# When Poor Films Have Great Scores **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 25, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414 "2014-10-25T02:24:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/1 "2014-10-25T02:24:30Z")
Well, _Krull_ wasn’t poor so much as underwhelming, but the James Horner’s orchestral score sounds like what’s on God’s iPod. I saw it when it first came out, and I can still whistle the [main theme](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RllRPZw--9Q). from And [The Ride Of The Fire-Mares](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwQZ9UrnyJw) is just fucking mental: check out the fanfare from the main theme at 2.32 and then its triumphant reprise at 4.39. Vikings get cremated to music like this. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/2 "2014-10-25T02:32:33Z")
M. Night Shyamalan’s _The Village_ has a killer score. I personally like the movie, a lot, but I know many people don’t. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/3 "2014-10-25T02:41:31Z")
_O Brother, Where Art Thou?_ ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/4 "2014-10-25T02:41:04Z")
And [Death of the Beast](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOmuL6kWCys) sounds like Liszt and Holst having a fistfight on the bridge of a Zeppelin as it plunges in flames into Valhalla. ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/5 "2014-10-25T02:42:25Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > _O Brother, Where Art Thou?_ How was that a poor movie? ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/6 "2014-10-25T02:44:36Z")
I thought it was a good movie, but the score to _Bram Stoker’s Dracula_ was awesome ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/7 "2014-10-25T02:55:04Z")
> [@Penfeather](#): > > How was that a poor movie? I love the Coen Bros, but I thought that film was a mess – highfalutin’ dialogue without much purpose. Yeah, I get it, Odysseus and all that – works better in theory than in execution. Obviously, your mileage varied. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![alted315](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/cc9497/32.png) [@alted315](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alted315)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/8 "2014-10-25T03:04:09Z")
some people may argue about the quality of the film but I have to say Superfly Curtis Mayfield baby ---
**Author:** ![Penfeather](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penfeather/32/384_2.png) [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/9 "2014-10-25T03:11:35Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > I love the Coen Bros, but I thought that film was a mess – highfalutin’ dialogue without much purpose. Yeah, I get it, Odysseus and all that – works better in theory than in execution. Obviously, your mileage varied. 🙂 It’s probably against Cafe Society rules to just agree to disagree; we clearly have to argue for five pages about whose opinion is better 😉 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/10 "2014-10-25T03:13:33Z")
Hey, at least we both love the soundtrack! ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/11 "2014-10-25T03:28:48Z")
\*Ever After \*- pathetic movie but superb music. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/12 "2014-10-25T04:05:00Z")
Generally The Black Hole is the go to for this. ---
**Author:** ![Gretchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@Gretchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchion)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/13 "2014-10-25T04:13:55Z")
E.T. wasn’t exactly a _poor_ movie, but wasn’t all that great, either. However, it was immensely helped out by its John Williams score. ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/14 "2014-10-25T04:52:18Z")
> [@Gretchion](#): > > E.T. wasn’t exactly a _poor_ movie, but wasn’t all that great, either. However, it was immensely helped out by its John Williams score. And you had to remind me: John Williams score for Star Wars Episode I, I actually own it and the “[Duel of the Fates](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzVBqBosf5w)” was so good to evoke a cataclysmic encounter that it was selected by PBS for a show about the Apocalypse bible book instead of the overused O Fortuna (Carmina Burana). The score gave one hope about how great the movie was going to be… Darn it. ---
**Author:** ![Wolverine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba9def/32.png) [@Wolverine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolverine)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/15 "2014-10-25T10:08:20Z")
Mortal Kombat 2: Annihilation. A love of mid 90s techno and industrial music is a prerequisite, but it’s a personal favorite of mine. The movie is beyond awful though. ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/16 "2014-10-25T11:30:32Z")
Any number of spaghetti westerns with Morricone scores, the one that comes to mind is Death Rides A Horse. Which isn’t so much terrible as almost entirely generic, and yet has one of his greatest scores. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/17 "2014-10-25T14:14:07Z")
The standard answer is the 1967 version of _Casino Royale_, great score, great theme tune, an Oscar nominated song, but a terrible movie. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/18 "2014-10-25T15:25:50Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > The standard answer is the 1967 version of _Casino Royale_, great score, great theme tune, an Oscar nominated song, but a terrible movie. I think much the same can be said for just about every Bond movie since, oh, about 1972. ---
**Author:** ![Dale\_Sams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/779978/32.png) [@Dale\_Sams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dale_Sams)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/19 "2014-10-25T16:27:38Z")
I digitally have about 150 soundtracks. After perusing them, some of the lesser received ones were: The Hindenburg Twin Peaks Fire Walk With Me The Razor’s Edge ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2014, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414/20 "2014-10-25T19:00:40Z")
Star Trek the Motion Picture, comes to mind. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-poor-films-have-great-scores/702414.md?page=2)