The Towering Inferno - John Williams
Creepshow - John Harrison (vinyl album autographed by Tom Savini)
Sorcerer - Tangerine Dream
Performance (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Repo Man (1984)
I should have mentioned the composers:
- John Williams
- Klaus Badelt and Hans Zimmer
- Howard Shore.
Ha! My previous ringtone was Secret Agent Man by the Plugz.
Vanilla Sky - Not just my favorite soundtrack, but probably one of my favorite albums, period. Also introduced me to Sigur Ros.
Planes, Trains and Automobiles - Good mix of 80s oddball synth pop.
Superman - The original John Williams score. The opening notes still give me chills.
I would say Goodfellas, but the official soundtrack album, while featuring a really good mix of tunes, leaves out some of best songs from the movie, including “Jump into the Fire” by Harry Nilsson, “What is Life” by George Harrison, and “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones.
Top Gun (1986)
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
Gladiator (2000)
Yeah, I enjoyed annoying my kids with "I Want to Marry a Lighthouse Keeper ".
Listening to a young Elmer Bernstein’s score for Robot Monster, ones only reaction is “this music deserves a better movie than a guy in a gorilla suit and a diving helmet.”
90’s movies became tedious for routine inclusion of Celtic music after the Riverdance phenomenon, but it worked in well in Last of the Mohicans, as opposed to that other 90’s de regueur musical cue: the Native American bone flute (or the wailing Arab woman singing that was used everywhere else in the 90’s too).
The 1940’s & 50’s movie music was guilty of telling the audience how to feel about the story. As long as the music was really great that was just fine. Bernard Herrmman’s music for On Dangerous Ground and Garden of Evil are their best features. But when Michael Bay/Hans Zimmer hit us over the head with the score 50 years later, it’s just silly.
Amadeus
Flash Gordon
After that, who cares?
Star Wars
Rollerball
Titanic
Hard to limit to three. These are soundtracks as regularly listen to, often while driving and I can’t watch the movie.
Star Wars, John Williams.
Flash Gordon, Queen.
Sita Sings the Blues, Annette Hanshaw and others.
Aladdin (2019), Alan Menken and others.
Frozen II, Christophe Beck and others.
You’ll notice my choices are all very story driven. The music evokes the scenes. Also, I think Disney soundtracks (and I’m not talking about the vocals) are often under-appreciated. Their orchestrations are superb.
Alien- Jerry Goldsmith
Long Riders- Ry Cooder, David Lindley
Blade Runner- Vangelis
Definitely. The music in Bambi is absolutely gorgeous. I never really have learned why the composer Frank Churchill never worked with Disney again, and ultimately committed suicide.
They call it “mousechwitz” for a reason…
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (my ringtone too)
- Schindler’s list
- Lord of the Rings
- Heavy Metal
- Repo Man
- Koyaanisqatsi
Honorable Mentions:
This Is Spin̈al Tap
Pulp Fiction
1984
Blade Runner
Yeah, Mishima and Koyaanisqatsi belong in the 5 of my top 3 too
Star Wars (the first one; I refuse to call it “A New Hope”) - John Williams
Chinatown - Jerry Goldsmith
Lifeforce - Henry Mancini
The OP specified “favorites,” and these are the top three I play most frequently at home. My list of the greatest soundtracks would be different. I think Bernard Herrmann’s Psycho is one of the greatest film scores ever written, but I rarely listen to it.
Some of my favorites…
Prince’s soundtrack to Batman
Grease 2 that’s right I like the soundtrack to the much derided sequel
Star Wars Episode 4: A New Hope it’s great; well it’s mostly great-- listening to the Cantina band song nonstop would get annoying qucik.
Repo Man
Rumble Fish
Something Wild