Best filmmusic composer

[Bijo]

As I notice certain topics spring by certain people -- and one especially -- why not make a thread on who's the best filmmusic composer? Why not cover all the areas available?

My choice: John Williams. Most likely the most influential, most famous, best, etc., filmmusic composer.

[Togakure]

Jerry Goldsmith was a god of film music. Enough said. Check out all of the soundtracks he did! I liked the soundtrack from Basic Instinct so much I went out and bought it (I don't have a lot of soundtrack recordings; I need the film attached to the music for full effect). Ghost in the Darkness was excellent too. He did soooooooo many good ones!

Danny Elfman! Oingo Boingo overlord and right-hand music man of Timothy Burton (Beetlejuice, Batman, Pee-wee's Great Adventure, Edward Scissorhands, etc.). This guy is zany cool, a perfect match for Tim.

I have to mention Toru Takamitsu for his Ran soundtrack. Certain moments in the film make me shiver each time I watch the film.

Maurice Jarre has done some hauntingly beautiful work. the soundtrack from Revenge is a favorite of mine.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Ill beat him to it Skynyrd

[doc_bean]

Ennio Morricone.

The ectasy of gold

[Crazed Rabbit]

Basil Poledouris

Composer for Conan the Barbarian.

No ifs, ands, or buts about it.

Crazed Rabbit.

[Drisos]

Hans Zimmer!

the rock, pirates of the carribean, the last samurai, crimson tide.. and more

is simply awesome.

[Husar]

Hans Zimmer!

the rock, pirates of the carribean, the last samurai, crimson tide.. and more

is simply awesome.

And Black Hawk Down!

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

I agree with Doc, as much as I love the Star Wars music Morricone wins it hands down. Ecstasy of Gold is probably my favourite song composed for a film ever, and he's done a huge amount of other stuff beside that.

[Conradus]

Howard Shore - LotR music.

[King Henry V]

Howard Shore's soundtrack for LOTR was epically beautiful. I also enjoy Patrick Doyle's music, especially for soundtrack from Henry V. Just listen to this song. Marvellous.
Honourable mentions also go to John Barry (Lion in Winter) and Hans Zimmer.

[Bijo]

(...) he [Ennio Morricone] has done a huge amount of other stuff beside that.

Hmmmm, true: he has done much. He also is among the greatest of film music doers. I find most of his musics too simplistic and "rough" or "dirty", however (, but they can be effective). Perhaps I'm ill-informed about him.

From what I know John Williams' music is very grand and even honours certain composers past as it is influenced by their works. It looks to be some kind of... "continuation" of them and simultaneously befitting films.

By the way; question: is Ennio Morricone the music composer of The Untouchables?

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Miklos Rozsa
Spellbound (1945)
A DoubleLife (1947)
Ben-Hur (1957)
The Thief of Baghdad (1940) the first film to have its own soundtrack album
Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Quo Vadis (1951)
Ivanhoe (1952)
El Cid (1952)
Time after Time (1979)
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)

Many of my favorite old medieval and fantasy movies ever there.

[doc_bean]

One of the few soundtracks i just went out and bought after the movie was the soundtrack for Requiem for a dream, by Clint Mansell & David Lang apparently.

Lux aeterna, I find this song incredible.

EDIT: and let's not forget Mancini

An awesome version of the pink panther theme

[Rodion Romanovich]

Ennio Morricone.

The ectasy of gold

Edit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVnoaPPpWog

[Pannonian]

Add Joe Hisaishi to the list, for his Miyazaki oeuvre.

Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind
Laputa: Castle in the Sky
My Neighbour Totoro
Kiki's Delivery Service
Porco Rosso
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away
Howl's Moving Castle

Opening to Nausicaa

[Quid]

Hans Zimmer!

the rock, pirates of the carribean, the last samurai, crimson tide.. and more

is simply awesome.

Seconded!

Quid

[Rodion Romanovich]

Here's another by the master: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waPZig_4rT4 (important: fast forward until 1:20 before starting to listen!, and fast forward to 5:10 for the nice movie quote)

[The Spartan (Returns)]

Hans Zimmer!

the rock, pirates of the carribean, the last samurai, crimson tide.. and more

is simply awesome.

How could you forget Gladiator????!!!! Yup, seconded.

[Banquo's Ghost]

By the way; question: is Ennio Morricone the music composer of The Untouchables?

Yes, indeed he is. And even better, "Once Upon a Time in America".

[Pannonian]

Yes, indeed he is. And even better, "Once Upon a Time in America".

A fillm that too few people know about, IMHO the best film I've ever seen.

Deborah's Theme
Poverty
Once Upon a Time in America
De Niro talks about the film

[Strike For The South]

That guy who did Signs

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Heres another great one

Trevor Jones

One of my favorites Excalibur

Plus
The Dark Crystal
Labyrinth
Mississippi Burning
The Last of the Mohicans
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
and Time Bandits to name just a few.

[Togakure]

I just watched Last of the Mohicans for the umpteenth time the other night. I love the soundtrack (and Madeleine Stowe, who also plays Miryea in Revenge). I'm humming it now, simply because I'm thinking about it. Now I can read up on the composer. Thanks, Gawaine.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Ive seen it twice in the last week, Even better than the original IMO. And I loved the original.

[Reverend Joe]

Ennio Morricone.

The ectasy of gold

YES!

[Bijo]

Yes, indeed he is. And even better, "Once Upon a Time in America".

I've heard tell of this one, perhaps even seen it (though my memory doesn't seem to recall perfectly). I assume it has DeNiro in it, and is directed by Sergio Leone.

[Gawain of Orkeny]

Sergio Leone's films are all love letters to America, the American dreams of an Italian who grew up at the movies, who apprenticed with Wyler, and Aldrich, signed himself Bob Robertson, and gave us Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, Charles Bronson as we know them. Sadly, America didn't always repay the compliment. Leone's were "spaghetti westerns", money makers to be sure, but deemed disrespectful of the great tradition of Ford, Walsh and Hathaway. Many critics and Holllywood insiders called his earlier Eastwood films cynical and violent bottom-line commercial exploitation. By the time that they caught on to Leone's genuine popular appeal, the director had already moved on. And, his Once Upon a Time in the West was damned as pretentious, bloated, self-indulgent: an art film disguised as a Western, the Heaven's Gate of its day. That film's canny blend of pop appeal and pure cinematic genius gradually dawned on the powers that be (or were), and helped give rise to the renaissance of American filmmaking in the early seventies. It is worth noting that The Godfather could have been made by Leone, had he chosen. Leone had been pitching a gangster film that would encompass generations, for a generation or two, himself. Rather than do the Puzo version finally thrown back at him, he waited an eternity, and finally realized this, his last finished project. That ellipse of a decade or so between conception and completed movie is paralleled in the film, itself, by Robert De Niro's ("Noodles'") opium dream of the American twentieth century, its promises, and betrayals. Naturally, Leone was betrayed, once again, himself, by America, and this truly amazing film, with its densely multi-layered, overlapping flashback structure was butchered upon its release, becoming a linear-plotted sub-Godfather knockoff in the process. Luckily, the critics had grown up enough in the meantime to finally get a glimmering of what Leone was up to, and demand restitution. Very few saw it properly in theaters, but the video version respects the director's intentions, more or less. Ironically, Leone had foreseen television screen aspect ratios as determining home viewing of the future, and abbreviated his usual wide screen format for this movie, so this most troubled last project was the first released on video to most properly resemble the true cinematic experience. For diehard fans of the Eastwood westerns impatient with this at first, watch those movies till you want and need more. This will eventually get to you. For art film fanatics who don't get the earlier Leones, travel in the reverse direction, and you will be pleasantly surprised. This is the movie that Leone spent a decade conceiving. It will deliver for decades of viewing to come.

Cast

Robert De Niro ... David 'Noodles' Aaronson

James Woods ... Maximilian 'Max' Bercovicz

Elizabeth McGovern ... Deborah Gelly

Tuesday Weld ... Carol

Treat Williams ... James Conway O'Donnell
James Hayden ... Patrick 'Patsy' Goldberg

Joe Pesci ... Frankie Minaldi
Larry Rapp ... 'Fat' Moe Gelly

Danny Aiello ... Police Chief Vincent Aiello

William Forsythe ... Philip 'Cockeye' Stein

Burt Young ... Joe

Darlanne Fluegel ... Eve (as Darlanne Fleugel)
Dutch Miller ... Van Linden

Robert Harper ... Sharkey

[Bijo]

Thank you for the information, Gawain.

I notice certain actors' names forcing me to think it a good movie (and from what I observe thus far it probably is). However, the quoted text -- whatever its origin -- does not address its music done by Ennio Morricone.

[Pannonian]

Thank you for the information, Gawain.

I notice certain actors' names forcing me to think it a good movie (and from what I observe thus far it probably is). However, the quoted text -- whatever its origin -- does not address its music done by Ennio Morricone.

Why don't you try the links I provided?

Another name in the cast list.

Jennifer Connelly ... Young Deborah Gelly

[Louis VI the Fat]

To me, the overall best filmmusic composer is John Williams. There is no end to the list of great soundtracks he's written.

***

Once Upon a Time in America and the Last of the Mohicans are brilliant, epic movies. I saw the Last ot Mohicans in an old cinema, where they ran cheap re-runs of older movies. It was fantastic. A small screen really doesn't do this movie justice. The sad ending, the music, those grand images - it really moved me.


My hot tip for brilliant soundtrack (and movie):

House of the Spirits, 1993. It's based on the book by Isabel Allende. The music is hauntingly beautiful and sad.

The House of the Spirits: (Hans Zimmer) The violent and terrible tale of the trials and suffering of an aristocratic Chilean family over the course of 45 years, The House of the Spirits is not a pleasant film. Considering how gruesome the story is, it is surprising how lyrical and darkly romantic Hans Zimmer's score emphasizes the passion of the story. Despite the death and dismemberment on screen, the score remains as one of Zimmer's softer and more melodic efforts, combining his synthesizers with an orchestra and a touch of South American flavor. The House of the Spirits, due to the threatening undertones from beginning to end, becomes potentially depressing and almost haunting in its music.