It’s the only soundtrack that I went looking for and bought.
The main score (title music) from “Ragtime”, by Randy Newman. I think the title is “One More Hour”. Just the piano, with no vocal, as it is in the movie.
The China Syndrome
what?
Star Wars soundtrack … John Williams’ score beautifully evokes the serial origins of the story
Cat People (the remake) … Giorgio Moroder’s score is a haunting backdrop for the story
Sorcerer – the Tangerine Dream score underscores the tension and desperation of the characters hauling unstable batches of dynamite over remote jungle roads
Super fly, of course.
Ditto. Also, in a very different vein, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Star Wars (Original/A New Hope)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Godzilla
Born Free
The Incredibles
The various Pink Panther movies
In order:
- “Blade Runner” Vangelis
Not the truncated legitimate versions in release, but the complete score, all 2 cd’s worth, available only on bootlegs.
2) “Alien” Jerry Goldsmith
The complete score(s), released just a year or two ago as a 2-cd set.
- “Long Riders” Ry Cooder, David Lindley
Local Hero is my favourite. The original Star Wars would be second, but I can’t sit and listen to it all the way through the way I can with Local Hero.
On a lighter note, the music in Finding Nemo was used to very good effect.
My favorite movie scores by these composers are not the ones they’re best known for.
Dimitri Tiomkin: Giant (and props for adapting Debussy in Portrait of Jennie)
Miklós Rózsa: Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid
Bernard Herrmann: On Dangerous Ground
Maurice Jarre Is Paris Burning?
John Barry: Chaplin
Jerry Goldsmith: The Sand Pebbles
An exception to this is Aaron Copland: The Red Pony
So many wonderful answers! It’s hard to put in my two cents and they’ve already been mentioned, but “Lawrence of Arabia” and “Last of the Mohicans” have always been my favorites. Devastatingly, achingly beautiful.
Zeldar - “Adventures in Paradise” ! First mention of that long-ago and forgotten show I have ever run across on the interwebs!
I watched Ingourious Basterds last night and liked the score. Tarantino always has good soundtracks, so I guess that carries over into his scores too.
No contest for me–American Beauty by Thomas Newman.
Fight Club
There Will Be Blood
Requiem for a Dream
The High and the Mighty.
Amelie (any Yann Tiersen, really)
The Fountain
Again, not an original score–just music cues cannibalized from other films.
Superman–John Williams
Except for the star’s name (Gardner McKay) all I remember of the show is the music. To hear a sample, check out Adventures in Paradise Theme Song - TelevisionTunes.com