<p>Finally, someone said “Once”! </p>
<p>How about:
Don Juan De Marco
The Piano</p>
<p>and how could we ever forget:</p>
<p>Harold and Maude
The Graduate
Diva</p>
<p>The Man From Snowy River</p>
<p>Any film scores composed by John Williams</p>
<p>The Departed, especially the Dropkick Murphys song.
And The Big Easy</p>
<p>Frances
Lord of the Rings</p>
<p>Schindler’s List but did you know one of the main themes was not by John Williams but by Hirsh Glik, who perished in the Holocaust? John Williams didn’t exactly steal it note for note, but it’s close enough that the audience I saw the film with (premiere screening for a Jewish audience) was humming along with it. The tune is “Shtil die Nacht”.</p>
<p>So I get perpetually annoyed with John Williams over this. Otherwise, a great composer in his own right.</p>
<p>Ponyo–music by Hisaishi, who also did Howl’s Moving Castle & Princess Mononoke. But Ponyo is his best by far.</p>
<p>Guess I am more of a Broadway & popular song lover, but the soundtracks that I listen to on my iPod are:</p>
<p>Dreamgirls
Big Chill
Hairspray
High School Musical (added by D, but they are catchy songs!)</p>
<p>However, my favorite is ‘Good Morning Vietnam’. Robin Williams at his best.</p>
<p>^^The Cowboy Bebop music is great. I think I’m remembering it from the TV series, not the movie, but still. Yoko Kanno is the composer.</p>
<p>Old school favorites: Yes, Bernard Herman and those Hitchcock movies (Pyscho, North by Northwest) are the joint. Movies with music by Henry Mancini (Two For the Road, Breakfast at Tiffany’s). The lush and I think very underappreciated score from The Best Years of Our Lives by Hugo Friedhofer. </p>
<p>Newer School Faves: Soundtrack to Cinema Paradiso was glorious, and the soundtrack and theme was unforgettable (though unforgettably grim) from Requiem For A Dream—a few notes I can’t get out of my head. Simon & Garfunkel with The Graduate. Also I can’t ever quite get forget that five note theme from Close Encounters.</p>
<p>We netflixed *American Grafiitti *last weekend for the kids to see for the first time. It made me recall that back when the movie was first released, most of us of our generation were unfamiliar with that music.</p>
<p>They don’t make 'em like Breakfast at Tiffany’s anymore. Pink Panther was cool too.</p>
<p>I found a link from the AFA-25 Best Film Scores:</p>
<p>[AFI’s</a> 100 Years of Film Scores - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AFI’s_100_Years_of_Film_Scores]AFI’s”>AFI's 100 Years of Film Scores - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>…also Summer of '42</p>
<p>I can’t believe no one has mentioned what I think of as the best popular music soundtrack/score for a movie (written for the movie, not just licensed for it): Curtis Mayfield’s Superfly. The movie was inconsequential, but the songs still sound great.</p>
<p>Another movie whose custom songwriting I love dearly is Nashville, especially Ronee Blakeley’s songs. (I can do without the Oscar-winning “I’m Easy”, although the performance of that song bringing out its layers of irony was one of the best scenes in the movie.)</p>
<p>On behalf of my kids, I want to plug the movie songwriting of Adam Schlesinger (of Fountains of Wayne and Ivy). He wrote some great songs for That Thing You Do and Josie And The Pussycats.</p>
<p>Also on behalf of my kids – they love love love (a bit more than I do) Joss Whedon’s songs for the musical episode of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and (with two brothers and a fourth co-writer) for Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog.</p>
<p>Two great very individualistic, very edgy scores I love are Stewart Copeland - The Outsiders and RZA - Ghost Dog.</p>
<p>Sounder-Taj Mahal</p>
<p>mommusic, thank you for sharing that. I did not know that the music was “stolen”.</p>
<p>I also like the music in Myazaki’s films. My anime fan DD bought a CD with the soundtrack from Princes Mononoke, and we both enjoyed listening to it while I was driving her to her practices and after school meetings.</p>
<p>I was thinking about other foreign films. Kieslowski’s movies (Three Colors, The Double Life of Veronique) have beautiful music written by this composer:</p>
<p>[Zbigniew</a> Preisner - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zbigniew_Preisner]Zbigniew”>Zbigniew Preisner - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>The Big Chill
Help!
A Hard Days Night</p>
<p>Am I old or what?</p>
<p>JHS–agreed, That Thing You Do is one of the catchiest songs ever.</p>
<p>OT–I have a lot of affection for Fountains of Wayne because for years we brought the kids to the original F of W for the Christmas displays. (we bought our lawn furniture there, too.)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10655[/url]”>http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/10655</a></p>
<p>The Sting</p>
<p>When Harry Met Sally</p>
<p>Bullets Over Broadway</p>
<p>Ragtime & Parenthood (Randy Newman)</p>
<p>Jaws</p>
<p>Big Chill-yes!</p>
<p>Philadelphia</p>
<p>Old favorites: Almost Famous, Disney’s Jungle Book, and the Big Chill</p>
<p>New favorite: I Could Never Be Your Woman</p>