# Soundtracks that Transcend their Films



## Posie

I saw the film Casper when it first premiered in 1995. The movie itself was good, but not great or memorable, yet the beautiful, nostalgic soundtrack by James Horner still pops up in my head now and then.






I'm sure many feel the same was about Titanic (1997). I found that 'big darn love story' unrealistic and saccharin even at age 12-ish, but it's hard to imagine anyone disliking the soundtrack. It seems primarily dedicated to all of the Irish casualties, though the main characters are not Irish. James Horner seemed to have a better perspective on the story than the filmmakers.


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## Albert7

I think that many James Bond movies particularly the ones with Roger Moore have awesome soundtracks compared to the original film. Case in point, Carly Simon's song "The Spy Who Loved Me" is much better than the movie methinks.


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## Loge

The Last Temptation of Christ. Not a very good film but the soundtrack is epic. Shame the film couldn't live up to the trailer.


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## arpeggio

*Blue Max*

I can think of many films where the sound track trumps the movie.

One of my favorites is Jerry Goldsmith's score for the _Blue Max_.


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## MagneticGhost

Loge said:


> The Last Temptation of Christ. Not a very good film but the soundtrack is epic. Shame the film couldn't live up to the trailer.


Although I greatly enjoyed the film - I agree the soundtrack is great. Probably my favourite from Peter Gabriel and I like his stuff a lot.


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## mirepoix

Director John Carpenter's score for 'Halloween' is one that comes to my mind. Perhaps to a lesser extent, 'Chariots of Fire' by Vangelis.


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## Guest

I would say almost any film about Beethoven.


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## Marschallin Blair

James Horner: _Willow, Krull_, and _The Rocketeer_.

John Williams:_ Midway _and _The Fury_.

Bernard Herrmann:_ Sisters, Obsession_, _The Day the Earth Stood Still, Beneath the Twelve Mile Reef, and Farenheit 451 _

Jerry Goldsmith: _The Outland, Night Crossing, King Arthur,_ and _Capricorn One._

John Debney: _Cutthroat Island_

Miklos Rozsa: _Time After Time, Knights of the Round Table, The Plymouth Adventure_, and _Sodom and Gomorrah_

Elliot Goldenthal: _Final Fantasy_

Erich Wolfgang Korngold: _The Constant Nymph_

Elmer Bernstein: _Heavy Metal_ and _Zulu Dawn_


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## The nose

Marschallin Blair said:


> Farenheit 451


Are you really suggesting that _Farenheit 451_ isn't a great movie?


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## Loge

Honourable mention The Big Gundown 1966. Never seen it, but the film can't be as epic as its' Morricone soundtrack. Oh my, makes you want to ride a horse guns blazing.


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## arpeggio

The nose said:


> Are you really suggesting that _Farenheit 451_ isn't a great movie?


I was thinking why the _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ is considered an ungreat film. I attended the world science fiction convention in Toronto in 2003. Someone took a survey of the greatest sci-fi films of the 20th Century. I remember the top four:

_2001
Bladerunner
Forbidden Planet
The Day the Earth Stood Still_

_The Day the Earth Stood Still_ is a great film with a great soundtrack. In their own way each of the films had great soundtracks.


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## KenOC

_The Day the Earth Stood Still_ has always been a great film and remains one. Well, in my opinion anyway, and that's (obviously) good enough for me!


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## Vaneyes

I love Titanic, and I think it's the greatest film ever made, all things considered. And its soundtrack is considered, though not amongst my favorites.

Re soundtrack faves, I usually liked what Fellini used, and Kubrick. Bladerunner. Much of Mancini, which helped the many chick-flicks immeasurably. David Lean films, of course.:tiphat:


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## Guest

arpeggio said:


> I was thinking why the _The Day the Earth Stood Still_ is considered an ungreat film.


Some striking moments, but tediously talkative - like being in a lecture about why Mankind Is So Wonderful Despite All His Faults - some unattractive characters (Sam Jaffe, Billy Gray) and an alien who was distinctly more a radio host than a being from another world. If you hadn't seen him step from the saucer, you wouldn't have thought he was extra-terrestrial!

The music, however, was pretty good.


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## Marschallin Blair

The nose said:


> Are you really suggesting that _Farenheit 451_ isn't a great movie?


Nothing of the sort; merely that Herrmann exceeds Truffaut.


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## DeepR

Alexander (Vangelis)

Even though this is one of Vangelis worst soundtracks, there are some nice moments, and the movie is much worse still, so in that way the soundtrack transcends the movie.


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## SimonNZ

Loge said:


> The Last Temptation of Christ. Not a very good film but the soundtrack is epic.


Another vote here for Peter Gabriel's Passion. That album was like my Sgt Pepper equivalent when I was 18.

The second RealWorld album "Passion Sources", which is made up of the non-Gabriel material used in the film is also absolutely superb.


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## Triplets

How about great Musical Scores that started as Movie Music?

Vaughn Williams--Sinfonia Antarctica
Prokofiev--Nevsky, Ivan IV (The Terrible)
Corigliano--The Red Violin


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## StevenOBrien

albertfallickwang said:


> I think that many James Bond movies particularly the ones with Roger Moore have awesome soundtracks compared to the original film. Case in point, Carly Simon's song "The Spy Who Loved Me" is much better than the movie methinks.


Agreed. Bill Conti's score for 'For Your Eyes Only' has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I used to watch the film just for the soundtrack:


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## elgar's ghost

Pink Floyd's 'More' soundtrack from 1969 - it includes some really underrated gems such as 'Cirrus Minor, Cymbeline and 'Nile Song' but the film (the first by director Barbet Schroeder) is a fairly pretentious period piece about a couple of drugged-up middle class kids trying to kick their heroin habit in Ibiza.


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## Posie

StevenOBrien said:


> Agreed. Bill Conti's score for 'For Your Eyes Only' has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. I used to watch the film just for the soundtrack:


This is one of those scores that make it extra important to watch the speedometer.


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## Cosmos

The soundtrack from The Grey, by Marc Streitenfeld.






Really captures the cold, isolation of Alaskan wilderness


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## Alfacharger

I would say this score transcends the film.


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## FrankGC

The Warsaw Concerto is a short work for piano and orchestra by Richard Addinsell, 
written for the 1941 British film Dangerous Moonlight, which is about the Polish struggle against the 1939 invasion by the Nazis.
I don't know about the movie. I have not seen it. I love the music.
Frank


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## KenOC

FrankGC said:


> The Warsaw Concerto is a short work for piano and orchestra by Richard Addinsell,
> written for the 1941 British film Dangerous Moonlight, which is about the Polish struggle against the 1939 invasion by the Nazis.
> I don't know about the movie. I have not seen it. I love the music.
> Frank


The film makers wanted to use Rachmaninoff's 2nd Piano Concerto but too much money was asked. So they asked Addinsell to write something like it. He certainly did!

Interesting factoid from Wiki. There was demand for a recording of the music. Its 10-minute running time made it fit perfectly on two sides of a 12-inch 78, and that was how it was issued.


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## Guest

Well, not quite transcend but one reason why they are such great films are the soundtracks: 2001: A Space Oddysey and Cabaret. The latter just great songs, the former the perfect melding of music and vision.


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## Bellinilover

I enjoyed LINCOLN, but I enjoy the John Williams soundtrack even more. I think it's the equal or nearly the equal of anything by Aaron Copland.


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## nightscape

_Hook_ is a perfect example of this. Terrible movie, terrific score. It found a life outside the celluloid.


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## aajj

The soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou - and i also love the movie.


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## Marschallin Blair

aajj said:


> The soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou - and i also love the movie.


Someone put that soundtrack on in the car I was in coming back on a road trip from Carmel once, and I went, "What the hell is this?"-- my friend said, "The soundtrack from 'O Brother, Where Art Thou.'" I remember laughing at how great some of those Depression-era songs were, like the "Big Rock Candy Mountain" song.

I started a mini 'pit' in the back of the car, headbanging with tresses a-flying to the "Big Rock Candy Mountains." I had a great time hyping out for no explanation, other than just to have a bit of spontaneous fun.

-- And then I later saw the Cohen Brothers film and I just totally died laughing. George Clooney is great in that-- he's a "Dapper Dan" man. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha.


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## Marschallin Blair

Alfacharger said:


> I would say this score transcends the film.


And I would say that composer Basil Poledouris gets the 'Robert E. Howard Seal of Approval' on that one.

-- and for his score to _Flesh and Blood. _






(03:34+)


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## aajj

The O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack is irresistible from beginning to end. I used to dance with my dog during "Indian War Whoop" ut: (used in the movie when Baby Face Nelson is being taken to be electrocuted). I've seen the movie at least a dozen times. It was not a popular movie at the box office when it came out but the soundtrack was a huge hit.


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## Marschallin Blair

aajj said:


> The soundtrack is irresistible from beginning to end. I used to dance with my dog when "Indian War Whoop" came on ut: (used in the movie when Baby Face Nelson is being taken to be electrocuted). I've seen the movie at least a dozen times. It was not a popular movie at the box office when it came out but the soundtrack was a huge hit.


Oh God is that cute as hell that you used to dance with your dog to "Indian War Whoop."

Baby Face Nelson is great in trying to get people to take him seriously. . .

The scene that makes me laugh the hardest is at the very beginning of the film when George Clooney is running as fast as he can to hobo-on to that train-- he makes it, but then the two other convicts that are chained onto him can't keep up with him-- and out the boxcar Clooney flies.

"Any of you gentlemen know anything about the metalurgical arts?"--- yeah, I was crying.


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## aajj

Marschallin Blair said:


> Oh God is that cute as hell that you used to dance with your dog to "Indian War Whoop."
> 
> Baby Face Nelson is great in trying to get people to take him seriously. . .
> 
> The scene that makes me laugh the hardest is at the very beginning of the film when George Clooney is running as fast as he can to hobo-on to that train-- he makes it, but then the two other convicts that are chained onto him can't keep up with him-- and out the boxcar Clooney flies.
> 
> "Any of you gentlemen know anything about the metalurgical arts?"--- yeah, I was crying.


That scene is hilarious! Reminds me of the next scene where he says the leader of their group should be the one with the capacity for abstract thought.

A friend is as crazy for the movie as i am and we are _always _quoting from it. 
I don't mean to be telling tales out of school 
I thought you said you was innocent of those charges
A third of a gopher would arouse my appetite without bedding her down 
My hair!
This place must be a geographical oddity, two weeks from everything (in the "i'm a dapper dan man" scene)
You two are dumber than a bag of hammers!
They've been baptized and saved. Guess i'm the only one that remains unaffiliated.
Consider the lilies of the valley. Hell, consider Delmar. Yeah, consider me!
I've said my piece and counted to three.
I like the smell of my hair treatment, the pleasing odor's half the point!
It's all about the money, boys! 
You're endowed with the gift of gab.

Ok, i could go on but i think you get the idea! :lol:


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## Marschallin Blair

aajj said:


> That scene is hilarious! Reminds me of the next scene where he says the leader of their group should be the one with the capacity for abstract thought.
> 
> A friend is as crazy for the movie as i am and we are _always _quoting from it.
> I don't mean to be telling tales out of school
> I thought you said you was innocent of those charges
> A third of a gopher would arouse my appetite without bedding her down
> My hair!
> This place must be a geographical oddity, two weeks from everything (in the "i'm a dapper dan man" scene)
> You two are dumber than a bag of hammers!
> They've been baptized and saved. Guess i'm the only one that remains unaffiliated.
> Consider the lilies of the valley. Hell, consider Delmar. Yeah, consider me!
> I've said my piece and counted to three.
> I like the smell of my hair treatment, the pleasing odor's half the point!
> It's all about the money, boys!
> You're endowed with the gift of gab.
> 
> Ok, i could go on but i think you get the idea! :lol:


I like Holly Hunter's, _"Its bona fide! Its bonda fide!"_


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## aajj

^^^ Yes, and the three girls saying "he's bona fide-he's a suitor!" and Clooney pleading that _he's_ the pater familias!


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## Marschallin Blair

> aajj;794347[COLOR="#0000CD" said:
> 
> 
> 
> ^^^ Yes, and the three girls saying "he's bona fide-he's a suitor!" and Clooney pleading that _he's_ the pater familias!
> 
> 
> 
> Well, yeah. The movie clearly stated at the outset in the main title credits that it was based on Homer's _Odyssey_.
> 
> 'Odysseus Unbound.'
Click to expand...


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## aajj

Yes and the film included the sirens and cyclops, for example. But based very loosely on Homer. They were also alluding to an old Preston Sturges movie, Sullivan's Travels, with the title O Brother Where Art Thou and the chain gang. With the Coen Brothers, i try to take everything with a grain of salt.


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## Marschallin Blair

aajj said:


> Yes and the film included the sirens and cyclops, for example. But based very loosely on Homer. They were also alluding to an old Preston Sturges movie, Sullivan's Travels, with the title O Brother Where Art Thou and the chain gang. With the Coen Brothers, i try to take everything with a grain of salt.


They're fabulously facetious. That's why I love them._ ;D_


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## aajj

Thinking of "Big Rock Candy Mountain", i have noticed that the recording on the album soundtrack does not include a fiddle, while in the movie it does. Also, while babbling on this, the movie and album feature different recordings of "I'll Fly Away" (both fabulous).

The music from _Fargo _by Carter Burwell is also wonderful and perfectly fits the movie - another classic.


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## Guest

I'm not sure that some of the soundtracks are quite fitting the OP's description. In the case of both Fargo and OBWAT, the films are at least as good as their soundtracks.


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## SimonNZ

I thought the idea here was "great soundtrack - not so great film"


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## DavidA

There was a simply dreadful film made about Beethoven and the ninth symphony. Forget the title. But must win the award for worst film / best music!


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## aajj

SimonNZ said:


> I thought the idea here was "great soundtrack - not so great film"


Maybe i got the thread's idea wrong but i was thinking of a soundtrack whose music transcended the movie regardless of movie quality. O Brother Where Art Thou's soundtrack took on a life of its own, Fargo not so much.

In any case, i agree that Purple Rain is fine music, some great music, with a movie that is pretty much unwatchable. Another example for me is Amadeus, which i consider an awful movie but the guy who wrote that music was pretty talented.


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## Posie

aajj said:


> The O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack is irresistible from beginning to end. I used to dance with my dog during "Indian War Whoop" ut: (used in the movie when Baby Face Nelson is being taken to be electrocuted). I've seen the movie at least a dozen times. It was not a popular movie at the box office when it came out but the soundtrack was a huge hit.


I agree, both the movie and the soundtrack are classics. When I first saw the movie at the theater, it restored my faith in new movies after I'd been scarred by Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (the worst movie I've ever seen to this day). I have a suspicion that the reason for the O Brother soundtrack's initial popularity was that many people thought the song "I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow" was actually sung by George Clooney.


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## aajj

^^^ Yes, i recall that some people thought Clooney was the singer and that mistake could not have hurt in terms of popularity. Watching that scene, where he sings "into a can," even nothing otherwise, a person might have that impression. But many of the recordings on that soundtrack took hold with the public, created a buzz and soon it took on a life separate from the movie. Also, Alison Krauss & Union Station were already well known and that helped. 

As another indication of the soundtrack's popularity, there was a CD of a concert featuring many of the soundtrack's performers.


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## Skilmarilion

Hear some snippets from Glass' soundtrack to _The Thin Blue Line._

Some great stuff here.


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## Loge

Well here is a film that nobody has really seen and the soundtrack rocks!


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## SimonNZ

^ When I was a teenager I'd go and see any film of questionable quality if it had a Tangerine Dream soundtrack.

Sorcerer I remember being quite good, though.


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## mifletz

Goldsmith's music from "Capricorn One" (1977) is a minor classic in its own right


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