Because i just rewatched it: CONAN Basil Poledouris Score is magnificent throughout but the scene where i always get goosebumps is in the beginning when Thulsa aproaches the mother and little conan. The music here combined with those images is pure magic and sends shivers down my spine everytime i see it. I think Poledouris score is a great example of the music telling an additional story to the images. Take for example the scene where conan finds the sword in the cave with the old kings skeleton: he could have used spooky music through that scene and it would have been, conan climbing into a tomb getting a sword and climbing out with some freaky looking set dressing in the background. But the music tells a whole background story about a lost and buried kingdom, the gravity of history, about conan finding his destiny maybe to be king himself oneday... all that through the music. Really watch that scene again!

barryegan,

YES! I'm glad you brought up CONAN. I remember my brother, who was around 14 at the time, suckering my Dad, a minister, into taking us to see it. I was 10 at the time. I came out of that theater unable to get the thunderous drums out of my head. Then I went home and crushed my enemies, saw them driven before me, and heard the lamentation of their women. Ah, childhood.

Jeez, I need to see Conan again, You got me interested... How does Conan the Destroyer and Red Sonja hold up ?

Conan the Destroyer and Red Sonja were hokey but I liked them because sword and sorcery is so rare. They had some neat visuals in Sonja, like when they cross a bridge made of dinosaur bones. But they werent anything like the Conan of the stories.


One note on Kubrick and 2001. The story goes he used Gyorgi Ligeti's music for much of the Jupiter and Beyond sequence. He didnt ask permission and Ligeti tried to take him to court but gave up because it would have been too expensive. He got compensated but probably not as much as could have got. Kubrick also altered his music electronically in one part. It really worked well in the movie though.


Its hard to think of one moment that stands out-

I think a few that stand out for me besides ones already mentioned.


Fantasia--in the Night on Bald Mountain sequence when Chernobog recoils from the rays of the sun and covers himself in his wings.

Moby Dick-when the whale erupts from the surface to attack and when he creates a whirl pool to sink the ship. Great score. For years I thought it was Bernard Hermann. It was Phillip Sainton.

Hermann's Psycho score when Norman attacks in the shower.


Planet of the Apes when Taylor sees the gorillas on horseback for the first time and you get the horn blasts and frenzied piano keys.

Dracula AD 72--when they camera goes up from the graveyard and you see the jetliner and it gets into that weird musical bit with the old people standing around as these kids are dancing about them. lol


The Omen piece Ave Satani stands out wherever it is used. I particularly remember it in the Omen 3 when the dog is looking through the window and mesmerizing the woman into killing the baby.

The Boys From Brazil-when Gregory Peck is in his lab as he remembers doing the cloning operation. Goldsmith used this fake Straussian-Wagnerian melody.

Elephant Man- the use of Adagio for Strings at the end when you see the architectural models Merrick had made as he lies down to kill himself. Wow I actually teared up a bit as I remembered it.

In Excalibur when the sword flies through the air and is taken by the Lady of the lake.

Gremlins-the use of the theme music when the Gremlins attack Dick Miller in the snow plough, short out the street lights etc.

Brad Fiedel's music as the Terminator rises up from the wreckage of the exploded semi.


Lizst's Hungarian Rhapsody (no. 2 I think) as Eddie Valiant enters the Ink and Paint club in Who Framed Roger Rabbit and goes through a dark hallway that opens to see Daffy Duck and Donald Duck having a paino duel.

Dragonheart, when Draco dies and floats up to the sky and other dragon stars surround it.

Along with all the other amazing things they do, the Cohen Brothers make great use of sound. The soundtrack to the Big Lewbowski is pert-near perfect, and not just because I hate the Eagles, too. The near-complete LACK of a soundtrack in No Country for Old Men makes those moments of tension just excruciating. With no sound to occupy the space, time seems to really slow down. Apparently Carter Burwell did a score for those scenes, but in the final sound mix, they started pulling it out and realized those tension scenes worked better without it.

I thoroughly agree with Bernard Herman and "Psycho". I love how Hitchcock knew exactly how to use sound in his films, it was never extradiagetic, always seemed like it was actually a piece of the universe.

Again I might get slapped in the face for this one from the members of the forum, but I thought the use of Iron Maiden in Phenomena was absolutely brilliant. It always strikes me as the most innovative and original score used to date. Then again, like Hitchcock, Argento always knew exactly how to use sound and especially music, his scores were always grade'A' material.

2001 would have been great with Pink Floyd. Call me nastalgic, but my stoner roots just won't let that one go.

Not sure whether these have already been mentioned but here are a couple of my favourites:

THE THIRD MAN - Anton Karas' Harry Lime theme whenever Welles is on screen

THE DEER HUNTER - Stanley Mears' CAVATINA theme during the mountain scenes at the beginning

BADLANDS - The opening sequence with Martin Sheen picking up trash and Sissy Spacek narrating whilst Carl Orff's "Musica Poetica" is playing in the background is one of my all time favourites



Damn there must be more..... I'll have to come back to this....

Wow, a lot of my favorites have already been mentioned. Gonna have to dig deep here. How about...

ALL THAT JAZZ - Sure, I suppose it's hokey in a way, but I've always loved the whole sequence with Roy Scheider & Ben Vereen doing Bye Bye Love as the main character lies dying.

CHARIOTS OF FIRE - Forget the overplayed theme, it's the scene where Eric Lidell throws his head back in pure bliss and the synths swell for ten seconds or so that music really works for me.

DAZED AND CONFUSED - The opening seconds where the car creeps through the parking lot while blasting Sweet Emotion. That's what it's like to feel cool in high school.

GLORY - The final siege.

MILLER'S CROSSING - All of it, but I'll single out Danny Boy playing while Leo is under attack.

CARPENTER'S THE THING - Pick any scene with just the music in it.

TEZUKA'S METROPOLIS - Ray Charles singing I Can't Stop Loving You as the city collapses in ruins.

and just to throw something really weird out there...

PHANTASM - The scene where Jody & Reg sit on the porch and work on their song. In the midst of all the surrealism this scene really anchors the characters into real and likable individuals for me. I like the song too

Lots of good suggestion already.
I have to mention the music over the gypsy camp fight in From Russia With Love

The opening sequence of once upon a time in america , the music just fits the mood so well over those rolling shots.

I know this is an old thread, but I just listened to this show the other day and wanted to chime in (I'll be copying and pasting that line a lot).

I've got to wholeheartedly agree with 'Danny Boy' from Miller's Crossing and 'Layla' from Goodfellas - both were perfect.

Another one that always comes to mind is a scene from Rushmore. It's got great music throughout, but the scene where Max is leaving the hotel with the Beekeeping Society box accompanied by the last part of the Who's 'A Quick One While He's Away'. It's perfect.

Good call! That music was John Barry's "007", which he composed as an 'alternative' James Bond theme. The "007" theme popped up in several Bond films, but hasn't appeared since 1979's Roger Moore dreckfest Moonraker. Barry's Bond scores were great, the best probably being OHMSS.

There are many for me, as there are for everyone, but one that just came to mind (and reminded me of this long-ago question) is the combination of The Tokens' 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' and the image of the helicopter coming home in Joe Dante's MATINEE. It's not exactly Mondo material, and it's more than a little sentimental, but it's a great moment and a great ending nonetheless.

At least, it is to me.

The famous Bond signature theme was originally composed for a stage adaptation of VS Naipauls 'A House for Mr Biswas'. I only know the book as I read it for my A Levels. But that is one weird fact. The story has absolutely nothing in common with James Bond.