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Ennio Morricone appreciation thread!

My favorite film composer (RIP). Don't know of anyone with more talent in this area.

The Sundown, from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, is only played once during the film ... and is majestic.

What are your favorite Morricone scores?

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by Anonymousreply 61October 30, 2022 11:25 PM

Definitely “Once Upon a Time in the West.” Each character had their own descriptive score.

I was sad at how the 2007 Academy Award was presented by a befuddled Clint Eastwood and the magnificence of the Once Upon a Time in the West music wasn’t showcased.

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by Anonymousreply 1April 20, 2021 2:05 PM

Gabriel’s Oboe.

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by Anonymousreply 2April 20, 2021 2:08 PM

The man was a genius.

My personal favorites - and it's hard to whittle them down - are "Cinema Paradiso', 'Days of Heaven', and 'The Mission' (which is arguably the finest original film score ever composed and was robbed of an Academy Award).

by Anonymousreply 3April 20, 2021 2:09 PM

Listening to The Mission now ... sublime.

by Anonymousreply 4April 20, 2021 2:19 PM

R3 I did not know Cinema Paradiso was composed by Morricone! I wept so much at the ending! (Spoiler post).

John Williams has a lifetime legacy as well, but no way comes as close as Ennio Morricone’s. Truly a genius.

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by Anonymousreply 5April 20, 2021 2:25 PM

Since we've sampled others, here's 'Days of Heaven'.

(A great movie, with breathtaking cinematography by Nestor Almendros.)

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by Anonymousreply 6April 20, 2021 2:42 PM

I so badly wanted to see him in concert. It was amazing he was still performing into his 90s. It would have been fabulous to see a performance at the Verona Colosseum as he did yearly.

by Anonymousreply 7April 20, 2021 3:31 PM

I love this song

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by Anonymousreply 8April 20, 2021 3:34 PM

This is her latest Morricone. I love the melody.

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by Anonymousreply 9April 20, 2021 3:41 PM

Almost two dozen films he scored are up on the Criterion Channel in a special "festival," including some Italian rarities.

by Anonymousreply 10April 20, 2021 4:20 PM

EM's music makes any movie better than it is. For example, that POS "Frantic" (Polanski-88).

by Anonymousreply 11April 20, 2021 6:38 PM

This is very true of the rather terrible Lolita, r11, which he also scored. Amazing music:

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by Anonymousreply 12April 20, 2021 6:47 PM

This sequence is made through the music:

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by Anonymousreply 13April 20, 2021 6:49 PM

The variety (and sheer number) of films he worked on in astonishing. This weird pop tune from Bertolucci's Partner (1968), for instance.

(Song starts around 0:35)

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by Anonymousreply 14April 20, 2021 6:56 PM

I saw Morricone conduct in Vienna in 2017, and he was amazing. There was nothing over the top of grandiose about his conducting, but he made the orchestra sound wonderful.

by Anonymousreply 15April 21, 2021 9:55 PM

This is lovely

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by Anonymousreply 16April 21, 2021 10:33 PM

Love this.

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by Anonymousreply 17April 21, 2021 10:36 PM

I watched the giallo What Have You Done to Solange? not too long ago and I thought it was TERRIBLE, despite having a pretty good reputation for a giallo film. However, I really liked the Ennio Morricone score!! He added a touch of class to an otherwise shitty Italan b-picture.

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by Anonymousreply 18April 21, 2021 10:41 PM

His soundtrack for The Mission was voted the all-time greatest score in 2012

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by Anonymousreply 19April 21, 2021 10:45 PM

R10

I saw what you did there.

by Anonymousreply 20April 21, 2021 11:08 PM

Bump

by Anonymousreply 21May 5, 2021 1:11 AM

He could get pretty "groovy" as well.

What new wave band copped this vibe? Their cop is brilliant.

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by Anonymousreply 22May 5, 2021 1:12 AM

I have always loved this one.

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by Anonymousreply 23May 5, 2021 1:23 AM

Without a doubt, his "Once Upon A Time In America". I love every minute of that soundtrack.

by Anonymousreply 24May 5, 2021 1:43 AM

La Califfa

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by Anonymousreply 25May 5, 2021 2:37 AM

The gift that keeps on giving ... this is sublime:

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by Anonymousreply 26October 4, 2021 4:51 PM

Meti una sera a cena (1969)

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by Anonymousreply 27October 4, 2021 4:58 PM

Veruschka

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by Anonymousreply 28October 4, 2021 5:02 PM

After Jean-Paul Belmondo died I watched a few of his movies that I hadn't seen before, two of which Morricone scored. "The Professional" (1981) has some very memorable music and is an OK thriller; everything about "Le Marginal" (1983) is forgettable.

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by Anonymousreply 29October 4, 2021 5:15 PM

Morricone and the Pet Shop Boys

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by Anonymousreply 30October 4, 2021 8:25 PM

Do remixes count?

Ecstasy Of Gold, originally from The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

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by Anonymousreply 31October 4, 2021 8:31 PM

Morricone also did pop music. "Se Telefonando" 1966 performed by Italy's magnificent Mina. Morricone wrote the piece and orchestrated it.

Gorgeous Monica Vitti & Delon featured in the clip. How the camera loved them

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by Anonymousreply 32October 4, 2021 8:43 PM

Thanks r32!

by Anonymousreply 33October 4, 2021 10:20 PM

One of Morricone's colleagues who got less recognition was Mario Nascimbene (1913–2002).

One of his most exciting scores, 'The Vikings' (1958), uses the scary sound of an horn in a minor key.

The same instrument is used disastrously in the great failure called 'Alexander the Great' (1956). The horn sounds away in the background like a lost sheep while Harry Andrews and Richard Burton strut around wearing silly costumes.

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by Anonymousreply 34October 5, 2021 9:56 PM

I can't get enough of r26. So beautiful

by Anonymousreply 35October 6, 2021 12:15 PM

The Criterion Channel had a recent "salute" to Morricone, featuring some of his most obscure credits. The sleaziest movie (and schlockiest Deliverance-style score) was 1976's "Hitch-Hike"/"Autostop Rosso Sangue". Franco Nero, Corinne Clery (frequently stripped bare), and David Hess.

The American West is faked up in the hills of Italy around Aquila. It's a gas!

by Anonymousreply 36October 6, 2021 12:47 PM

He could rock out as well.

Hmmm...what famous band copped this motif 12 years later?

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by Anonymousreply 37October 6, 2021 1:30 PM

One of the reasons Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage was so creepy was due to the child-like la-las throughout the score . . .

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by Anonymousreply 38October 6, 2021 1:47 PM

Perfect ... I feel there is no way the film itself could live up to this score.

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by Anonymousreply 39October 7, 2021 7:49 PM

Once Upon a Time in America

Orca (terrible movie but beautiful music)

The Mission (particularly the oboe solo)

by Anonymousreply 40October 7, 2021 7:59 PM

[quote] the oboe solo

Lovely, schmaltzy but appropriate for this movie about Catholic missionaries.

Richard Strauss also knew how to handle the oboe.

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by Anonymousreply 41October 8, 2021 1:26 AM

R41, the oboe may be barely breathing, but the heart of rock and roll is still beating

by Anonymousreply 42October 8, 2021 1:30 AM

R42 Did Huey Lewis handle oboes?

Musicians tell us that the oboe is the most similar of instruments to the human voice.

by Anonymousreply 43October 8, 2021 5:16 AM

Did you know that orchestras tune their instruments to the oboe. C. Everyone tunes their instrument to the oboe's C.

by Anonymousreply 44October 13, 2021 10:54 PM

I thought they tuned to A, r44

by Anonymousreply 45November 2, 2021 10:22 PM

R45 You are correct. They tune to A. My mistake.

by Anonymousreply 46November 3, 2021 8:46 PM

Another good one:

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by Anonymousreply 47December 29, 2021 9:08 PM

Cinema Paradiso.

What a fucking gorgeous, perfect movie, from start to finish.

by Anonymousreply 48December 29, 2021 9:10 PM

Bumping an old thread because I just came across an exquisite performance of 'Cinema Paradiso', performed by Chris Botti and the Boston Pops Orchestra, featuring Yo-Yo Ma.

It's from Botti's recording 'Chris Botti in Boston.'

If you like Ennio Morricone, it doesn't get much better than this.

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by Anonymousreply 49February 19, 2022 3:35 PM

All these posts and no love for Legend of 1900?? Morricone's score was a character in the film (and without question the star)!

I never tire of watching the piano-during-storm-at-sea scene.

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by Anonymousreply 50February 19, 2022 4:36 PM

I love this version of For a Few Dollars More.

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by Anonymousreply 51February 19, 2022 4:51 PM

Beautiful arrangement of one of my favorite themes from "Lolita."

A forlorn youtube commenter states: "The soundtrack of my life.....haunting, hopeless and yet somehow enchanted."

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by Anonymousreply 52March 1, 2022 3:01 AM

I couldn't remember who Morricone lost the Oscar to for The Mission. I looked it up on Wikipedia and it was Herbie Hancock for 'Round Midnight.

The Mission is one of those scores, like John Barry's Somewhere in Time, that you can't deny how great it is.

Once Upon a Time in America is another favourite. So haunting and so beautiful.

I also love his score for the Warren Beatty/Annette Bening flop "Love Affair". Such an underrated score.

His score for John Carpenter's The Thing is one of his more unusual scores as it is electronic. Madness that it was nominated for a Razzie for Worst Score (!).

by Anonymousreply 53March 1, 2022 3:08 AM

I don't think the DL has ever had a thread specifically about 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝, 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐠𝐥𝐲 (1966); I have a question somewhat pertinent to its Morricone soundtrack, so perhaps here is as good a place as any to ask it.

I've read that there is only one piece of diegetic music (music within the film which the characters themselves can hear) in the film, pointing to 'The Story of a Soldier' (where camp prisoners perform the song to cover over the sounds of Tuco being beaten), but there is at least one other: the "Hurrah" song sung by the wagonload of drunken rowdies who drop off Maria at the boarding house (approx. 00:29:06 in the theatrical version). Are there any fans of the film here who can make out the lyrics they're singing? I'm optimizing a subtitle file to include everything insofar as possible. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

by Anonymousreply 54June 11, 2022 2:21 AM

Am I really the first to mention his beautiful “Regan’s Theme” from the seminal sequel Exorcist 2: The Heretic?

I also love his score for Days of Heaven. And The Untouchables.

by Anonymousreply 55June 11, 2022 2:24 AM

Had no idea he scored Exorcist II, r55

by Anonymousreply 56June 11, 2022 8:43 AM

Morricone's greatest pieces are almost films unto themselves:

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by Anonymousreply 57October 30, 2022 8:09 PM

The main theme from Once Upon a Time in the West. Sublime.

by Anonymousreply 58October 30, 2022 10:52 PM

The thing about Morricone was no matter how good or bad the film was, he always brought his A-game.

Regan's Theme from The Exorcist is really stunning. And probably the best thing about the film.

by Anonymousreply 59October 30, 2022 11:13 PM

.....

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by Anonymousreply 60October 30, 2022 11:21 PM

I have not seen this film so can't speak to how well the score works in context, but I love this bit of music from L'immoralità.

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by Anonymousreply 61October 30, 2022 11:25 PM
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