# And the award for best film score goes to... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865 "2009-07-13T16:30:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/21 "2009-07-13T19:05:46Z")
> [@Shamozzle](#): > > Blade Runner, as mentioned. > > The Last Temptation of Christ > > Bram Stoker’s Dracula Good ones! I’ll also add Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/22 "2009-07-13T19:13:46Z")
**Field of Dreams** has one of my favorite scores of all time. ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/23 "2009-07-13T19:39:51Z")
> [@Sitnam](#): > > See post #2 The _Requiem_ music was only used in the advertisements for _LOTR:TTT_, but not in the movie itself though, right? ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/24 "2009-07-13T19:50:56Z")
I liked Bram Stoker’s Dracula ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/25 "2009-07-13T19:55:45Z")
**Dances With Wolves** has a beautiful score. I buy very few score soundtracks, but I own this one. **The Right Stuff** is my all-time favorite movie and has an awesome score. And I have to agree that the music in **The Last of the Mohicans** is amazing. Also very good are **Batman (89)** and **The Incredibles**. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/26 "2009-07-13T20:15:33Z")
Let us not forget Psycho. One of the only films scored entirely for strings. And that includes the shower scene. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2009, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/27 "2009-07-13T20:40:12Z")
> [@Tangent](#): > > The _Requiem_ music was only used in the advertisements for _LOTR:TTT_, but not in the movie itself though, right? Yup, all 3 _LoTR_ scores were original (and Howard Shore walked away with Oscars for the 1st & 3rd installments) ---
**Author:** ![Yumblie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/76d3ee/32.png) [@Yumblie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yumblie)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/28 "2009-07-14T02:58:56Z")
Some of my favorites: Big Fish Chocolat March of the Penguins The Truman Show ---
**Author:** ![randwill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@randwill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/randwill)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/29 "2009-07-14T04:17:11Z")
Johan Soderqvist’s score for **“Let the Right One In”** is best described as heartbreakingly beautiful. I also like the soundtrack album for **“Team America”**. Not just the hilarious songs, but the action-adventure instrumental score which doesn’t so much send up those kind of scores as much as it improves on them. Any of Bernard Herrmann’s magnificent scores is fine with me. And the soundtrack album for **“Once”** is usually in heavy rotation around here. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/30 "2009-07-14T04:17:18Z")
Regardless of how un-manly I am to admit this, I absolutely love the score to Disney’s _Beauty and the Beast_. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/31 "2009-07-14T04:26:17Z")
“The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain” “Emma” “Out of Africa” ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/32 "2009-07-14T04:52:06Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > _The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly_ (Ennio Morricone) Damn right. It doesn’t get much better than [this](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdNh9f2Wwm0). > [@Tangent](#): > > **The Right Stuff** is my all-time favorite movie and has an awesome score. It’s my favorite, too, but I have to admit that the score borrows heavily from Holst’s _The Planets_. ---
**Author:** ![Nzinga\_Seated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5ac83/32.png) [@Nzinga\_Seated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nzinga_Seated)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/33 "2009-07-14T05:14:26Z")
> [@tdn](#): > > **ArchiveGuy** , really, none of that was original? How disappointing. Still a great soundtrack, though. Funny, I clicked on this thread to nominate Kill Bill, and of course you had it in the OP already! Then after reading Archives post, I was gonna respond exactly as you did. I am disapointed for some reason, also, to learn that none of it was original. I was so certain that the hand clappy beat that plays before O-Ren and Black Mamba get it on in the garden was some Original Rza that I was shaking with excitement when I first heard it. And of course the beat that plays as O Ren and her crew turns the corners in the hallways of the clube. But that siren sound that plays all through the movie, I was pretty sure wasn’t original because it seems I vaguely remember it from some old blackspoitation flicks or something? Or Karate flicks? Either way, I love that siren so much, and one of my favorite dance hall artists, Vybz Kartel used it for his song [Emergency.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtTFKotGWew) (youtube link). As you can see, don’t get me to rambling about KB, because I can’t stop. ETA: I also agree with Argent about There Will Be Blood. Chilling, awesome score. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/34 "2009-07-14T06:16:49Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > But that siren sound that plays all through the movie, I was pretty sure wasn’t original because it seems I vaguely remember it from some old blackspoitation flicks or something? Or Karate flicks? Either way, I love that siren so much, and one of my favorite dance hall artists, Vybz Kartel used it for his song [Emergency.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtTFKotGWew) (youtube link). Actually, it comes from the TV show _[Ironside](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNS0u6USBT8)_. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/35 "2009-07-14T06:27:25Z")
> [@Nzinga\_Seated](#): > > And of course the beat that plays as O Ren and her crew turns the corners in the hallways of the clube. [The original song by Tomoyasu Hotei](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnfFTVjRpLI). ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/36 "2009-07-14T06:55:49Z")
Bernard Herrmann wrote a great score for Psycho. Another of my favorites Carter Burwell’s score for Fargo. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/37 "2009-07-14T07:37:14Z")
Well, if the official soundtrack album was fully representative of the work onscreen, I’d without doubt hand the prize to Bernard Herrmann for his stunning score for _Taxi Driver_. As it is, there’s some curious versions pieces on there too - I love them, but for example, the actual title music is all but missing. The ‘theme from taxi driver’ on the OST (whilst to me wonderful in its way) was memorably described by Danny Baker once as “Taxi Driver 2: Travis Goes to Hawaii”. Still, when listened to the music onscreen, I think Taxi Driver can’t be beaten - I adore the complex, haunting mix of the soulful/sleazy jazz mixed in with that haunting/menacing military type music. It just all sounds so fresh and powerful to me even now. There was a thread a while back about which celebrity deaths would you prevent and although I picked someone else, it seems tragic that Herrmann’s death (he died just after completing this score) almost certainly robbed the ages of unwritten beauty. Very close runner up for me would be Herrmann again for his work on \*Citizen Kane \*which is an utterly essential part of that film’s success for me. But really, there’s so many wonderful Herrmann scores: _Fahrenheit 451_, the aforementioned _Ghost & Mrs Muir_, all of the Hitchock stuff, _Obsession_, _The Snows of Kilimanjaro_ etc etc. and he always gave so much commitment to any project. If you ever watch the Twilight Zone TV episode"Walking Distance", it has a full Herrmann score that is just superb. More recently I have loved Carter Burwell’s work for the Coens and for his work on _Being John Malcovich_ - “Future Vessel” from that score is just so beautiful. Also, just because there’s been fewer mentions of John Barry than I thought there might be, so many of his Bond scores are worth checking out - _Goldfinger_ and _OHMSS_ are my favourites but most of them have their fantastic moments. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/38 "2009-07-14T12:53:23Z")
> [@Jeff\_Lichtman](#): > > Bernard Herrmann wrote a great score for Psycho. Another of my favorites Carter Burwell’s score for Fargo. Who also had music in _Kill Bill_, the whistling tune that plays in the scene where Darryl Hannah enters the hospital to kill the Bride. ---
**Author:** ![lynne-42](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lynne-42/32/3138_2.png) [@lynne-42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lynne-42)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/39 "2009-07-14T13:17:06Z")
_Amadeus._ Now that guy could really write a piece of music. ---
**Author:** ![acetylene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@acetylene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/acetylene)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2009, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865/40 "2009-07-14T13:30:04Z")
I guess I’ll go ahead and be the guy that says _Star Wars_, especially the OT. For me, anyway, that music has really held up over the years. Speaking of _Kill Bill_, I think the inclusion of [The Lonely Shepherd](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53mwZJ3bmiY)was genius. It’s by Zamfir! (You know, master of the pan flute) I never would have heard that song if it wasn’t for Tarentino. It’s so beautiful I had to learn it on guitar. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-award-for-best-film-score-goes-to/502865.md?page=3)