The Best Ennio Morricone Score?

[Yonathan Gal]

Has this person ever won an Ocsar by the way? Anyway, for me, it's Once Upon A Time In The West. Must admit I haven't heard all of them :) Not half in fact...

[KeyserSoze]

yeah definately once upon a time in west.

sends shivers down me spine !



i only like the western songs he done, though i havent heard most of his stuff.

[Yonathan Gal]

The Untouchables is good, but it just didn't have the effect ion me that this does, I'm listening to it right now and it's just incredible! :)

[chris21]

I'd go for The Untouchables.

[Tony Keats]

What Dreams May Come..

[Mike]

"What Dreams May Come" was Michael Kamen.

As for Morricone, I'd go for:

- Once Upon A Time In America
- Novocento
- The Untouchables
- State Of Grace
- The Mission
- The Thing

But my favourite of all his scores is the remake of "Lolita". Simply gorgeous on every possible level, and rather better than the film.

[jonathan.e]

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[Matt Sandbrook]

Absolutly got to agree with Mike, he just beat me too it! Managed to evoke more emotion than Mr Irons or the lass by miles

[McD]

Originally posted by Yonathan Gal
Must admit I haven't heard all of them :) Not half in fact...

You might be hard-hardcore, in which case I could be wrong, but I'm willing to bet you haven't even heard 10%!

His list of films is enormous and sadly this has taken a toll on his originality. I havent heard even close to half myself, but what I have heard I've mostly heard time and again.

The Untouchables, Cinema Paradiso and Bugsy all share an identical theme (love theme in the first two, main theme in the latter). Not just thematically similar (in a way that all the soundtrack greats are regularly accused), but IDENTICAL! Yes, he hasn't won an Oscar, and to many that looks bad, but his Oscar nom for Bugsy is the worst Oscar nomination I can think of in any category. The film didn't contain an original note!

As stated earlier, I haven't heard all of the scores (I'm willing to bet no one on these forums comes close) so anything I like may have existed previously in another score. Recently though, I have been fond of Casualties of War, Lolita, U Turn & Bulworth. A forum member once commented that he thought Morricone was in 'self parody' mode on U Turn! If that's the case he's been on it for over a decade.

I'd plump for Lolita if it came to it.

[Tony Keats]

Originally posted by Mike
"What Dreams May Come" was Michael Kamen.

I wondered who'd be the first to point that out!. In the final version it was Michael Kamen yes, but Morricone was originally commissioned to do the honours. He provided a fantastic piece of work (as ever), but it was rejected by the filmmakers (on tonal grounds I think) and Kamen was brought in to salvage things at the last minute.

I have to confess I've never actually heard Morricone's effort, but according to the two (bootleg) reviews I read it's a 'secret' classic.

[McD]

Originally posted by Tony Keats


I wondered who'd be the first to point that out!. In the final version it was Michael Kamen yes, but Morricone was originally commissioned to do the honours. He provided a fantastic piece of work (as ever), but it was rejected by the filmmakers (on tonal grounds I think) and Kamen was brought in to salvage things at the last minute.

I have to confess I've never actually heard Morricone's effort, but according to the two (bootleg) reviews I read it's a 'secret' classic.

You are right, the Morricone version has done the rounds.

But to vote for it yourself, or describe it as a fantastic piece of work, is a bit desperate if you haven't heard it.

Those who collect Morricone bootlegs have to be hardcore anyway (as there are more than enough CDs to be getting on with as it is!) and can be safely judged to like it. Added to which it was rejected after all!

[Raphph]

I think he is a fantastic composer and The Mission is one of my favourite soundtracks. The segment called 'Falls' is simply breathtaking.

[DeadKenny]

OUATITW definitely the top one, and a fantastic film at that too. Still waiting for a decent version on DVD (but in two minds as to whether the soundtrack should be 5.1 remastered or remain mono... I mean, that score on the soundtrack CD is even better in stereo although needs a bit of remastering. Perhaps just have the music in stereo and keep the rest in mono ... like they did with Kubrick's stuff).

[Earl Jolly Brown]

I love his scores for the three DePalma films - yes, even Mission to Mars - but The Mission and Duck, You Sucker! are also favourites

[Gary Couzens]

His church-organ (?) theme for <i>Burn!</i> (aka <i>Queimada!</i>) is quite something.

[Tony Keats]

Originally posted by McD

You are right, the Morricone version has done the rounds.
But to vote for it yourself, or describe it as a fantastic piece of work, is a bit desperate if you haven't heard it.
Those who collect Morricone bootlegs have to be hardcore anyway (as there are more than enough CDs to be getting on with as it is!) and can be safely judged to like it. Added to which it was rejected after all!

My favourite score is probably The Untouchables as it's the first one I ever took notice of (while still at school in actual fact) and the opening titles sound especially enticing. I'd never been interested in scores or who did them before that movie.

I posted What Dreams May Come to see if anyone would pick up on it (as I didn't know how well-known that piece of information was) and the 'fantastic' description was exactly how the review-site phrased it in their intro. In all honesty though, how often does he under-perform?.

In any case, it wasn't rejected because it was bad, it was simply deemed unsuitable for that particular film (and I'd LOVE to hear it for myself!).

[KeyserSoze]

Originally posted by DeadKenny
OUATITW definitely the top one, and a fantastic film at that too. Still waiting for a decent version on DVD (but in two minds as to whether the soundtrack should be 5.1 remastered or remain mono... I mean, that score on the soundtrack CD is even better in stereo although needs a bit of remastering. Perhaps just have the music in stereo and keep the rest in mono ... like they did with Kubrick's stuff).

i was gonna say somethin about remastering.

i think the original sounds a bit tinny, and blasting a tinny song on a hifi is not good for the ears.

does anyone know if there is a CD for the western films ? dollars trilogy, Once time west etc ?

[DeadKenny]

Originally posted by KeyserSoze
does anyone know if there is a CD for the western films ? dollars trilogy, Once time west etc ?

The one I've got is A Fistful of Sounds. All original soundtrack music but not the entire dollars trilogy, just A Fistful of Dollars and For A Few Dollars More, but also includes Once Upon A Time In the West.

Not entirely sure if these are the very original soundtrack albums, though they are the original music (i.e. not re-scored or recorded by someone else). My only reason for saying this is the two Dollars films are on one CD, whereas OUATITW is on it's own CD, but then maybe the Dollars ones were very short and fit on one CD anyway?

Don't know which is the catalogue number because there's two on the back of the CD, but try either 74321 660402 or F: BM720.

Found it in a sale in Virgin a year ago I think. Was released in 1999 by BMG.

[zazzx]

Folks,

I managed to catch Morricone conduct at the Barbican last year and the performances were amazing. The orchestral interpretations of OUATITW and GBU are truely magical.

There's a CD of a live orchestral performance in Rome available from the US - 'Cinema Concerto'. Buy this if you like Morricone:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00004OCR6/qid=1010364771/sr=8-3/ref=sr_8_67_3/103-6619823-2991028

Anthony.

[DeadKenny]

In fact looking at Amazon.com's list of Morricone CDs, A Fistful of Sounds seems to be the original soundtracks, plus OUATITW has a couple more tracks than the original US album, but if you look on Amazon.co.uk there's an album with 20 tracks (i.e. another 6 on top of the one I've got).

P.S. A Fistful of Sounds is at http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000JAVF, but I'd ignore the track listing they've got there as it seems to be partly stuff from the first disc and a few from the second, and yet it's described as a 2 disc set. £7.99 too :D.

Or £10.99 for the longer CD of OUATITW http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00000GBAU

The other films are available individually too and also the first two Dollars on one album. Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is only own it's own I think.

[Bapapapa]

OUATIA

[Spudlington]

for me the best score is still the mission, and if you want to know what he has won/been nominated for/never won, you could do worse than look here:
http://us.imdb.com/Pawards?Morricone,+Ennio

i don't have much of a problem with him never haven been awarded an oscar... what credibility do they have after the greatest rip off in living memory?

(south park the movie NOT winning an oscar, and Phil "the gimp" Collins getting the gold bald dude statue instead, pah...)

[Cap'n Al]

I've always liked themes of his rather than complete soundtracks; therefore, I'd go with the music used at the final confrontation in <i>The Good, The Bad and The Ugly</i>, Frank's theme in <i>Once Upon a Time in the West</i>, and the opening titles to <i>The Untouchables</i>.

Truly a great composer, and he doesn't speak a word of English!!!

[gZa]

His Leone scores are probably his best/well known but when he ain't cannabilising himself he truly is a genius...

Classic scores not mentioned thus far; <i>White Dog</i>, <I>Orca</I> and <I>The Big Silence</i>.

[Neil Irving]

My favourite is Morricone's score for Terrence Malick's DAYS OF HEAVEN. The way the music complements the scenery is breathtaking.

I also like his score for the Lolita remake.

[Mike]

Just got a copy this morning of an import CD of his score for "Exorcist II The Heretic". A simply extraordinary blending of African influences with gorgeous melodies.

[lcoyote]

The Mission is a very moving soundtrack. The track 'Falls' was later used on the t.v. programme Those Who Dare.