built on a deceit of such magnitude that it is bound to, and probably should, fail - it gives me goosebumps! Mark Clark(Maurice Jarre - 'Witness') I have to admit that in choosing an individual who's best in the director's chair and who's best in a recording studio I probably wouldn't come up with Peter Weir and Maurice Jarre, great as they are. But in 'Witness' we are given a cinematic marriage made in heaven. Or at least 1984 Pennsylvania. What, at first glance, should be odd is actually a sublime combination of visuals and music. From the opening scenes where waving fields of wheat give way to the Amish walking and riding to a wake Weir takes images that are for all intents and purposes from an earlier century and overlays them with Jarre's modern, synthesised score. They should be world's apart but as you watch nothing about it seems out of place, each piece figuratively, and artistically made for each other, and a perfect representation of the film's theme of cultural clash, and eventual understanding. That's not forgetting the odd grain silo shoot-out, or 4 o'clock milking time of course. Gene Limbrick(Jon Brion - 'Synecdoche, New York') Theres no way I could pick my favourite score from any film in a million years, but this ones fresh in my mind. Its one of those films thats shaped by the music. Its beautiful and haunting, as youd expect from a story with these themes, but it also reflects the passage of time as the film progresses, it languishes with Phillip Seymour Hoffman as he ages. Its not dour or depressing though, its funny, it illuminates the irony in the story, its like the most emotive elevator music youve ever heard. The film is long, but its supposed to be, it covers decades, its dry, and its a lot to swallow, but the music helps you wash it down. What are your favourite film scores and who are your favourite film music composers? Which movie moments stand out for you because of their music and why? Obsessed With Film would love to hear from you in the comments below.