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.
I agree. But it did take two tries before he nailed it. Spielberg wanted more sweeping emotion when Elliot and E.T. sign "ouch" to express their broken hearts. So Williams revised that section.
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?
I think the movie would have been A-OK even if Poledouris hadn't scored it. Milius was firing on all cylinders here. That being said, I sure am glad Poledouris was able to work his magic on it. He certainly nailed it.
Goldsmith nailed Basic Instinct. Every note is perfect for the movie. I can't imagine any other music for the film. Same for L.A. Confidential.
I was going to narrow the field to "When someone redoes the movie and the music HAS to come with it." But then I realized that that was going to include only films that were going to be remade / rehashed.
Even in that narrow band you can still split it into "People are going to notice the James Bond / Superman / Star Wars / Psycho / Mission Impossible / Star Trek theme isn't there" as opposed to "Hey, they included 'Windmills of Your Mind' in the dance scene, isn't that cute?"
In the case of the recent Mulan score Goldsmith didn't make the cut. (But in Ralph Breaks the Internet he did.) I didn't miss his score so much as I missed him, if that makes any sense. I didn't need his score to be referenced but I needed something to be as good as his.
The Mark of Zorro is amazing (and Newman nailed it) but I can't imagine anyone referencing it.
I'm trying to get non-Williams examples here, but the new Lost in Space show including Williams' theme is incredibly satisfying. (And Christopher Lennertz nailed it.)
A Patch Of Blue -- that scene where Sandy Dennis is joyously stringing beads: not only does Goldsmith's upbeat music perfectly capture the blind girl's joy, BUT those added 'pops' that Goldsmith adds to punctuate each bead dropping into place really adds energy to the scene. The brief score overall is quite perfect but I would not be surprised if that scene was the one that got him the Oscar nomination.
The Lion in Winter -- the music that accompanies Queen Eleanor's arrival on the barge. The mixture of female and male voices with orchestra is just glorious. Watch the scene without John Barry's music and it is just sluggish.
Fellini's Roma -- the lengthy ecclesiastical fashion show scored by Nino Rota.
One of the saddest scenes was in the movie AWAKENINGS when Robert De Niro dances with a friend he won't see again. ( De Niro is spectacular in this movie.) Randy Newman enriches this scene with a lovely melody played only on the piano. I would have loved to hear a full orchestral version of this melody, but the lone piano fits the scene.
The topic is a bit broad. I'm not quite sure how to narrow it down, but that's just me being dense.
Yes, at first I thought this was about composers putting up their own garden shed, & nails is best, but use the galvanized ones, so they don't go rusty.
Bernard Herrmann nailed every scene in Jason & The Argonauts.
Thor - you were probably right about the topic being a bit broad because I think I started talking about a whole score and then talked about individual cue within a film. It made sense when I wrote it but now I can see that what I was referring to was a time when all the elements of a scene came together - editing, colour, visuals, dialogue and probably much more - and then the composer’s music just elevated it.
For me everything about TESB works - which is why I included that as my JW favourite and as a whole movie example.
I’ve been watching the ZS Justice League...
The scene that accompanies the cue ‘At the Speed of Force’ is (IMHO) a time that Tom H nailed it. That is also, because once again (IMHO), everything else in the scene worked. It evoked an emotional response both visually and aurally.
So I guess ’nailing it’ is when everything else is working in a scene and the score elevates it.
Every time I listen to these scores and see the films they accompany I think “that composer nailed it”:
Superman Jaws Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back Raiders of the Lost Ark E.T. Star Trek II Legends of the Fall Braveheart Apollo 13 Field of Dreams The Perfect Storm Lonesome Dove Dances With Wolves Star Trek: The Motion Picture
The Lion in Winter -- the music that accompanies Queen Eleanor's arrival on the barge. The mixture of female and male voices with orchestra is just glorious. Watch the scene without John Barry's music and it is just sluggish.
A great one........I agree about “watching the scene without music and it is just sluggish”. But when you think about it, the examples where any scene(s) without music would be sluggish in many a movie would be endless. So many times the right composer “Saves the scene or makes the scene” really work! Hitchcock made some great movies but Herrmann REALLY made them great. John Barry was the magic in the James Bond films. ( just watch/listen to the non Barry Dr. No...... OUCH!) Again, the examples are endless.
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.
If I remember correctly, Spielberg said that he edited that sequence to fit Williams' score, instead of the other way around.
