who's the best film composer?

[charlie and algernon]

[Forkboy]

1. Akira Ifukube

He's known for doing the Godzilla score (possibly the best in any horror movie),but he's a great composer in all regards who did the score for over 300 movies spanning almost 75 years.

http://www.akiraifukube.org/
The interviews are really interesting.

On your list Morricone has it goin' on.

[Broken_Hero]

2. John Williams, of course....:) nt

[Deja Q]

16. He also scored the season 3 theme tune to Lost in Space

It's the only good thing about that season...

[swag]

3. Bernard Herrman was pretty good

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Herrman

Citizen Kane (1941)
The Devil and Daniel Webster (AKA All That Money Can Buy) (1941)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942) Uncredited.
Jane Eyre (1944)
Hangover Square (1945)
Anna and the King of Siam (1946)
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947)
Portrait of Jennie (1948) Theme. Uncredited.
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
Five Fingers (1952)
On Dangerous Ground (1952)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952)
Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953)
King of the Khyber Rifles (1953)
White Witch Doctor (1953)
Garden of Evil (1954)
The Egyptian (1954) With Alfred Newman.
Prince of Players (1954)
The Trouble with Harry (1955)
The Kentuckian (1955)
The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956)
The Wrong Man (1956)
Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot (1957) Short subject.
A Hatful of Rain (1957)
The Naked and the Dead (1958)
The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
Blue Denim (1959)
North by Northwest (1959)
Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959)
Psycho (1960)
The Three Worlds of Gulliver (1960)
Mysterious Island (1961)
Cape Fear (1962)
Tender Is the Night (1962)
Jason and the Argonauts (1963)
Marnie (1964)
Joy in the Morning (1965)
Torn Curtain (1966) unused score
Fahrenheit 451 (1966)
The Bride Wore Black (1967)
Twisted Nerve (1968) main theme featured in Kill Bill, Vol. 1 (2003)
The Battle of Neretva (1969)
The Night Digger (1971)
Endless Night (1971)
Sisters (1973)
It's Alive (1974)
Obsession (1976)
Taxi Driver (1976)

[Forkboy]

5. What a load of crappy movies!

:D

[swag]

7. Yeah, big pile of shit,

but I still hum some of his tunes.

[ghostsofgiants]

4. Clint Mansell, Jon Brion or Angelo Badalamenti.

They're my favourites anyway.

[petronius]

6. Danny Elfman... (nt)

[Rhythm]

27. Elfman seconded...

He has had a hand in many of the films that i have loved best in the last 20 years.

[NightWatcher]

37. Why isnt Elfman in the poll?

Beetlejuice, Batman, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Spiderman, the Hulk, Big Fish, Planet of the Apes, Sleepy Hollow, Good Will Hunting, Mars Attacks, Men In Black, Mission Impossible, Nightmare Before Christmas, Darkman, and tons of others....too many to list.

(per IMDB)

[enigmatic]

8. Duke Ellington's score for "Anatomy Of A Murder" is the best ever film score

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatomy_of_a_Murder

http://music.barnesandnoble.com/search/product.asp?z=y&EAN=074646556924&itm=4

[Starbucks Anarchist]

9. Either Henry Mancini or Bernard Herrman.

[FuzzySlippers]

10. I love Ennio Morricone.

Especially the score for "The Untouchables".

[Zomby Woof]

11. Maurice Jarre

His score for "Lawrence of Arabia" remains my favorite.

[Vidar]

12. Maurice Jarre: Lawrence of Arabia, Dr. Zhivago & numerous other films.

[quiet.american]

13. Bernard Hermann hands down. Then, Henry Mancini, in my book.

From The Man Who Knew Too Much to Vertigo to Taxi Driver, Bernard Hermann was AMAZING. And Henry Mancini, what can one say? Peter Gunn to Breakfast at Tiffany's to Remington Steele and everything in between, love it all.

[sarge43]

15. Second on Hermann

His score for The Ghost and Mrs Muir is dazzling.

[derby378]

14. Gotta put in a plug for Basil Poledouris

Created the score for the first Robocop film as well as for Total Recall. Some damn good stuff there.

[Orsino]

17. And Conan, and Red October, etc.

Great stuff.

[terrya]

18. I would add John Barry to that list.

My favorite film composer. A genius, in my book.

[jobycom]

31. Williams is the best, but Barry does deserve to be on the list. nt

[sarge43]

19. Carl Stalling should be on any list of great film composers

As the man said, comedy is hard. Good comedic music is damn near impossible, but he managed nearly two decades worth.

[peekaloo]

20. honorable mention to Carter Burwell.

[poiuytsister]

21. Randy Newman

Not as majestic as Williams but fun to sing along to.

[Jade Fox]

22. Goldsmith. What an amazing 40 year career. n/t

[MilesColtrane]

23. I'd give a mention to Elmer Bernstein.

He wrote the theme songs or other music for more than 200 films and TV shows, including The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, The Ten Commandments (1956), The Man with the Golden Arm, To Kill a Mockingbird, Robot Monster, Ghostbusters and the fanfare used in the National Geographic television specials.

[terrya]

24. What gets me reading this is the number of great composers on this list.

And I would certainly add Elmer Bernstein to this list. The films that you mentioned...and two of my favorites from Bernstein..."The Grifters" and his last film, "Far From Heaven".

[bbernardini]

25. John Williams, if you don't mind Copeland/Stravinsky/Williams ripoffs.

I've been to films scored by Williams with fellow music geeks, and we've often found ourselves turning to each other and saying "COPELAND!" at the same time because of a certain musical phrase.

I'm also firmly convinced that he lifted the "Hedwig" theme from something in "Schindler's List."

[sarge43]

30. He did boost the Jaws theme from Stravinsky's Rite of Spring n/t

[steelemagnolia]

26. You forgot Dave Grusin - a master and genius

[fortyfeetunder]

28. The grandaddy of film scores -- Goldmark

Erich Wolfgang Goldmark.

Granted his music predates most of the modern composers, but modern orchestrations carry many of the lush instrumentation Goldmark used.

[Zorro]

29. Dmitri Tiompkin

High Noon, The Guns of Navarone, Friendly Persuasion, etc. etc.

[mitchum]

32. Nina Rota"

[bif]

39. Amen!

I really loved "Amaracord". What a brilliant writer.

[tjwmason]

33. Shostakovich n/t

[swimboy]

38. Oh dear

You're back AND you've been listening to Shostakovich.

:hug:

[tjwmason]

40. Watch out for the immanent collapse in property prices marking my return

I haven't actually been listening to the big S. recently - rather the first thought which comes to my head when film music is mentioned is The Gadfly.

:hug: :loveya:

[Tikki]

34. Mark Mothersbaugh.......

also, Danny Elfin and Chris Spedding.



Tikki

[bridgit]

35. Williams is the knee jerk here cause he does so much work *and* is good but...

i like Nino Rota, Leonard Bernstein did amazing stuff, Danny Elfman also good, Henry Mancini :thumbsup:

but i'm going with: Patrick Doyle, highly textural, visual, beautiful composer of film music
Harry Potter Requiem

'Til There Was You: A Much Ado About Nothing Tribute

Eragon - Musiques de Patrick Doyle

Kissing in the Rain

Pirates Of The Caribbean (fan) Trailer DMC

Brom - Passing the Flame

[hippiechick]

36. Danny Elfman - no contest

:applause:

[Burma Jones]

41. Bernard Hemann, back in the day and Danny Elfman for these days...

Everybody else is just stealing from Richard Wagner and Carl Orff