# All you movie buffs. What is the best movie Soundtrack? I say Conan the Barbarian!



## Loge

The Anvil of Crom rocks. Can you think of a piece of music movie that is better?


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## Albert7

One of my fav soundtracks is that to the film The Tree of Life.


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## Cosmos

When we say soundtrack, I'm assuming you mean original score?

Under that definition, I'll nominate Ennio Morricone's music for the film The Mission






Never saw the film, but the music is great


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## DeepR

Cosmos said:


> Never saw the film, but the music is great


It's not a bad film at all but it's the music that is really memorable.


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## Weston

The Poledour is score for Conan is truly awesome, but I'll have to go with Herrmann's "The Day the Earth Stood Still.". That just oozes all the sense of wonder and over the top hubris of science fiction.


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## Itullian

Weston is soooo right. Add to that Forbidden Planet.

I must cast a vote for the '31 King Kong where Max Steiner sets the standard for movie music to come.


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## Xaltotun

When we had a cake party for our relatives to introduce our firstborn son to the extended family, my two brothers surprised me by playing Poledouris' "Anvil of Crom" with two tubas. I'm so lucky I have that on videotape.


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## KirbyH

For me it's a three way tie:

Korngold's soundtrack to "The Sea Hawk"

Rosza's "Ben Hur"

and John William's "Star Wars." It's actually John Williams that got me into classical music - I loved the rich scoring more than I did the actual films, in some parts, and found myself knee deep in Strauss and Wagner soon after.


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## Aleksandar

Once Upon A Time In The West


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## QuietGuy

I have always liked John Williams' score for E.T. -- from beginning to end.

And I cannot help but to mention Elmer Bernstein's theme for "To Kill a Mockingbird" -- it gets to me every time I hear it.


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## sharik

*Prokofiev* - _Ivan the Terrible_ (1944)





















https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_the_Terrible_(Prokofiev)


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## Bulldog

Cosmos said:


> When we say soundtrack, I'm assuming you mean original score?
> 
> Under that definition, I'll nominate Ennio Morricone's music for the film The Mission
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Never saw the film, but the music is great


That's one of the best movies I've ever seen. The music is much more effective if you have the visuals.


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## sharik

*Prokofiev* - _Alexander Nevsky_ (1938)





















https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Nevsky_(Prokofiev)


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## Eternal Phoenix

Well, I have to put my vote in for Howard Shore and the Lord of the Rings, however if I was limited to a single film, then The Fellowship. 
If I had to be narrowed down to a single track, possibly The lighting of the Beacons.


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## Dawood

My personal thumbs up for film scores goes to the following (I have multiple thumbs!)

I'm echoing some of the sentiment already posted on this thread: Ivan the terrible is the best film ever and it's music is a significant part of this. Morricone's score for Once Upon in the West is glorious. And everything that John Williams has done for the Star Wars movies can never be forgotten.

Just like to add this jewel from B Herrmann 




The music Zbigniew Preisner did for Krzysztof Kieslowsk was always moving: 




More Herrmann: 




And finally:


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## Guest

Inception is annoying me at present. Casablanca. Silence of the Lambs. Lord of the Rings. Gladiator. Fargo. I could keep on going as I can't choose just one.


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## Vaneyes

*Blade Runner* and *Barry Lyndon* quickly come to mind. And of course...


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## Dawood

MacLeod said:


> Inception is annoying me at present.


Personally I find the Inception music thrilling to listen to on the way to work. It was totally wasted on the film though and it's a shame that every fricking Hollywood trailer now seems to have to use a variation of those BIG CHORDS!

BAAAAA (generic image of movie star who will soon be also selling us a car)

Silence (fade to black)

BAAAAA (generic colourless image instantly forgettable but it's great because of the BAAAA noise)

Silence (fade to black)

Anyhoo, I also thought Zimmer's score for the Man of Steel was a suitable and worthy dethroning of the seemingly indestructible Williams Superman score. I liked General Zod's theme a lot.


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## Guest

Dawood said:


> Personally I find the Inception music thrilling to listen to on the way to work.


I meant 'annoying' in the way that a soundworm annoys. I like the score.


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## Abraham Lincoln

Why, _Inside Out_, of course!


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## Oscarf

Anything by Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rozsa or Nino Rota. Just a couple of picks Vertigo by Herrmann (already mentioned in the thread) and Spellbound by Rozsa.


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## Morimur

The 'Stalker' soundtrack by Edward Artemiev.


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## Belowpar

Soundtracks can be a mix of tracks too. Once of the best is American Hustle.

I was listening to Steely Dan today and all I could think about was the way they move to music in the film.


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## SalieriIsInnocent

To bring up Bernard Herrmann again, I think his music is probably the most ahead of it's time for film scores. When you listen to scores from the 50s, they have a certain sound to them, but Herrmann's work has a quality that doesn't feel like it comes from any particular era. The theme to North By Northwest could be used in a modern hollywood production, and not sound like it came from an old score. When you think of Hitchcock's films, you can't help but think of Herrmann's scores. Taxi Driver is such a powerful score. He mixed jazz and traditional orchestration together so perfectly. John Barry was good at that, but it was always either, or. Herrmann made these great scores that you remember, even if you don't remember the film. I don't mind putting him up there among the Classical guys.








Check out Esa-Pekka Salonen's collection of his film suites, to get a sonic treat.


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## fluteman

My no. 1 is Alexander Nevsky (score by Sergei Prokofiev). Check out the battle on the ice! Other excellent ones: A Clockwork Orange (score by Walter/Wendy Carlos); Jaws (score by John Williams); The Red Violin (score by John Corigliano), and, of course, Disney's Fantasia.


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## Itullian

Max Steiner, King Kong


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## nightscape

KirbyH said:


> It's actually John Williams that got me into classical music.


Me too. When Jurassic Park came out, the moment that island appeared on screen with that fanfare.....oh boy, that was transformative. I immediately bought the soundtrack and collected everything I could get my hands on.

He was my childhood. Star Wars, Superman, E.T., Indiana Jones, Jaws. One man doing all of that? Incredible.

He helped me get into orchestral music and made my transition to classical music so smooth.


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## Bellinilover

While I haven't decided what my favorite movie score is, I thought I'd put in a word for John Williams' SCHINDLER'S LIST. I was in high school when this movie came out, and it does make me feel a little old to realize that by now the score is a classic!

A more recent score I enjoyed was Alexandre Desplat's for THE KING'S SPEECH; since someone above mentioned Bernard Herrmann, I've got to say that in this one I hear references to one of Herrmann's scores for THE TWILIGHT ZONE (the episode "Walking Distance," to be specific). The references come in the scene where Colin Firth's and Geoffry Rush's characters are discussing the prince's childhood. 

Two scores I love and feel are underappreciated are Nino Rota's for DEATH ON THE NILE and Richard Rodney Bennett's for MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS.


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## Wandering

I watched way too many horror movies as a child and still do because I am very hardheaded and C.H.U.D.ish. 

This song from The Howling Part 2 always fascinated me as a kid, both Heavy and New Wave.


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## affettuoso

Howard Shore's work for the Lord of the Rings trilogy is out of this world; it's hard to pick one of the film's over the others, so I'll make it easy on myself and treat them like I treat the films/books -- as a whole. I can't think of any other film st's that I can listen to on their own, on a regular basis.


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