Every composer has their moment when everything just goes right.
For me, although I love the Superman score, JW nailed The Empire Strikes Back. Everything about that score is sublime (for me)
John Powell wrote a hell of an epic for the How to train your Dragon films. But for me he knocked it out of the park with 2 tracks from Hancock - Death and Transfiguration and The Moon and the Superhero.
Murray Gold's theme for the Matt Smith Doctor Who....just perfect.
Speaking of Doctor Who, Delia Derbyshire's realisation of the original Doctor Who theme absolutely nailed it.
Honestly, there are many, many examples of composers 'nailing' it.
I think Jerry Goldsmith nailed it with THE OMEN—that 3-way combination of black mass chant, avant-garde mysterioso and family torn-apart love theme was perfect.
I think Bernard Herrmann nailed it with PSYCHO.
I think John Williams nailed it with JAWS and STAR WARS.
I think John Barry nailed it with the James Bond scores.
I think Ennio Morricone nailed it with the Spaghetti Westerns.
I think Lalo Schifrin nailed it with knobs on with BULLITT.
Think of it this way: "Nails it" as in when someone replies, "This." Irreplaceable. Impossible to think of it scored any other way. Definitive. Could not be done any better. Merely try suggesting an alternative and you're dead.
I don't remember if I put it on the other thread, but Friedhofter's Between Heaven and Hell should be on the list. Especially the cue "Desperate Journey." It uses the Dies Irae and is terrific.
The last 15 minutes of E.T. is some of the most perfectly scored film out there. Williams hit every beat for that prolonged finale. The flying sequence, the departure, it's just perfection.
The arrival of the Rohirrim at the Battle of Pelennor Fields in Return of the King is also one of many examples in that trilogy where Howard Shore nailed it.
JC pretty much nailed it in his movies from the 70s and the 80s, helping to invent a signature sound that still influences today (and not just the film world). When you think of his movies like Assault On Precinct 13, Halloween & Escape From New York, the music is so integral to the images that you can't imagine any other sounds fitting so perfectly.
"Nailed it"? I assume most people would list scores they like. But then there's stuff like Jarre's Doctor Zhivago – no great favorite in soundtrack collector circles, but it's a score that no-one can deny "nailed it" as much as anyone could nail anything. Similar examples are way too numerous to contemplate, let alone list. And does The Omega Man nail it or not nail it? How about Citizen Kane? Or Spartacus? No-one mentioning The Magnificent Seven? Or The Great Escape? What about Hellraiser? It's an endless exercise.
"Nailed it"? I assume most people would list scores they like. But then there's stuff like Jarre's Doctor Zhivago – no great favorite in soundtrack collector circles, but it's a score that no-one can deny "nailed it" as much as anyone could nail anything. Similar examples are way too numerous to contemplate, let alone list. And does The Omega Man nail it or not nail it? How about Citizen Kane? Or Spartacus? No-one mentioning The Magnificent Seven? Or The Great Escape? What about Hellraiser? It's an endless exercise.
Well, I'm a little embarrassed; Spartacus and The Magnificent Seven are two of my favorite scores and I didn't think of them. Nice call.
I’m surprised no one’s mentioned John Williams’ work on Harry Potter. When I think of a DEFINITIVE score that realizes a movie’s world, I think HP’s a good go-to. I can’t imagine the series sounding any other way. Even when other composers came in they knew the main theme shouldn’t be tampered with, at the very least.
Danny Elfman’s work on Burton’s Batman films is another really good example imo of just NAILING a character/movie’s soundscape.
The last 15 minutes of E.T. is some of the most perfectly scored film out there. Williams hit every beat for that prolonged finale. The flying sequence, the departure, it's just perfection.
Listening to the expanded scores of TOTAL RECALL and THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS the other day, I thought, "there's not a note of these I'd change." So I guess I'd add those.
Uh...Yeah. I may have started early in an attempt to make it to the 'Cheers' zoom meeting (which I failed) and forgotten previous threads. In fact....I struggle to remember what I did last week....
Agreeing with almost all the above choices, I’ll add two of my favorites.
Goldsmith’s ST:TMP. The way he wove that tremendous variety of instruments together to mesh so beautifully with the visuals still leaves me in awe. This is probably the score I’ve listened to the most times.
Poledouris’ Conan the Barbarian turned what could have been a really cheesy film into a fantasy epic. Can you imagine the film without Riders of Doom?
