A few that haven’t been mentioned:
Junah Sees the Field from The Legend of Bagger Vance, Rachel Portman
My Name is Lincoln from The Island, Steve Jablonsky
Promontory from Last of the Mohicans
Now We Are Free from Gladiator, Hans Zimmer, Lisa Gerard
God Moving Over the Face of the Waters from Heat, Moby
Conan the Barbarian from Conan the Barbarian, Basil Poledouris
It’s a very “James Horner” piece.
The Ludows from Legends of the Fall
“Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, where Slim Pickens’ character dies in his wife’s arms.
I like Mancini’s theme to Silver Streak quite a lot. The rest of the movie is pretty good, too. “Do you go… all the way?”
Can I get some clarification please? Some people are answering the question based on music composed for a film while others are listing movies with songs they like in them. Some answered with both, Snowboarder Bo for instance.
Passion (Last Temptation of Christ) by Peter Gabriel
I would prefer responses with music composed for a film.
Lighting the beacons in Return of the King. Dark theater, huge screen, huge sound, this was just awesome
American Beauty (nsfw)
Cheerleaders
Running
Rose Petals
Ok, maybe not all time great, but a personal favorite is The Man in the Moon with Reese Witherspoon
Jump with me
Dani brings Cort water
Skinny dipping (just up to :52)
Etc.
Yep.
Anton Karas on the zither in the Third Man
Fargo has a really great score, written by Carter Burwell and based on an old Norwegian folk song.
I once heard the score from Psycho played as a piece of stand-alone music. It really worked as serious art, even the screeching strings from the shower scene. A masterpiece by Bernard Hermann.
The music composed for Psycho does a damn good job of setting the mood.
Also, while it’s not the music itself, but a really good decision was George Lucas’ decision to go with a classical score for Star Wars in 1977. Apparently, a “contemporary” score was considered, and some people at the studio thought it was necessary for bringing young adults into the theater, but Lucas pushed for the classical score. It’s one reason the film holds up so well.
The G, B & U was the first thing that I thought of when I saw the thread title. BTW, is there a version of this anywhere where sound and video is actually in synch? It seems every time I see it on TV its off by a fraction of a second.
My two favorites - both mentioned before. Nothing quite like facing a huge screen in Technicolor and Cinemascope and having the theme music coming at you…
Goldfinger
Lawrence of Arabia
I remember seeing the latter in the summer of 1963, with my father in Syracuse NY. I fell asleep halfway through and never saw the complete theatre version again (in a theatre) until a couple of years ago.
It was a TV documentary feature but “British Sea Power” recorded a score (which was released as an album) for something called “From the sea to the land beyond” which celebrated a hundred years of UK coastal life through various snippets of film footage. Here’s a trailer for it.. Hardly blockbuster material you’d think but the music is perfectly judged.
Doesn’t say so, in which case may I propose Death In Venice? I’m not a great classical music buff, but the use of Mahler’s music throughout adds wonderfully to the movie. Here’s the opening six minutes. About half way through it becomes apparent why the opening credits were presented like that.
There’s a quote about Death In Venice - can’t remember who it’s by - which runs something like: There may be better movies than Death In Venice, but no movie will ever be a greater work of art.
j
Seconding ***633 Squadron ***and The Dam Busters! I didn’t know the melody of the latter is also that of an Anglican hymn until I heard it being sung in church one Sunday: “Hey, I know that tune! Where the hell is it from again?!?”
Not a movie, but a 26-episode documentary series with composer Richard Rogers conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra: Victory at Sea. It is truly magnificent, especially the main title. I can’t listen to it without getting chills all over my body!